Homemade dipole and balun

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Bullmax

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n4yek

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I made a diplole with a homemade balun and I want to make sure I have hooked it up ok.

I made the dipole like this Homebrewed Off-Center Fed Dipole - The RadioReference Wiki

and made the balun from here How To Make A Homebrew 4:1 Balun by dxzone.com

for the balun, I followed the instruction and for the top wire, I attached another wire so I had two leads to attach to the 18" copper pipe and the 48" pipe. Does this sound right?

After reading 4:1 balun instructions and reading what you said you done, I can't picture in my mind as to just exactly how you have it wired. I read it and see it one way then re-read it and see it another.

While I never discourage home-brewing, it would be easier and prettier to just use one of these. Matching Transformer - RadioShack.com
I built that off-ceneter fed antenna and use this balun and it works great.
 

prcguy

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The 4:1 balun link is for an HF balun and at VHF/UHF it will become a large attenuator. A VHF/UHF balun will use a much different ferrite and will also be a lot smaller. If you need a 4:1 VHF/UHF balun for receive only its hard to beat a TV balun.
prcguy

I made a diplole with a homemade balun and I want to make sure I have hooked it up ok.

I made the dipole like this Homebrewed Off-Center Fed Dipole - The RadioReference Wiki

and made the balun from here How To Make A Homebrew 4:1 Balun by dxzone.com

for the balun, I followed the instruction and for the top wire, I attached another wire so I had two leads to attach to the 18" copper pipe and the 48" pipe. Does this sound right?
 

Bullmax

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I have switched back to my homemade balun. The TV one sounded like there was a lot of interference. Now my feed sounds really clear.

After reading 4:1 balun instructions and reading what you said you done, I can't picture in my mind as to just exactly how you have it wired. I read it and see it one way then re-read it and see it another.
 

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kb2vxa

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The balun pictured is all wrong, here are two properly constructed and the connections should be obvious. The most glaring error was both dipole elements were connected together when each should be connected to one side of the balanced input. It's supposed to be a DI pole meaning two poles (elements) and not connected together as one.
 
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prcguy

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This balun is for HF and would not work above around 50MHz. You would generally use a small binocular core of maybe #43 mix for a VHF/UHF balun. The pdf that Bullmax posted is not a balun or an antenna, where did that come from?
prcguy

The balun pictured is all wrong, here are two properly constructed and the connections should be obvious. The most glaring error was both dipole elements were connected together when each should be connected to one side of the balanced input. It's supposed to be a DI pole meaning two poles (elements) and not connected together as one.
 
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