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Old 20-Dec-2019, 10:36 PM   #27
BigHenry
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: SW Virginia
Posts: 16
Hey, some good news!

As suggested by rabbit73 in an earlier post, I figured out a way to shorten my balun leads to 2.5" while still able to mount the balun. As if by magic I'm now receiving solid signal strengths on ALL original channels (7.1, 7.2, 10.1-10.5, 15.1-15.4, 24.1, 27.1-27.4, 38.1-38.6.

I would like to thank all who helped me out, with a special thanks to rabbit73 for the balun testing leading to the discovery of an optimal balun lead length.

My balun attachment is rather ugly - the balun sits right alongside the main horizontal boom with one lead crossing over the boom, which looks OK, but the lead which attaches to the post on the same side of the balun is a bit compressed. Not as pretty as the long lead set-up where a lead comes down on each side of the boom, allowing the balun to sit on the centerline below the boom. But it's the results that count!

Frankly, antennas, baluns/leads and RF frequency waves seem like voodoo to me. Could any of you experts on the forum help me understand why shortening balun leads so dramatically improved my reception. Does the orientation of the leads also have an effect? e.g. like the leads in close parallel proximity or spread apart as far from each other as possible.

Lastly, as long as balun lead placement won't mess up my reception, I am thinking of inverting the threaded studs to which the balun leads attach, so they will now be beneath the boom and once again the balun will hang down on the centerline below the boom.

Thanks,

Don
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