{"id":15312,"date":"2025-09-04T13:15:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T07:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/?p=15312"},"modified":"2025-09-04T13:15:30","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T07:45:30","slug":"connected-diy-41-balun-to-ladder-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/connected-diy-41-balun-to-ladder-line\/","title":{"rendered":"Connected DIY 4:1 balun to ladder line!"},"content":{"rendered":"<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/P9HqMosUZns?si=r8Ek4oQMOlQSjoEs\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have connected the 200 ohm impedance side of the DIY balun to the ladder line, presuming 50 ohms impedance of coax on other side. 50 ohms side was connected to the short piece of HLF 200 coax taking signals into the shack. Enclosed in a surplus plastic box and insulated joints with adhesive tape. 4:1 balun was homebrewed using an FT 240-43 toroid and 2.5 sq mm electrical insulated copper wire, with 6 turns of two coloured wires on either side. Windings were interconnected in a way to provide 4:1 impedance matching. Higher impedance side goes to the ladder line and lower impedance side goes to the short piece of coax. Actually the impedance of the ladder line may be more than four times that of the 50 ohms coax. I may need a 9:1 or higher ratio transformer for better matching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally the whole enclosure was covered with adhesive tape and suspended from a local support to avoid tension at the joints. This time I did not use the special waterproofing tape which I had used earlier, for two reasons: 1. It took me a bit of time to remove the tape slowly. 2. I am not sure whether I will have to modify the installation again as the balun is 4:1 and not 9:1. I may need a 9:1 balun if the ladder line impedance is in the range of 450 ohms as mentioned online. Anyway, I am happy with the current setup as I can tune to 20m, 17m, 12m and 10m with my ATU-100 autotuner. Even with the new balun, it was difficult to tune to 30 and 40m bands. 15m band could be tuned with difficulty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have connected the 200 ohm impedance side of the DIY balun to the ladder line, presuming 50 ohms impedance of coax on other side. 50 ohms side was connected to the short piece of HLF 200 coax taking signals into the shack. Enclosed in a surplus plastic box and insulated joints with adhesive tape. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15314,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-amateur-radio-ham-radio"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Connected DIY 4:1 balun to ladder line! - Johnson&#039;s Techworld<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/connected-diy-41-balun-to-ladder-line\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Connected DIY 4:1 balun to ladder line! - Johnson&#039;s Techworld\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have connected the 200 ohm impedance side of the DIY balun to the ladder line, presuming 50 ohms impedance of coax on other side. 50 ohms side was connected to the short piece of HLF 200 coax taking signals into the shack. Enclosed in a surplus plastic box and insulated joints with adhesive tape. 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