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Bal Uns: What They Do and How They Do LT
Bal Uns: What They Do and How They Do LT
e u r r e n t s i n t h e t w o c o n d u c t o r st o b e i m b a l a n e e d ,
that is, other than equal and opposite. If this
h a p p e n s ,t h e b a l a n c e d f e e d l i n e w i l l r a d i a t e l i k e a
coaxial cable that has current on the outsideof the
s h i e l d . T h i s o c c u r s b e c a u s e t h e e o m p o n e n t so f t h e
currents on the two conductors that are equal and
opposite create fields whieh cancel. But the field
from any remaining eomponenton either eonductor
( c a i l e d a e o m m o n - m o d e ,s e e o n d a r y - m o d eo, r a n t e n n a
c u r r e n t ) w i l l c a u s e r a d i a t i o n . \ 4 . 5 . 6I n t h i s a r ticle, the eurfent on the outside of the coaxial
shield, or the antenna eurrent on the twin lead,
will be ealled the imbalanee current: They are
caused by the same things and produce the same
effeets.
Imbalanee eurrent, on either kind of line, is
the cause of a number of undesirable effects:
o pattern distortion (caused by the feed-line
r a d i a t i o n a d d i n g t o t h e a n t e n n a - r a d i a t e df i e l d ,
or by unequalcurrents in the antenna halves)
o TVI (radiation from a feed line coupling into
nearby television sets, house wiring, and so
on)
o R F i n t h e s h a c k ( e a u s e d b y a r r h o t t tr a d i a t o r the feed line - residingin the shack)
If you have read other articles on baluns, youtll
r e c o g n i z et h e s e a s t h e p r o b l e m s b a l u n s a r e s u p p o s e d
to solve. What isntt usually too clear is that they
are all caused by eurrent imbelanss, on either
eoaxial or twirrlead feed line. Of eourse, if the
imbalance current is suffieiently small to begin
w i t h , a b a l u n i s n o t n e c e s s a r ya t a l l . O r i t e a n b e
s a i d t h a t a p r o p e r l y d e s i g n e db a l u n w i l l n o t s o l v e
the problem being experienced.
What Causes S5ntem Imba-lance?
T h e f i r s t e a u s e o f i mb a l a n e e c u r r e n t s w a s
explained by I\4axwell. It will be repeated here for
c o m p l e t e n e s s .W h e n a b a l a n c e d a n t e n n a i s f e d w i t h
eoaxial eable (Fig.1), the outside of the shield
a p p e a r sa s a n e x t r a , s e p a r a t ee o n d u c t o rc o n n e e t e dt o
the right side of the antennaat the feed point. The
cunrent in the cablers center conductor flows into
the left half of the dipole. The equal and opposite
eurrent on the inside of the shield flows partly
into the right half of the dipole, and partly along
the outside of the shield. The proportionof current
w h i c h f l o w s e a e h w a y i s d e t e r m i n e db y t h e r e l a t i v e
i m p e d a n c e so f t h e t w o p a t h s . T h e c u r r e n t o n t h e
outside is the greatest when the total effective
length of the path along the outside of the eoaxial
eable from the antenna to ground is an integral
n u m b e r o f h a l f w a v e l e n g t h s ,s i n c e t h i s m a k e s t h e
i m p e d a n c ep r e s e n t e d b y t h e u n d e s i r a b l e p a t h
relatively low. If the rig is effectively an odd
n u m b e r o f q u a r t e r w a v e l e n g t h sf r o m a c t u a l g r o u n d ,i t
i s a t a v o l t a g e m a x i m u ma n d c a n b e h o t . O n t h e o t h e r
hand, there are other combinationsof lengths for
which the imbalance current will be negligible cases where a balun does not make any notieeable
difference.
