http://elecraft.85.s1.nabble.com/KAT-500-and-open-wire-tp7647776p7647787.html
And those broadcast stations generally work within a 2:1 VSWR range.
> On Jan 6, 2019, at 4:51 PM, Bob McGraw K4TAX <
[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Correct on all points.
>
> That is the reason I gave my feedline type, and length and antenna length alone with specific balun type and common mode choke type. Any old ragged combination of chunks of wire and feed line is not assured to work and is largely the reason many hams shy away from balanced feed systems. They tried it once, it didn't work well thus they deemed all balanced feed systems as being "bad". While the facts are, a balanced system correctly installed and with correct lengths, it is the lowest loss feed of any system reasonably available. Which is one of the reasons most short wave broadcast stations used balanced feed systems.
>
> 73
>
> Bob, K4TAX
>
>
>> On 1/6/2019 3:40 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:
>> All,
>>
>> I think a bit of extended study on transmission lines and their impedance transformation characteristics is in order - refer to any ARRL antenna book, even those from the 1950 an 1960 era, not much new has been added, other than baluns. The feedpoint impedance to the transmission line can vary from quite low to quite high dependent on the frequency, the length of line, and the load at the far end. It does NOT depend on the characteristic impedance of the transmission line. The ARRL TLW program can do a lot of computation for you.
>>
>> You may be able to adjust the length of the transmission line so there is a moderate shack end feedpoint impedance on all bands of interest and be able to use a good current balun which has either a 1:1 or 4:1 transformation ratio. You have to measure the transmission line at the point where you intend to install the balun to be sure which to use.
>>
>> Yes, just hanging any balun on any length of parallel feedline connected to any length of antenna and expecting it to work without problems is just not going to happen in all but exceptional cases.
>> How many cases where you see "this antenna works great" do you see any mention of how long the parallel feedline may be. Most hams simply ignore that, but it is likely the most important part of how the antenna works and what type of balun of you need to use.
>>
>> Your experience may be very different with the "same" multiband antenna than your local ham or that in the artic