Topband: KT34 & Shunt Feeding

[Greg Chartrand]

Phil,

You can strap all of the elements directly to the boom with no effect on the KT-34xa; I had the same set-up a few QTH's back. 

I would leave the KLM balun alone. The KLM balun works very well but it is slightly reactive effecting the tune of the driven elements. If you think your performance has dropped over the years, I'd suspect the feedline before anything else. By the way, I found you could pickup a few DB of front to back by putting a coaxial balun just before the KLM balun. 6 turns of coax 6-8" in diameter would be fine. I never could figure out why the KLM balun apparently did not fully perform the balanced to unbalanced match but it may had something to to with its reactive characteristic.

 

Greg - W7MY

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