The obvious solution to this problem is to feed
157
Current
--
r i - oq. .h f
to
ha'l
y' of dipole
Tnnan
fanndrrnl-nn
Current
to left
dipole
Rte
= CUrrenI
half of
Current on
outer surface
of shield
Current on
inner surface
ts^r1a
^ f
UI
AnnAcl
^ L i
^ t
JTTIgf,U
)nd
i
to
currents
Fig. 1 -- Inbalance causd by arrother path to
ground frorn only one side of the dipoJ-e.
the balanced antenna with a balanced feed line
you
problem
until
neatly,
twin lead. This solves the
encounter the problem which most of us have todayt
illustrated in Fig. 2. Suppose that we went ahead
and connected the line as shown schematically in
Fig.3. If the rig could be totaUy isolated front
ground, the feed-line conductor currents would be
-qual and opposite, just as they would be if coaxial
cable were used; the imbalance current would be
zero, and the feed line would not radiate.\1.
H o w e v e r ,w h e n w e c o n n e c t t h e r i g t o g r o u n d ,a s s h o w n
by the broken line, wetve again provided a third
conductor in parallel with the right side of the
feed line, and the same problem occurs as with the
coaxial cable (see Fig. 4). So either type of line
is unbalanced if a direct path to ground is provided
from one side, and both can be a balanced, nonradiating line if the imbalance current is eli minated.
Imbalance current can be eausedalso by
situations where the two sides of the antenna are
not precisely symmetricall Coupling to nearby objects, tne tilt relative to ground, or slight dilieren"es in lengths of the two antenna halves.\8
Another cause of imbalance currents is induction. lf
the feed line is not exactly placed at a right angle
to the antenna, a net current is induced into it by
the antenna fieid. This current appears as an imbalance current. At UHFr where the diameter of
c oaxial cable is a substantial fraction of the
length of the antenna elements, coaxial line is more
difficult to place symmetrically relative to the
antenna than twin lead is (ttris is sometimes given
as the only reBson for using a balun!). The problem
is negligible at VHF (except perhaps with very Iarge
diameter coaxial cable) or below.
What Baluns Do
Letts recall what we want a balun to do: cause
the currents in the feed-Iine conductors to be equal
in magnitude and opposite in phase, resulting in a
zero imbalance current. IIow well do the popular
balun types do this?
One type of balun is known as a transformertype balun- or balun with a tertiary winding (Fig.
158
I
I
I
H-7
Fig. 3 -- If the rig were isolated fronr gror.rnd,
the feed-line conductor currents would be equal
and opposite, the jnbalance current would be zero
and the feed ]i-ne would not radiate.
w
IN
OUT
Lr.lJ"A/ .
Both
Erperiments
A s e r i e s o f e x p e r i m e n t s w a s d e s i g n e dt o t e s t
the validity of the results of the theoretical
investigation.A 10-meter dipole was set about 12
f e e t a b o v e t h e g r o u n d ,a n d a b o u t f i v e f e e t a b o v e t h e
edge of an elevated woodendeck (Fig. ?). One-half
w a v e l e n g t hf r o m t h e e e n t e r o f t h e d i p o l e , a 4 - f o o t
r o d w a s d r i v e n i n t o t h e g r o u n d ,w h i e h w a s e o m p l e t e l y
saturated with water at the time the experiments
w e r e r u n ( d u r i n g N o v e m b e r , i n O r e g o n ) .T o f u r t h e r
l o w e r g r o u n d - s y s t e mi m p e d a n c e , s i x r a d i a l s w e r e
placed on the ground around the ground rod. Two feed
l i n e s w e r e e u t t o a h a l f w a v e l e n g t h :o n e o f R G - S 9 / U
coaxial eable, and one of 72-ohm transmitting twin
lead. The velocity factors of the eables were not
t a k e n i n t o a c e o u n t ,s i n c e t h e i n t e n t w a s t o h a v e t h e
outside of the coaxial cable, or the two parallel
c o n d u e t o r so f t h e t w i n l e a d , b e a n e l e c t r i e a l h a l f w a v e l e n g t hl o n g . A l o w - p o w e r 1 0 - m e t e r t r a n s m i t t e r
l o e a t e d a t , a n d c o n n e e t e dt o , t h e g r o u n d s y s t e m w a s
used as a signal souree.
Current probes and baluns were built as deseribed in Appendix 2. Two of the eurrent probes
w e r e p e r m a n e n t l yw i r e d i n t o e a c h s i d e o f t h e d i p o l e
near the feed point, and a third was used for all
f e e d - l i n e m e a s u r e m e n t sA
. single detector was used
f o r a l l m e a s u r e m e n t sa, n d i t w a s c a l i b r a t e d o v e r t h e
range of encountered output Ievels by using a signal
source and precision attenuator. The results of the
experimenthave been corrected to aeeount for the
m e a s u r e dn o n l i n e a r i t y o f t h e d e t e e t o r .
