K4XS wrote:
>Someone told me a while back that in stacking the KLMs it was imperative to
keep the + on the same side for the entire stack. Is this so, and if it is
what is the reason for doing so? I know you can check the balun with the MFJ
259 to determine which side is which and plan to do so but does it really
make a difference?
Yes, the marks look like 5 dots making a + sign. As others
stated, you must keep them aligned to keep the antennas in phase. I'm
not aware of a way to use an MFJ 259 to check for phasing, but the
following post suggests a good approach:
http://lists.contesting.com/pipermail/towertalk/2000-October/034295.html
KLM apparently was consistent at least from the early 80's until they
went out of business in the way they marked phasing, but I also have
a VERY old balun (but using the new PVC case construction) which has
no marks at all. For your antenna in the air, you will probably need
to make a visual inspection. There is another way but it involves
feeding both that one and the new one together, making measurements at
a distance with another antenna at a height half the distance between
the two under test and checking signal strength. When "in-phase", the
received signal should be very noticeably stronger than "out-of-phase".
73, Bill W4ZV
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