ScubaJungle
Active Member
Finally made my first two homebrew baluns.
One is 2x FT240-43 for 80m-30m, for a homebrew fan dipole, the other is 2x FT240-52 for my Traffie Hexbeam.
I used G3TQXs charts for reference on turns and ferrite mix - I'm pleasantly surprised at the improvement seen on my hexbeam after installing this.
There definitely seems to be a decrease in noise, and signals seem more "concentrated" on my 7300s scope. I haven't really gotten to test out the fan dipole yet, so I can't say on that one.
I used RG178 in place of RG313, but I didn't realize how small it was. I may have to use thicker coax/wire later, but for now, I'm only running barefoot so it's no issue.
I used a combo of hot glue gun and coax putty/sealant for waterproofing the connectors/case.
Some things I learned in the process:
- It seems to be better to put the SO239 from the outside. The nuts dont get in the way of the connector, and it is easily sealed from both sides. YOu can see I learned from my mistake midway and did it the other way first, then changed it.
-Think of a way to keep the toroid held in place prior to putting the toroid in the case. For the first one, it was too late, I had already soldered the connectors and needed to figure it out, which brings to the next point
- solder the connections last! Make sure all of the nuts and such fit, then secure the braid. On the first one, I soldered the braid prior to putting it in, and had to use a Dremel to sand it down so the nuts could fit.
One is 2x FT240-43 for 80m-30m, for a homebrew fan dipole, the other is 2x FT240-52 for my Traffie Hexbeam.
I used G3TQXs charts for reference on turns and ferrite mix - I'm pleasantly surprised at the improvement seen on my hexbeam after installing this.
There definitely seems to be a decrease in noise, and signals seem more "concentrated" on my 7300s scope. I haven't really gotten to test out the fan dipole yet, so I can't say on that one.
I used RG178 in place of RG313, but I didn't realize how small it was. I may have to use thicker coax/wire later, but for now, I'm only running barefoot so it's no issue.
I used a combo of hot glue gun and coax putty/sealant for waterproofing the connectors/case.
Some things I learned in the process:
- It seems to be better to put the SO239 from the outside. The nuts dont get in the way of the connector, and it is easily sealed from both sides. YOu can see I learned from my mistake midway and did it the other way first, then changed it.
-Think of a way to keep the toroid held in place prior to putting the toroid in the case. For the first one, it was too late, I had already soldered the connectors and needed to figure it out, which brings to the next point
- solder the connections last! Make sure all of the nuts and such fit, then secure the braid. On the first one, I soldered the braid prior to putting it in, and had to use a Dremel to sand it down so the nuts could fit.