159
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160
2 and 6:
io balun
<J-----__.l
ex^
9,1
2,7
I9. 5
voltate
balun
current
bal,un
2 1. 3
17.3
9,8
balun
41,5
33.4
balun
34.6
32.6
balun
l-no
volra8e
Lcurrent
ba lun
voltage
erp. 3
4.8
3.J
l9.l
.xp.
0.3
14.5
1 3, 4
12.5
t0.4
l . 3. 4
10.4
L2,O
33.7
4:
S e e F i g . 1 1 . T h e d i p o l e w a s s y mm e t r i e a l . T h e
voltage balun was conneeted with the balaneed port
toward the antenna.
Discrlssion:
3 and 7:
161
e x p' 4
L!aBe
balun
b al u n
0, I
28.8
o 1
balun
balun
3.5
26.4
17.3
n.l.h^6i
D^-+
'rColdi'Side
4 1. 6
L62
Balun
balun
Baluns,
Yoltage Belun
The voltage balun was constructed using the
m e t h o d d e s e r i b e di n R e f . 8 . A p i e c e o f n o . 2 6 w i r e
was laid along a length of RG-178/U cable (smal]diameter Teflon-insulated eoaxial cable), and
heat-shrinkable tubing was applied over the assembly. The modified cable was wound on an FT82-61 core
using ten turns. This construetion method was
decided on after trying to wind a balun with two
pieces of coaxial cable in bifilar fashion, the
s h i e l d o f t h e s e e o n db e i n g c o n n e c t e da s t h e t e r t i a r y
winding. The latter construction method was much
poorer in providing good voltage balanee.
Voltage balance was evaluated by eonnecting the
cold side of the unbalanced port to a ground plane
and the balanced port to two resistors of unequal
v a l u e , t h e o t h e r e n d s o f w h i e h w e r e c o n n e c t e dt o t h e
same point on the ground plane. Using resistors of
27 and 54 ohms, the ratios of voltages appearing at
the two resistors were measured as about 3/4 and
L-1/2 dB, dependingon which resistor was connected
t o w h i c h l e a d o f t h e b a l a n e e do u t o u t .
Balun
Current
Cument Probe
The current probes were constructed as shown in
Fig.12. The output voltage equals ten times the
c u r r e n t , i n a m p e r e s , b e i n g m e a s u r e d .I n s e r t i o n
r e s i s t a n c ei s o n e o h m .
ui-L
?
LLL6LL-L
Low-Z
Unbalanced
Unbal-anced
Deteetor
The detector is shown in Fig. 13. It was
ealibrated using a signal source and precision
attenuators, at the operating frequency. Calibration
using a dc source was found to be inaceurate.
FT82-43
ferrite
#
Fig. A3-1 -
core
H{
-L
Low-Z
curtent-carryinB
lo
conductor
oe neasured
bifilar
lurns
on
FT37-72
feraire
core
detec!or
Fig. 12 D N Cn a l e
I
r.t-tT--f-Y
Current probe.
!o curlent
-Cemaniw
=
Fig. 13 -
probe
diode
.ool aF
, P
No other
ro Dvlt (10 Hetolh
inpu!
resistance)
to
this
connectlons
polnt.
163
\1 A v e r y c l e a r d e v e l o p m e n to f t h e p h e n o m e n o no f
Hi oh-7
Fig. A3-4 -
A superior
References
U
\2
M a x w e l l , W a l t e r , W 2 D U ' t ' S o m eA s p e c t s o f t h e
B a l u n P r o b l e m r t tQ S T , M a r c h 1 9 8 3 , p . 3 8 .
If a perfect shield is assumed(a reasonable
approximation for this analysis),the result
follows directly from Amperers Law. For a more
detailed explanation, see Electromagnetic Energy
Tlansmission and Radiation, by Richard B. Adler,
Lan Jen Chu, and Robert M. Fano(Wiley, 1960).
\s
\u
1 t
164