[TowerTalk] Feed Point Choke Question

Kirk Kleinschmidt sohosources at yahoo.com
Fri Nov 6 14:39:45 EST 2020


Hi, gang,
I'm racing the arrival on Minnesota's winter, and I need to install a hexagonal beam on top of my short test tower.
In the past, when building RF chokes onto FT-240-43 or FT-240-31 ferrite cores, I wrap the turns tightly around the core. With my RG-8X rotator loop, I'm not sure that I should wrap them so tightly?
The G3??? Hex Beam SK from karinya.net tested a bunch of RF chokes, and one of his recipes that should work for a 20-10 antenna is 5 turns of RG-58 around an above-mentioned Type 43 core.
Question: Do I have to wrap the turns tightly (risking center conductor migration?), or can I loop the 5 turns through the core with a 2-inch bending radius?
If that makes a difference, should I add additional 2-inch-radius loops? I tested and can get as many as 10 turns through the core.
NOTE: I do not have time to purchase different cores, cables, etc. Winter is 48 hours away. :)
I have suitable lengths of RG-58, RG-8X, RG-213 (don't wanna cut it tho), LMR-240, RG-6 quad, LMR-400 clone (can get from a fellow ham) on hand to make this rotator loop/choke. I have FT-240-43 and FT-240-31 cores on hand,
Thanks, as always,
Kirk, NT0Z

My book, "Stealth Amateur Radio," is now available from www.stealthamateur.com and on the Amazon Kindle (soon)


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