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| Reviews Summary for DX Engineering Baluns |
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Reviews: 44
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Average rating: 4.9/5
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MSRP: $29.95-79.95
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Description: High Power Transmission Line Transformers and Baluns with Patent Pending Maxi-Core™ Technology
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Product is in production.
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More info: http://www.dxengineering.com/
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VE3UPZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 17, 2011 10:48
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DXE 1:1 10 k Balun
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Ive been an amature since 1992 and have had alot of Baluns from everything to do with long wires and beams . when i decided to put a 20 meter monobander here i was looking at the brandX baluns from the antenna manufacturer, and even though they suggested its power handling at 4 kw i was sceptical as ive burned alot of such rated baluns out before .. so at the suggestion of the dx engineering associate i spoke to on the phone at the time of my order i picked the DXE1:1 10 kw balun .. upon arrival i was curious and opened it to have a look at its construction .. this thing is very well built and will possibly handle even more than its rating .. ive thrown almost 2500 watts at it through the dummy load and it still keeps working the size realy says it all and although i was concerned about the large case being inside the gamma rods on my beam when i assembled the antenna, its functioning perfect . if your looking to use a beam with high power or dipoles for that matter, this product is up to the task .. please unclude the mounting kit though guys .. the extra 25 bucks wasnt worth the cost of a piece of aluminum and two stainless steel hose clamps .but they do make a mounting kit to fit just about everything .. in summary a good high powered balun where others i have tried failed miserably .. thanks alot
VE3-UPZ Randy
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WA2ILB
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 15, 2011 16:42
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Great Product
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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About two months ago, I decided to get back on HF after a few years of in-activity on the HF bands.
I have been an amateur for over 52 years. I was an electronics engineer for AT&T Bell Labs and knew Gerry, W2FMI, who wrote the definitive books on baluns.
I put up an end-fed Zepp for 40 meters (66 feet) and used the DX Engineering 1:1 10 kW choke balun (bigger is better) to feed the 33 feet of 600 Ohm open wire feed line. From the balun into the shack was about 35 feet of LMR-400 coax to the tuner.
It works great on 40 and 15. To my surprise it is a very credible antenna for 75 meters. It is probably acting as an inverted L on 75. I am able to maintain my schedules throughout the Northeast on 75 in the mornings.
You would have a very hard time finding a better balun either in construction or performance.
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K8JHR
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 16, 2011 18:36
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Good stuff
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have used a DX-E 4:1 current balun with my DX-E 43-foot multiband monopole antenna with good results. I now use their 4:1 Un-Un designed for this same type of antenna with equally good results. I feel they are both well made and are good value for the money. They seem to work well and have low insertion loss (as measured by my Elmer using some rather sophisticated equipment he owns...) and appear to work as advertised (according to both my MFJ and RigExpert antenna analyzers.)
---- James - K8JHR ----
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K2JX
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Rating: 5/5
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May 20, 2011 18:00
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Excellent
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I'm using a 66' end fed wire for my secondary antenna in addition to a 43 foot vertical by DXE.
After fooling around with different matching methods and home brew current baluns I decided to order a Balun from DXE. The one I ordered is made for an end fed wire used with a tuner in the shack. I mounted the balun on 2x4 pressure treated post in concrete, drove an 8' copper ground rod close to the post. I feed the input to the the Balun with 15' of RG-213U and ground one side of the balun to the ground rod with 1" braid terminated with crimped connectors on each end.
So, how does it work, well perfectly, the Balun handles 5KW CONT, 10KW ICAS. No way can my 700 watt amp swamp this Balun. The construction is excellent the materials used first rate. I can easily tune the wire on all bands without RFI in the shack. Tune up is quick and easy with very small adjustment excursions of the tuner. Big difference in receive, with one side of the balun grounded, static is drained off before it gets into the receiver. This product performs exactly as advertised, is very well made and worth every penny of it's $129 cost.
