[TowerTalk] Lexicon of Balun and Transformer Configurations

[Jim Brown]

Hi Maximi,

Thnaks for hMiniCircuits is a well established mfr of quality products. 
I've specified the for projects and used them myself for at least 40 
years, and their engineering catalog has been on my shelf even longer. 
It is the sort of catalog that REAL engineers love -- a lot of data in 
useable form, like Fair-Rite, Electro-Voice, the RCA tube manuals, and 
the app notes from a great semiconductor mfr.

BUT -- the word "balun" has been used in the last 30 years to describe 
at least ten sorts of things that were physically VERY different. In 
other words, "balun" has NO physical meaning -- it is a "concept" of 
somehow, in those en different ways, interfacing systems that are called 
"balanced" and ""un'balanced," in at least ten different physical forms. 
One is a common mode choke. Another is a transformer. Another is a 
section of transmission line. At least three are electronic devices. 
Some deal with audio, some with video, some with radio.

Erase the word "balun" from your vocabulary. It is nonsense.

BTW -- I was elected a Fellow of the Audio Engineering Society, where 
balanced and un-balanced transmission is a very big deal, a member of 
the Standards Committee of the Audio Engineering Society for for 40 
years, and my work on RF systems has been in the ARRL Handbook and 
Antenna Book for since about 2011.

73, Jim K9YC

On 11/13/2025 1:29 AM, Máximo EA1DDO_HK1H wrote:
> FYI
> 
> https://blog.minicircuits.com/lexicon-of-balun-and-transformer-configurations/
> 
> 73, Maximo EA1DDO
> 
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