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.
Fish Finder – Sonar RFI Kit
Fish Finders/Sonar units can cause RFI “noise” in other electronic devices on a boat including audio and video systems, radar, SSB, wind/speed/depth instruments, etc. Likewise other electronic devices can also interfere with the fish finder and cause erroneous depth/temperature readings.
Palomar Engineers has developed a simple to install fish finder/sonar RFI suppression kit to solve the RFI noise problem aboard recreational and commercial boats.
Just slip a split bead on the transducer cable (1" ID) and use the 5 1/2" ID split beads on the fish finder/sonar readout unit transducer input and DC cables. Use the extra ferrites on other equipment needing protection like the Radar, radio, etc.
Likewise Termination Resistor values vary from 500-1250 ohms and we have a good selection shown HERE: