[TowerTalk] Vertical balun - is it the solution?

[Jim White, K4OJ]

I agree with Jim, not because he is on a buddy list but because:

A lot of times hams will tend to look for the easy fix, a checkbook 
engineering answer, and that may not be the right one!  May make you 
feel warm and fuzzy because a meter reads better than it used to but did 
it fix the root problem?

This is especially true for guys like myself who are appliance operators 
and NOT engineers or savvy to electronics. I can twist a wrench with the 
best of them but for the life of me do not "get" much of the RF end of 
things and appreciate more detailed responses to topics versus "this works".

Like the popular analogy used here frequently, if you are just looking 
for great SWR lose the antenna and get a dummy load!  What we need to 
focus on is obviously putting RF into the ether as efficiently as 
possible to make our ability to communicate as effective as possible!

I like towertalk, input is from a variety of sources and sometimes 
misconceptions that I have are set straight.  I have found some 
fantastic stuff on the web thanks to being pointed in that direction in 
someone's posting..

Because the internet is an equal opportunity conduit for ideas the good 
and bad ideas can be equally valid on the surface... use what you see on 
the reflectors as a starting point and you should be fine... like one of 
my medical doctors tells me - do not believe everything you see on the 
internet!

Season's

Jim, K4OJ