Outdoor matching transformer

[Jason l]

Is there one on the market that will hold out water/looking for a better balum. Any suggestions welcome. Best luck I've had is using rtv silicon on seems. I still end up replacing them every spring. While heavy rain comes. Thanks Jason

[GroundUrMast]

I don't assume any balun is water proof. I don't use the boot. I apply Scotch 2228 tape with an over-wrap of vinyl electrical tape, to seal the coax connection. I then secure the cable so that the sealed connection is above the end with the twin-lead. The Idea is that water will drain out, not collect.

The Winegard TV-2900 has been my 'go-to' balun... but I'm not sure if it has been OEM'd by more than one manufacturer.

[Jason l]

That is worth a try. having coax end above twin leads. I've always had it twin Leeds up. And water builds up in balum. I have had water almost gushing out while disconnecting coax.i still get most my channels however the week ones go in and out. Until I replace with new or old one that has been dried out.
Thank You!

+=>

Can completely encase the balun , the balun , the twin lead , the coax connection , the coax.

Feed the coax up through the inside of mast pipe and out the top of the mast pipe , the coax will then be headed down toward the antenna , so this means that the twin lead end of the balun will be down.

For outside coax , always use coax that has the Compression type connectors on the ends of the coax , not the crimp type connectors.

Another type of wrap to use is , http://www.coaxseal.com.

[informel]

I use to install antenna a loooong time ago, back the we had excellent balun that would last forever,one of them was the ATR-375, if I remember correctly even the wire where big (14 gage I beleive).

[Jason l]

Yup nothing is made like it use to be every balum I've used just cheap I have an old antique balun that is my back up for when my new throw away ones get wet

[informel]

Originally Posted by Jason l

Yup nothing is made like it use to be every balum I've used just cheap I have an old antique balun that is my back up for when my new throw away ones get wet

I even checked last night on the internet and could not find anything of quality.

I saw different name, different price (from below 1 $ to 10 $) and they all seem to come from the same mold (maybe 2 mold).

One of them says '10 gage wire', 10 gage is big and by looking at the picture, it looks like false advertisement.

[Jason l]

so I still have not settled for a balun I get better signal cutting coax and connecting center too one side and shielding to other side of my bow tie antenna the benefit mostly on uhf med high. I purchased channel master balun and it is a very durable product solid wire instead of stranded leads and sealed well. HOWEVER! It don't work for my uhf mid upper. I purchased 4 of them so I cut leads on one as short as I could with did help (uhf). But no balun works better and my old antique balun works the best. I now will have to order some of the winegard baluns to try. I am close to not using one just not sure how to seal open coax. My mast is not big enough to house a balun. But coax will fit and I would just have cut open coax exposed 2-3" any experience or idea is welcome and thank you for this site

[Jason l]

this is what I went with for my permanent 55' high balun. I cut the lead wires shorter this help picking up my UHF channels the Bollum still did not respond quite as well as a cheap RCA however I won't reach this without renting a lift and the RCA Baumes just do not hold up here in West Michigan I did not try a Winegard it just looked too much like the cheap RCA to me

[ADTech]

I did not try a Winegard it just looked too much like the cheap RCA to me

As it happened, I ordered a couple of AntennaCraft antennas from Solid Signal last month and also ordered a Winegard TV2900 to use with them. I also picked up an RCA 751R from a local store and hauled all of that out to the sticks for some testing. I assembled the RCA first and, of course, broke one of the spades off due to the cheap wire used. No problem, I thought, I'll just use the new Winegard. I pulled it out of its box and discovered it was IDENTICAL to the cheap "Made in China" balun that came with the RCA.

Pffft! I bought some baluns around 5 years ago that included the TV2900 and found that they were good units. Guess Wingard went cheap in the meantime.

[Jason l]

Yes old ones I have are built to last.wine hard is just going cheap same with preamps they discontinued all there good preamps and are pushing that cheap boost xt............. Cmon winegard give the consumers some good choices. I think will pay for quality stuf that works.