baluns-for-multiband-antennas-fed-with-open-wire-or-ladder-line

[Tom VA3TS]

I wonder if it's possible to persuade an auto tuner to tune ladder line using an external 1:1 current balun

https://www.balundesigns.com/blog/baluns...dder-line/

[VE3WI Dave]

FWIW, I have an 80m inverted vee on a 32' wood mast.  Feedline is 450 ohm window line threaded on a piece of rope to keep it away from the mast (I intend to put a 2m ant at the top & need to keep the window line away from the coax.)

At the bottom of the mast the window line goes to a dual spark gap lightning arrestor (Wireman #878), then a 1:1 current balun (Balun Designs # 1161ts), then an ICOM AH-4 auto tuner. Coax & tuner control cable go thru a basement window to my IC-7300.  Just for good measure, I put some ferrite beads on the coax at the tuner end.  The balun has stud connections on both sides for tuners that don't have a coax output connection, like the AH-4.  They will put on a coax connector if you want.  They're easy to build also.

This setup is working well on 80m thru 10m, and I even got a "20 over 9" report from New Jersey on 40m during FD. Probably something wrong with his RX ;-)

I was using an SG- 239 autotuner in a weatherproof box previously, feeding it DC power over the coax.  I swapped it out for the AH-4 when I got the IC-7300.  Both tuners have worked well. 

73
Dave, VE3WI