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W7VO
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 13, 2011 14:53
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Expensive, but worth it
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I just had a Hygain BN-86 on my TH6 fail right at the beginning of the WPX phone contest. I just replaced it with the 1:1 balun from DX Engineering, which was about $120 with shipping.
after receiving it I took the liberty to take the balun apart and discovered that they are very well engineered and durable. My only gripe is that for mounting on the bottom of the boom you need to seal the edges with a non corrosive RTV. If you mount the balun on the top, you don't need to do anything. There also appears to be a MOV, or some sort of transient protector across the output terminals as an added bonus.
Construction consists of aluminum chassis, large square ferrite with mil spec silver plated coax wrapped around it, and porcelain connectors. The SO-239 is silver plated, and all hardware is stainless. Very nice!
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KC8Y
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 23, 2010 16:12
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excellent balun
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have the model: DXE-BAL-200-H11-CT 4:1 10KW Balun and it performs super. I use a 135-ft dipole, fed with about 45-ft ladder line. Then I connect the other side with about 15-ft coax cables (connect cables through my house wall-via a long 8-inch F/F SO239 conector).
I vary the antenna with my old 3KW tuner, work bands 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10. To bad this site doesn't allow HIGHER ratings than a 5.
Never use more than 100-watts on PSK/CW/SSB/SSTV and
FM
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KO7I
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 23, 2010 00:24
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4:1 10kW Balun Excellent
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I am using a 4:1 10kW balun to feed my 190 ft inverted L. The basic setup is 60ft vertical and 130 ft sloping downwards. The "far end of the antenna is 20 ft off the ground. At the antenna feed point 100 ft of 300 ohm ladder line is connected, one side to the antenna wire and the other side is connected to a pair of ground radials. At the feed point to the ladder line I placed the 4:1 10kW balun. I chose this balun mainly do to it being rated down to 160M, but I now realize there is a added benefit of the high power rating. The core of the balun is not saturating and it is taking 1kW from my Clipperton-L amplifier with no problems. I use the antenna for 160 - 20 meters.
One has to remember that baluns are supposed to behaive in a linear manner. However when a balun's core saturates, its' impedance goes non-linear resulting in the VSWR spiking as it is over-driven.
The performance of DX Engineering product points to sound engineering and manufacturing process controls. I highly recomend this balun for QRO operation. Don KO7i
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DH4AAD
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 28, 2010 06:12
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DX Engineering Baluns and no others!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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After having payed a lot of money for some traditional baluns usually purchased and used in Germany my disappointment grew year after year. Stop it I said and decided further on only to buy and to use DX Engineering Baluns. A very effective decision! No more problems at all in using those rugged baluns for monoband wire dipoles. DX Engineering high performance baluns will always do it very well. DX Engineering works very fine! 55 es 73 cu Ray, Hannover, GERMANY. +++
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IW0HEX
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 30, 2009 10:16
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Balun 1:1 5 KW
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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After nice experience with Balun 4:1, I bought another balun 1:1 for my rotative dipole for WARC bands. All perfect, DX Engineering works fine.
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N4KC
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 29, 2009 14:22
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Cheapskate won over
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I hate to spend money, but I've coiled up miles of coax in my time. Or tried to get by with a balun some guy put together in his basement. Save money. Buy one of these babies. Or more. I have two, both 1:1, one for a big horizontal loop and one for a ladder-line-fed dipole.
One's outside, mounted on the wall where I switch to a short run of coax into the shack. The other was outside for more than two years until I brought it inside and got it closer to the tuner/rig. Neither shows any signs of weather damage. Both seem to do exactly what I want them to do (based on the EXCELLENT tutorial on the DXE web site).
I run 400 watts CW to some pretty wide variations of impedances with both antennas, yet I have never felt either balun get even remotely warm.
I've thought of opening them up and taking a look, but the way they're put together, why bother?
Good product that I once thought was overpriced. Nope. Great investment is what they are. This cheapskate has been won over.
Don N4KC
www.n4kc.com
www.donkeith.com
www.n4kc.blogspot.com
(An open blog dedicated to rapid technological change
and its effect on society, media and amateur radio)
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