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write your own review of the Radio Works.
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K3PA
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Rating: 0/5
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Jul 12, 2011 04:40
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Garbage
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Purchased 4. One arced over at 3:1 SWR. One overheated and cracked. A third was defective for no apparent reason. The fourth was used at 100W and has been OK so far, though I do not trust it and won't put it up on the tower.
Construction quality is poor and materials are not up to published ratings. This company is not alone in these ills. My advice; if the balun is built from plastic plumbing tubing and caps, STAY AWAY. These linear rod baluns almost all stink. Buy a reliable toroidal unit from Balun Design, DX Engineering, or Array Solutions. They all build excellent baluns. It is not hard to make a good balun, you just have to care.
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AD3G
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Rating: 0/5
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Apr 4, 2009 18:19
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JUNK
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Didn't last 3 hrs with 1000 watts (SWR was 1:1).
If you run QRP I guess it would be OK.
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WC4R
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Rating: 0/5
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Dec 14, 2008 15:14
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For low power only
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've been a good customer of Radio Works since they are local to me. But, I have to cut my losses now. I run a normal 1500 PEP and have been able to burn up every type of balun or line isolator they make. Jim really needs to get away from the cheap quality and build baluns like Balun Designs does.
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KG4HUP
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Rating: 0/5
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Dec 5, 2008 07:31
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QRP only
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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If you hook this on your rig you should be QRP ONLY it will not last.
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W4MJA
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Rating: 0/5
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Jul 9, 2008 09:35
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Awful
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I went through 2 Radio Works Baluns, they both never worked out of the box with poor customer support. Radio Works needs to get their act together.
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K2VI
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Rating: 0/5
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Jan 26, 2008 12:30
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CRISPY
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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SMOKED IN A WEEK WITH MY 800 WATT AMERITRON 811H AMP.THIS IS WITH AN 80 METER DIPOLE WITH A PALSTAR TUNER,ON 3.832 WHERE I QSO MY SWR IS 1.4:1 BUT I ALWAY TUNE IT FLAT BEFORE I INSERT 800 WATTS.SO IT'S NOT AN SWR ISSUE HERE IT'S A QUALITY ISSUE.INFERIOR DESIGN.I NOW USE A PALOMAR BEAD TYPE BALUN AND NO LOSS,NO SATURATION AND NO SMOKE!
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K5YY
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Rating: 2/5
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May 17, 2007 14:56
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marginal
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Have had 3 different kinds of the RW baluns and all were susceptible to SWR "creep" when running only 600-700 watts. One new balun went up in smoke during tune up with a QRO amp with only 800w for about 15 seconds. This was about 8 years ago, so maybe there are built better now, but not according to recent reviews. I sent the burned balun back for possible R and D help but never got a refund. Was told to always watch the SWR during operation, but one can not always do that. You gotta trust the balun and not be worried about legal power causing high SWR or an explosion which can run a linear in short order.
I do have a 4:1 balun that I used on a 250' center fed dipole and it worked OK at 500 watts through the varying impedances/reactances seen with multiband dipole use. It too had the SWR creep problem with several different applications of the antenna.
The antenna products seem to be a bit better in quality than the baluns
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K2VI
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Rating: 0/5
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May 17, 2007 12:53
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poor product
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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everything is light duty,Thin wires comming out of the balun.with anything over 800 watts be careful.I had to take mine down after 2 years.They do sell nice antennas and accesories but the bauns can not withstand high power,come on guys you can do better than that for what you charge,buxcomm makes a real 1:1 1500 watt balun for 30 bucks.
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KG4HUP
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Rating: 0/5
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Jan 8, 2007 18:56
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Do not buy
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I had one in use for about a year. I have took it down more than anything I've ever had up. The CW-160 first problem with line isolator then the 4:1 balum is toast. Do yourself a favor an stay away from this guys junk. Never again for me.
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WA8EBM
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 9, 2004 08:59
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Works as advertised
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Very satisfied with the 4:1 Remote Current Balun.
I have used doublet antennas in the past but many times had RF problems in the shack from the open wire feeders. I ended up with a G5RV with a coiled up coax balun and cleared up the RF but had mediocre results and still had to use an antenna tuner.
I finally settled on using the original G5RV 102 foot dipole but ran about 60 feet of twin lead to the remote balun and then about 10 feet of 9913 into the shack to the tuner.
My results are fantastic. I can use the antenna on 160 through 6 meters.
I can run 1KW DC through the balun on 80 through 10 and no problems so far. My signal reports are way up and no RF in the shack.
Purists will scoff at the setup- losses etc but the 40 to 60 over 9 reports on 75 meters that I get in the 500 mile range shows that at least the high angle radiation from the low dipole is working fb.
The balun is big and heavy. There is plenty of coax seal shipped with it. WA8EBM
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