5:1 Baluns/Ununs

5:1 CUBE™ Unun – Model CU-5-1500 (50:250 Ohm, 1.8-61 MHz, 1.5KW PEP)

Application. For traveling wave, end fed or portable 20-31 foot vertical antennas the 5:1 unun makes a good transformer for converting 50 ohm coax to a 250 ohm feed point. If you use the antenna on multiple bands, the feed point impedance may not always be 250 ohms and use of the unun at high (>350 ohms) or low (<100 ohms) will require reduced power input or the unun may have its power ratings exceeded and damage to the unun may occur. The (5:1 conversion ratio will change for loads other than 250 ohms unbalanced.

Typical application:

CU 5 1500 antenna - 5:1 Baluns/Ununs

Also available as a balanced output – CB-5-1500

Ladder Line to coax transformers

Ladder Line baluns are used to match the impedance seen at the end of the ladder line to a coaxial cable, usually 50 ohms, but a ladder line balun can also be used to match to 75 ohm coax like RG-6/U used for cable and satellite installations. While RG-6 doesn’t have the same power rating as larger cable, it is very useful for beverage antennas or receiving antennas which don’t carry a lot of power.

The impedance seen at the end of the ladder line will not be the same as the characteristic impedance of the ladder line (typically 300 or 450 ohms). Good ladder line antenna designs try to have the impedance at the end of the ladder line attachment to the balun close to 200 ohms so that a 4:1 balun can be used to match to 50 ohm coax.

A typical ladder line antenna is shown in the picture below:

Ladder Line antenna Diagram - 5:1 Baluns/Ununs

Palomar Engineers has ladder line to coax 4:1 baluns in both kit form and also assembled in a variety of 1 watt to 10KW power levels to suit the needs of many customers. The ladder line baluns are designed for balanced output and are generally used at the end of a run of ladder line from the antenna. The baluns connect to the ladder line and then transition to coax cable to you antenna tuner or radio station.

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