All Baluns are not all equal. The bowtie antennas made out of wire work great with certain dimensions and certain stations. East weatherman PDF files.
http://m4antenna.eastmasonvilleweath...y/8%20bay.html. I do real well with the 10 inch whiskers 9 1/2 and spacing. I get all of my VHF up to 64 miles away. And UHF up to 74 miles. The 74 miles on UHF is not as steady. I also wonder the same thing why I can hook open coax to my antenna without a balun. And get better results than channel master balun on UHF signals.I also use a Winegard hi gain preamp without the preamp the 68 and 74 mile UHF stations do not work. Winegard 8275 preamp not available on the market