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Reviews For: Wireman #824 1 to 4 Choke Balun (VE2CV design)

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

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Review Summary For : Wireman #824 1 to 4 Choke Balun (VE2CV design)
Reviews: 2MSRP: 37.95
Description:
Coax to balanced line current balun 1:4 step up Ratio (VE2CV design)
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0020
K5CIS Rating: 2022-03-06
NOT a balun…overheats Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Ditto what K5YZS said…this is not a Balun…it is. 4:1 transformer, but if you use it with a non-balanced antenna OCF dipole or similar, it does NOT handle the rated power….mine doesn’t even handle 100w (rated to 1.5kw)
I opened it up and it is a single core…cannot make a balun with a single core…you can make a great transformer, but NOT a balun…see this
https://www.dj0ip.de/balun-stuff/bad-baluns/
I replaced this with a homemade 2-core balun with bigger ferrite (the wireman one was only 6 turns on a 1-1/4 “ ferrite core)…and thicker wire. The homemade one does not heat up and works amazing! Wish I would have saved the $55. False advertisement in my opinion calling this a balun.
K5YZS Rating: 2004-10-17
Over heats at 100 watts Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
As a quick option to adding balanced line to my homebrew L-network, I purchased the #824 balun; rated at 5KW on the invoice and I was charged $38.95 plus shipping, but sales sheet in hand had price as $37.95. It overheated with 100 watts input and was warm to the touch and my hand test was about 20 watts dissapation (80 % power transfer). This was confirmed with LOWER antenna current to my balanced feeders with dual RF Ammeters. I got more antenna current at 100 watts using my Dentron MT-3000A. Some comments about this type of series/parallel connection of 2 each W2DU choke baluns says that there are no coupling flux lines with this design--something like paralleling two separate power transformer primaries and seriesing the secondaries to change the voltage. Dont waste your time and money; I sent it back for a refund and I lost S&H both ways. It seemed to receive ok, but the RF ammeters and heating confirmed that this is not an RF power handling device.