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.
Simple DC Power Cord Noise Filter Choke with Power Pole Plugs
The simplest, most cost effective DC power cord noise filter is a ferrite ring installed as shown in the picture (at the radio/device DC input) to stop DC feedback radiation back into the DC power line or into the radio/appliance to suppress common mode power line noise current on the DC power cord or to suppress common mode noise present on the power lines from degrading the performance of the attached device.
These chokes are cheap, easy solution for RFI issues. Just replace your existing power cord with these prewound cables and enjoy interference free operation.
Likewise Termination Resistor values vary from 500-1250 ohms and we have a good selection shown HERE: