Broad Band Terminated Dipoles (BBTD), Tilted Terminated Fold Dipoles (T2FD) and Balanced Termination Folded Dipole BTFD) antennas can be designed to cover a large range of frequencies between 1.8 30 MHz. Longer length antennas generally provide better low frequency efficiency but take up a larger footprint of land. One BBTD that has worked well at the AK6R antenna farm is shown below. Many other designs are available and can be found at www.HFLINK.COM as well as other internet sites. Your mileage may vary using this antenna, but as a general coverage antenna for ham and shortwave broadcast, the simplicity can’t be beat even though an individual dipole on a specific band may out perform this broad band dipole. Palomar Engineers has all the parts you need to build this antenna, so why not give it a try?
Depending on the source of the antenna design, different value baluns are specified. Our Bullet(TM) baluns in ratios of 9:1, 12:1 and 16:1 are excellent for this type of antenna as they are broadband from 1.8-61 MHz and will take up to 500 watts PEP.
The Ferrite Ring Combo Pack is a convenient solution for troubleshooting RFI/EMI from unknown frequencies or multiple frequencies that require multiple suppression mixes. Included in this combo pack are ten 1.4″ OD/.9″ ID ring toroids as follows:
Mix 77 effective from .1-50 MHz including AM Broadcast band – quantity: 5
Mix 43 effective from 25-250 MHz for general purpose – quantity: 5
Mix 61 effective from 200-2000 MHz for cell phone, WIFI, HDTV, Cable TV interference – quantity: 5
The ring toroids are useful for AC/DC common mode choking with multiple turns as shown below
AC Cable on F-240 Toroid – 7 turns |
DC Cable on F240 – 4 turns |
The ring toroids can also be used on coax or signal lines as shown below:
RG58 12 turns on FT240 |
Ethernet Cable on F-240 Toroid – 7 turns |
For RFI/EMI wrap as many turns as possible for higher choking (under 30 MHz). For over 30 MHz, 1-3 turns is usually sufficient due the to capacitive effect of multiple turns reducing choking effect.
Likewise Termination Resistor values vary from 500-1250 ohms and we have a good selection shown HERE: