[TowerTalk] 2 Meter Balun Question

[Mickey Baker]

Engineers and proficient technical people live in a world of measurement,
optimization, and facts. Lots of things "work." Someone may use an antenna
with an unmatched 3:1 swr and get to the DXCC Honor Roll. I'm sure it has
happened.

But questions are posed and, hopefully, answered factually. Anecdotally,
there is the story of the ham who WAS on a light bulb. Yes, it worked, but
it was far from an optimal solution, I think we can all agree. With
tenacity, I'm sure someone could work all states on 20m or any
other band with a transmitter connected to a marine band antenna, but it
would be far from optimum.

As an engineer, I cringe when these anecdotes are told in context of an
answer to a technical  question. They're entertaining, but not factually
helpful.

The problem is that the uninitiated user might not know the difference
between good advice and an entertaining anecdote.

If you really want to work 2m optimally, an antenna made for a frequency
12% away isn't the right choice, unless it is vastly less hassle to deploy
and use. Then, it might work, but it could be 50% as efficient, again
depending upon a number of factors as not yet discussed here.

Mickey N4MB

On Friday, November 22, 2013, Patrick Greenlee wrote:

> Absolutely no offense taken.  I read with interest and appreciate your
> contributions to the technical issues on this site.
>
> I am just standing up for a solution that was good enough and proven to be
> so over a period of decades.  Perfection is a wonderful goal but not always
> cost effective in time, or dollars.  The OP apparently has the MB antenna.
> If he tries it and gets acceptable results then no harm done.  If it
> doesn't work acceptably for him then he can profit from the tech
> suggestions offered here.  Should be a win-win for him.
>
> 73
>
> Patrick AF5CK
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Jim Brown
> Sent: Friday, November 22, 2013 12:59 AM
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] 2 Meter Balun Question
>
> On 11/21/2013 1:17 PM, Patrick Greenlee wrote:
>
>> I think the light bulb comment is unwarranted.
>>
>
> I'm sorry if you're offended -- none was intended. But most of us who
> have heard Tom speak on the topic have found the story a clever way of
> observing that some things work better than others. I have a vertical
> half-wave dipole for 40M hanging next to a very tall redwood, and I can
> make a lot of QSOs with it and get good signal reports. But if I switch
> to a high horizontal dipole in he middle of the QSO, the other station
> will tell me the horizontal dipole is ten dB louder.
>
> My comments were specifically written for the original poster, and to
> give him enough ideas to think intelligently about his problem.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>


-- 
Mickey Baker, N4MB
Fort Lauderdale, FL
*“Tell me, and I will listen. Show me, and I will understand. Involve me,
and I will learn.” *Teton Lakota, American Indian Saying.