What Do Balun and Unun Mean? ( its not what youve been told for $$$$$!)

[e-mail]
Balanced and unbalanced are about the amplifier circuits driving the antenna system, not the system itself.
Corection, full-wave @ 40m is 130 ft or so. 🙄
Balun and Unun = 💰 ⬇️ 🚽 BAL oney and UN necessary
Baluns are NOT FOR ANTENNAS. They are for connecting mismatched transmission lines together. Says PHd experts. See my videos on the topic.
Note the contradiction of using a BALUN which has FOUR WIRES to connect TWO TRANSMISSION LINES WITH FOUR WIRES - to the end of a wire with ONLY ONE WIRE..
Key word - "MISMATCHED"
Just as a 50 ohm line is mismatched when connected to 300 ohm twin lead, a dipole installed TOO HIGH is also badly mismatched..
Baluns are used ( improperly) as transformers to try to match a 50 ohm coax to an antenna thats not 50 ohms. In fact, the antenna could be so mismatched that no transmission line can match with it.
Instead of wasting money and making the antenna sag, GET RID OF THE WORTHLESS BALUN AND LOWER THE ANTENNA!
Find out WHY the antennas not working right and fix it. You wont be able to " get out" with these awful band conditions otherwise.
Radio Engineers Handbook does discuss balanced line ( twin lead) being balanced against Earth, BUT THATS HIGH POWER BROADCAST, not the pitiful low power Hams are allowed..*.not relevant here.*
Dipoles are balanced in the context of a transmission line being balanced meaning both wires have equal fields to ground, buy they DO NOT require a balun to feed them with unbalanced coax.
#ham #hamradio #antenna #arrl #hamantenna #dipole #swl #ieee #balun

[@franzliszt3195]

I will be keeping an eye on this channel.

[@k8byp]

Aye! 👁️

[@Mesa_Mike]

Never before heard that "balanced" or "unbalanced" referred to the amplifier driving the transmission line / antenna. What you;re describing sounds more like what I have always known as "single-ended" vs "differential."

[@k8byp]

So youve NEVER read a radio transceiver manual? Read old radio textbooks... thats whats missing today. Folks like yourself are stuck in the internet and rumours and personal beliefs/ habits instead of expanding knowlege "What you DONT know about" is irrelevant. *Not knowing things is NOT an accomplishment.* "Balanced/Unbalanced Transmission lines".." Radio Engineers Handbook, 1948, p. 193 "Balanced amplifier" Modern Dictionary of Electronics, Graf, 1970, p. 45 Theyre called BOOKS... get some. What its all, ultimately about is the power supply(ies) oddly enough. Ive been doing so- going back to the roots of all this in the early 1900s and re- studying the entire field of electronics and RF. Its 9 years now...and still digging.

[@k8byp]

your use of " differential" is out of context here, differential is two signals and their relationship to each other. resources.altium.com/p/what-are-differential-pairs-and-differential-signals

[@charleswoods2996]

^^ Trying to imagine how I can put up a "pure dipole" that would be 1/2 wavelength resonant 40 meters from my apartment balcony 🤣🤣 🤔😭 KD8EFQ

[@k8byp]

Cant without some far support point. 50# monofilament tied to a distant light post would work. When theres no space, the options are going to higher frequencies or a loaded whip.

[@charleswoods2996]

@@k8byp Yes. Otherwise, I was just attempting to be funny.

[@k8byp]

yeah I was rofl at " resonant!" Id try a several square foot aluminum plate fastened to the railing, vertically, then mount a loaded whip on it.

[@franzliszt3195]

So to work 6 meter band, I put a thin wire dipole at 37.8 inches from the ground?

[@k8byp]

No. Watch ALL my antenna videos. This is not trivia.....

[@franzliszt3195]

@@k8byp Aye.