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write your own review of the Bux Comm Master Match Baluns.
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KE5BGE
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Rating: 1/5
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Jun 9, 2009 14:10
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I Fried It!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I purchased my first 4X1 balun for my OCF wire antenna from Buxccom about 3 years ago and after several months of being in the weather I noticed I started getting some RF into the shack. I lowered the balun down from my tower and inspected it. I noticed that it had a lot of water inside and this was the cause for the Rf and swr problem. Drilled a couple of holes in the bottom and drained out the rain water. It works fine now. I bought a amp a few months later and bought a 1KW balun from Buxccom. After using it for several months I must have fried it with 400 watts because It won't work with the amp as my swr begins climbing rapidly when I key up on ssb. Works just fine with 100 watts. I also bought a 5X1 balun from Buxccom a few weeks ago to see if this would improve the resonance on my Windom as suggested by Buxccom. I installed the 5X1 and it had a bad short and wouldn't even receive. The radio would not even tune to it. I called Buxccom and talked to an older gentleman there and he told me that they always check their baluns before sending them out. I told him he didn't check this one so I sent it back and they sent me a different one in just a few days. I was interested in their 80-6 meter Windom they had advertised and bought one. When I installed it it would not tune to 80, 17 or 6 meters at all. The swr was so bad my atu in my radio kept spitting it out. I called and spoke to the older gentleman again and told him the problem. His response was that I was the only one out of a thousand customers that ever had this problem with their windom. He suggested that I cut the wire.
I have learned my lesson here and will not be purchasing anything from Buxccom again.
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N8GSJ
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Rating: 0/5
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Apr 28, 2009 09:33
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The worst!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I bought a couple of these baluns and had OK results at first with the first one...I then wanted to install the second balun on a 40 meter dipole and have never been able to find a resonant spot...You guys know how it is with dipoles...Up and down the tower until your in so much pain you give up...Well after buying an MFJ 259 several months later I discover that the resonant spot was a full meg down the band...A full meg for crying out loud...I never ran a balun until I tried this brand...What a bunch of junk...And their tech support won't even return an email to see if I can (as in me) repair the balun myself...Can I rate them lower than a zero?...Don't waste your money...
Gary
n8gsj
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N4VHG
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 12, 2008 08:48
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Feeds a Bisquare and Z-L array and takes 1000+ watts
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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After hurricanes took down my towers, I went about building wire arrays to work Europe and VK/ZL DX.
I purchased 2, 1:1 and 2, 4:1 (2k rated) baluns from BUXCOM.
All have been in service outdoors with frequent use for about a year.
All have performed well with no failures.
After a prolonged operating session, QRO, I went outside and examined one of the baluns.
It was no warmer than the 95 degree weather here.
I have used multiple home-made and commercial baluns.
They all work best with balanced antenna designs, good mechanical/electrical connections and weather-proofing.
Here in Florida, baluns and antennas seldom last long due to the heat, moisture and subsequent corrosion.
I will up-date this review if this occurs.
Buxcom's web sight is easy to order from.
N4VHG
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AD4C2006
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Rating: 1/5
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Mar 22, 2008 20:52
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The worst balun on the market
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I purchased a 6 to 1 balun with this company and the first problem I found was the bronze conector on the top of the PVC are the worst quality I have even seen in my life,you can't tight well the wires because they will lose pressure and contact will fail soon,so I decided to build my own using the inside balun and when I cut the top to put new one with external hooks on the side I realized the coil and size of wires used to do the balun are too small,its impossible for that to stand full legal power as they claim it does,well after rebuild it with new hooks and new lid on top check the swr with an antenna analyzer loading it with a carbon 300 ohms resistor and certainly it had perfect match of 1.1 swr from 1.8 to 30 Mhz but after I built a windom dipole from 40 to 10M (66 feet long)and put it up at home the first problem I found was that it worked fine with up to 120W but as soon I keyed up my Heathkit SB-220 with 1KW PEP that balun started to heat so bad that the swr went up rapidly and the antenna was useless.Finally I left it installed at my work place at 40 feet up and with only 100W from an IC-7000 it works fine.Will I buy this piece of crap again? NO WAY !!! Its a bad investment,they need to learn how to build good quality products.My other windom dipole that I build using a VanGorden Engineering air core 4 to 1 balun that cost me only 14 bucks is been working for years with more than 1KW with no problem.
