BALUN

by T.N.Kundra, DE

What is a Balun ?

It is a type of transformer used to convert balanced input into unbalanced output or vice versa.
It may not necessarily provide impedance transformation over a wide frequency range. Most
popular use of a balun is with TV receiving antenna, especially with Yagi antenna having a
folded dipole which has two important characteristics :-

i) Its bandwidth is over an octave (say 120 MHz to 240 MHz)

ii) Its characteristic impedance is almost constant (300 ohms)

Folded dipole

Balun

Coax Cable

Fig. 1

The folded dipole has a balanced output whereas a coaxial cable has an unbalanced
characteristic. Although a 300 ohm coaxial cable can be made yet 50 or 75 ohm cable is
preferred.

What are balanced and unbalanced lines ?

A balanced line is one that has two conductors which have equal currents in opposite directions
(180o out of phase) such as a 2-wire open pair or twisted pair. An unbalanced line has one
conductor and a ground e.g. coaxial cable.

In a balun, one pair of terminals is balanced and its two wires have currents equal in magnitude
and opposite in phase. The other pair of terminals is unbalanced with one wire carrying the
signal and the other connected to ground. Any noise or unwanted signal picked up by the
balanced line is picked up by both wires. These signals cancel each other, being 180o out of
phase, at the centre-tapped transformer. This is called common mode rejection (CMR). Typical
common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) figures are 40-70 dB. This means that the noise picked
up by the 2-wire balanced line is attenuated by 40-70 dB.
 Balanced Unbalanced signal
signal

Fig. 2 Balanced to Unbalanced Conversion

Baluns can be used between various parts of a communications system e.g.

Balanced Unbalanced
Yagi Antenna (Folded dipole) Coaxial Cable
300 ohm ribbon cable Colour TV Receiver
FM Receiver Coaxial Cable
Parallel wire transmission line Coaxial output of transmitter
-do- Coaxial transmission line.

Impedance Transformation

Some baluns may provide impedance transformation in addition to conversion between

balanced and unbalanced signal modes, where-as others may provide only conversion. The
most common impedance transformation ratio is 1 : 4 (or 4 : 10). But ratios 1 : 9, 1 : 10 or 1 : 16
are also prevalent. Most TV and FM broadcast receivers are designed for 300 – ohm balanced
systems whereas coaxial cables have characteristic impedance of 50 or 75 ohms. Therefore,
baluns with 1:4 transformation ratio are frequently used in these systems.

A balun should be used with purely resistive loads to obtain optimum efficiency. A balun can be
in the form of a transformer at lower frequencies (Fig.3) or can be made out of a coaxial cable
itself (Fig. 4) at higher frequencies at which transformer losses become excessive.

BALANCED

UNBALANCED

Fig. 3 Transformer Balun

 BALANCED
/2

UNBALANCED

Fig. 4 Cable Balun

In the cable Balun, the balanced output is taken across ½ wave-length (for 180o phase
difference) by tapping a point on the cable as shown.

Balun Construction

The transformer balun consists of a few turns of a bifilar winding on a ferrite toroidal core as
shown in Fig. 5.
UNBALANCED

1 to 4 BALANCED

Fig. 5 Transformer Balun

The balun is housed in a suitable metallic enclosure. A BNC connector is normally used for the
unbalanced input whereas nylon binding posts are suitable for the balanced output