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Reviews For: CAL-AV Baluns

Category: Antenna parts, accessories, incl. baluns, hardware, etc.

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Review Summary For : CAL-AV Baluns
Reviews: 13MSRP: 40.00 EB-1
Description:
CAL-AV baluns for 2 kW and 5 kW CCS service, these are 1:1 50 ohm current baluns, that are vacuum impregnated with resin to keep water and moisture out.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.arraysolutions.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00134.5
K8JHR Rating: 2011-09-16
Good stuff Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I use a Cal-AV 1:1 balun on a large 20 meter aluminum rotatable dipole and it is completely transparent to its operation. My two antenna analyzers (from MFJ and RigExpert) both indicate a nice 1.2 SWR with virtually no insertion loss, and the antenna works swell, with no RF in the shack or along the feed line. It may have been unnecessary, but this is good insurance against unwanted feed line radiation and to smooth out SWR, etc. It is lightweight, but is solid and well made.

Jay Terleske WB0X was very helpful in selecting the right balun for the job, giving serious attention to my unique situation and providing more than passing comment on how to integrate it into my home-brew antenna design.

I am pleased with the product, and the service I received from the seller, ArraySolutions, and feel I got my money's wroth.

------------ James - K8JHR ------------
K3PA Rating: 2011-07-12
4 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have wned two of these, supplied wth my Force12 yagi. One failed. I will not judge too harshly, as I have been reliably informed that this is rare.

The other unit has been fine.
N6WIN Rating: 2011-03-15
Good, but better alternatives Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have four of these in use between antennas I helped put up at my friend's QTH's. We either didn't know about the benefits of coax turned around toroids or these came with used antenna purchases.

There is nothing wrong with them for what they are. But, for the cost, you could receive much higher choking impedance for your money.

That being said, I am changing out my father's 30m rotatable dipole for an A4S on his tower... I will use the EB-1 from the 30m for the A4S until it fails (if it ever does). Why buy new when I have this on hand now?
W9AC Rating: 2007-10-10
Perfect for boom mounting. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Jay at ArraySolutions quickly fulfilled an emergency order I recently placed. I had blown the balun on my Force12 Sigma 40 and over time, water had managed to migrate into the PVC body and cause further damage.

The Cal-Av balun provides ample choking reactance where I needed it on 40M. While other baluns (e.g., W2FMI and W1JR) ferrite types offer more choking reactance per volume of space, I needed one in a slim package that was reasonably light and fit onto the Fiberglass feed-point boom of the Sigma 40. The pigtail ends with crimped + soldered ends worked very well.
VE2DC Rating: 2007-07-29
Great... but not designed for dipoles. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I use 4 of the EB-2 on various yagis. Just tape them to the boom. Work great at 1.5KW... no issues whatsoever.
VK4FW Rating: 2006-09-14
Do the job Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Ken was kind enough to send me 3 of these to take on the dxpedition to Norfolk Island VI9NI. It is hard to find top quality ones here in Australia.
I am happy to report that they all worked a treat. Congratulations on building a good product.... 73 de VK4FW
W8NWN Rating: 2006-08-27
Transparent Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Had mine for 3 years and I don't even know it is there. It is transparent to your feed system. Great!
K9YC Rating: 2005-09-04
Poor Mechanical Termination Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought two of these baluns to try on some antennas I was installing at two different QTH's. I was VERY disppointed in what I received. The coaxial termination is fine, but the balanced termination is a joke -- two wires coming out of a molded pipe that holds the beads. No strain relief for an antenna, not even strain relief for the balun wires themselves, and the wires are too short to terminate well to a center insulator! Has the guy who designed this dog ever put up a wire dipole? There's no way I could put one of these on a serious wire antenna!

As if that isn't bad enough, when I used one on an experimental 30 m dipole, the balun went intermittent after a month!

Jim Brown K9YC
VE7RF Rating: 2005-04-12
EB-3 Bulletproof....with 10 kw ! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had ken at Cal-Av cutom build 5 of these EB-3's for me years ago. The EB-3 is a big mother.... about 17" long. I had Ken install real connectors on them... IE: 7-16 DIN connectors. The wire leads are 10 ga silver plated/ Teflon. The teflon was etched in a lab in Colorado.... then sent back to Cal-Av. The wire leads are unique... since each layer is wound in the opposite direction of the previous layer.

This results in the leads staying put after you bend em......slick.

The 7-16 DIN connectors are superb.... you can't blow em up. The huge 7mm center female is a whopping .284" .

The rest of it is pretty straight forward.... RG-393 teflon double shielded coax. (each shield is silver plated...ditto with center conductor).

The leads are silver soldered to the coax... and the correct beads are used.... TYPE-43... which are bomb proof.

The only drawback is the Z is not as high as when using Type-77 beads..... so these baluns are only good down to 40m.. with a high Z.

On 75m, I had Ken make the balun a little longer ... 24" vs 17". This special 75m one is called an EB3-Modified.

You can also use it as a billy club!

It's pumped via high pressure.. then inverted inside a vac chamber to get rid of the air bubbles... this process is done a couple of times... and ALL air is voided.

Simply install the heavy duty crimp lugs... then solder the lugs.... so water does not migrate up inside the stranded leads.

These blauns are the ..."real deal" I suggested to Ken that he sell em commercially... so he did.

Later.... Jim VE7RF
VK6WB Rating: 2004-09-16
Very Good 1:1 Balun Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I installed this balun on my Hustler 5~BTV vertical and great resalt,NO RFI... The reason
i use this type of balun
1)I don't want to split my coaxial to feed the
Hustler 5BTV vertical as you know this antenna
no SO-239 socket.
2)I don't have to use 6" diameter LOOP for just
to avoid the RFI.
3)Like other 1:1 balun using two a eye hook. and
this one is using wire leads for easy to couple
the antenna and the balun..What perfect idea.



Thank's,,, Jay, WB0X. I will get another one for my second antennas(5~BTV)As I will use for portable.