I don't recomend any one to buy this product.
Hector
AD4C
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WA2AC
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Rating: 0/5
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Jan 5, 2008 21:00
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PATHETIC
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I bought buxcomm high power 4:1 balun and on 80 meters destroyed it with 400 watts running at a relative low impedance with a full size dipole.I decided to open up the balun and was shocked to find a 1 1/2" od core .Pure CRAP
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KI4WCQ
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Rating: 1/5
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Dec 24, 2007 07:29
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Needs better components
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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His balums are ok if you don't plan on using more than 100 watts. 400 watts will fry the cheap coax he uses.
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KB9MIE
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Rating: 1/5
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Nov 27, 2007 08:11
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Poor design.
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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This review is specific to the Buxcomm Model 2K11 1:1 current balun. Specs. are 2.0 kW @ 2:1 VSWR.
My balun failed after several hours of RF applied from a 500 W SSB linear.
Rather than return the balun I decided to open it to find the mode of failure. It consists of about 11 inches of OEM RG-8X coax, 95-14400, enclosed in six ferrite beads, 1.06" long, 0.63"OD, and 0.31" ID. In order to enclose the balun in the space available it is doubled on itself twice, this results in two tight radius bends in the coax. My balun had failed in two places, coax burn through at one of the bends, and a short between the coax inner and a screw holding the SO239 connector. Rather than cutting the screw flush to the case it was left to project into the case.
I calculate that at 2 kW and 2:1 VSWR the balun could experience an RMS voltage of 632V. RG8X comes with RMS ratings of 300V or 600V, I couldn't find the specs. for the coax used, but in any case it is either badly or moderately under specified.
If the manufacturer had used a better grade of teflon insulated coax and took better care in assembly the balun would likely been OK.
I've given it a "1" because of its good quality terminations.
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K9CTB
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 28, 2007 00:55
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9:1 balun - REALLY!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I had done business with Buck and crew before with great results. I ran into trouble trying to build a ladder-line fed dipole and needed a 9:1 balun. I had been using a MFJ 4:1, knowing that the system was incorrectly set up, but I had a working antenna for 75 meters, thanks to my Vectronics HFT-1500. I wanted to be able to run power (more than 100W) for reliable MARS use. I had no idea where to find a 9:1 balun. Enter Buxcomm. Their 9:1 legal limit balun was just the thing. I have it installed just below the roof eave with the ladderline extending up to the antenna feedpoint. Voila! Absolutely no problems at all. Perhaps I'm a bit biased but I love places like Buxcomm that have "a little bit of everything". A connector here, a piece of cable there ... Buck truly has everything you need! And the balun? Still in service after 2 years. Once again, highly recommended.
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K2VI
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Rating: 5/5
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May 24, 2007 11:27
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built military grade
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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since centaur no longer makes baluns i was upset due to the garbage out on the market,Along comes buxcomm and i now have a balun that can give centaur a run for its money.this is the best built balun made now,My estemation on longevity would be at least 15-20 years in the air.ALSO check out there OCF windoms.great antenna.thanks for a great product buck.73
tony k2vi
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WB7ANU
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Rating: 1/5
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Feb 15, 2006 09:56
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Poor balun
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I ordered the 2.5kw balun installed in extened double zepp, I have sb200 at about 700watts and balun failed with in three days. Shipped balun back wanted another balun, there response was the balun was fine and after repeatedly expressing my desire for a replacement they credited my charg card and charged me 15% restocking fee and I had no choice of getting a balun.
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