[TenTec] Problem on 160 meters, Whats up?

[Jim Brown K9YC]

On Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:38:46 -0600, Dr. Gerald N. Johnson wrote:

>The higher power is saturating the core of the balun. One of the hazards
>of tuning through the balun.

Yes, very likely. There are several very different things called baluns. The 
one in antenna tuners is a transformer, so 100% of the transmitted power is 
in the core. Very likely to saturate with high power, heat, distortion. 

Another VERY different thing that is CALLED a balun is really a common mode 
choke. Put a bunch of ferrite cores around coax, or wind a bunch of turns of 
coax through one or more ferrite cores. Those are common mode chokes, 
commonly (wrongly) called "current baluns." But when done well (enough turns 
to have a high enough choking impedance), they work VERY well. 

73,

Jim Brown K9YC