I'll second Don's suggestion about using a 1/4 wave 'counterpoise' and forgetting the balun!
Philosophically, I keep all passive components that I can do without out of the antenna system simply because are no "passive" components! If something doesn't add gain or power, it absorbs signal or power. Nothing is neutral. All baluns contribute to loss. The only question is, how much?. You are quite right that baluns not operating near their design impedances and with significant reactance present (as with a 'non-resonant' antenna) are very unpredictable. I wince when a QRP enthusiast observes that he has no balun losses because it doesn't get hot. With a significant core, even 3 dB of 5 watts - 2.5 watts - isn't likely to heat a big core enough to detect by feel. I consider any loss significant, much less half the RF power! There are places where a balun is a wonderful device worth every fraction of a dB of the small loss it introduces when used properly, but feeding a random wire, off center fed wire or other such antenna is seldom a good use in my experience. An 'artificial' RF ground provided by a 1/4 wave wire is far more effective. An option to the 1/4 wave "counterpoise" that uses less wire is to use a shorter wire and a loading coil that is adjusted for maximum current in the wire. A small light bulb can be switched into the wire to find the point of maximum current. MFJ makes a nifty little "artificial" ground that is essentially a small ATU with a current sensor so one can adjust it for maximum current into the counterpoise. Maximum current = minimum RF voltage at the rig: just what you want. I know several operators who use them quite successfully. Ron AC7AC _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
