I'm using a ladder line fed 80m dipole as an all band antenna with a tuned length of line, high Z 1:1 choke at the LL to coax junction. One assumption in these antennas kinda baffles me, so here is a
Grant, The 1:1 choke at the ladderline/coax junction will impede conducted CM current from flowing back along the outside of the coax sheath. That will drive equal and opposite leg currents in the la
Well, it isn't always. You are right to question that assumption. Given a center fed dipole, which is physically a pretty good mirror image (not a sloper, or one end running to a metal roof when the
If there's only two terminals, the current is, by definition, balanced at that point. What might not be balanced is the current *distribution* and any currents that are induced on nearby objects (e.g
The problem is that the moment we attach a feedline to the feedpoint we have the potential for unbalancing the currents because there's another path for the antenna CM current to take. It's very inst
But there aren't only two terminals at the output from a transmitter/ATU into a "balanced" feedline. There are always three terminals - the third being the transmitter's ground terminal. It is the gr
"Two terminals" is fine on paper. But you never have two terminals. You always have "ground", and who knows what else. Take your balanced feedline and move the wires together so they touch, and now y
More correctly, we have WIRES of finite length (called a feedline), often connected to the earth via the transmitter. Those wires do NOT represent, nor do they act, as GROUND. Rather, they are simply