[TenTec] OT: coax versus parallel wire, insulated wire for aerial

[Jim Brown K9YC]

On Fri, 06 Jun 2008 23:03:34 -0600, Dr. Gerald N. Johnson wrote:

>A balanced line,  if perfectly balanced and closely spaced should have
>little pickup,  but the well shielded coax line with the current balun
>at the antenna should pick up less on the feed line.

A clarification. Noise is picked up on ANY transmission line as a common mode 
current, and is coupled to the antenna if the antenna itself is unbalanced. 
The vast majority of REAL ham antennas have some degree of imbalance due to 
their interaction with surroundings. 

Common mode current can be effectively killed by coaxial chokes on lossy 
toroids. It is quite difficult to build an equally effective choke for 
balanced lines. The reasons are spelled out in my tutorial.

http://audiosystemsgroup.com/RFI-Ham.pdf

THIS is why antennas fed by open wire line tend to be noisier than those fed 
with coax. It isn't the line, it's the fact that you can't effectively choke 
it. 

73,

Jim Brown K9YC