Navigation

     Contact Details

     Peter Miles
     Northam, Western Australia
     QRZ Page: VK6YSF

 

     Email

     

 

       Social Media

             

 

    Buy me a coffee

If you found information on this site interesting, beneficial, or learned something new, please consider buying me a cup of coffee by clicking the coffee cup below. It helps keep the website going and is greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

CHOKING BALUN FOR LOW BAND VHF

Choking balun for upper HF to lower VHF bands. (10MHz - 60MHz).


 

Requiring a choking balun to isolate the potential common mode RF on the coax cable for a new 6m band Ringo antenna. 

 

 

Figure 1 Schematic of the 1:1 choking balun  

 

Type 

Choking Balun

Ratio

1:1

Frequency Range

14 ~ 54MHz

Choking Impedance

2k Ohms minimum. Ref: Figure 3

Core Used

FT140-43 Ferrite Toroid Core

Number of turns

8 (4 + 4). Ref: Figure 2

SWR

1:1 Ref: Figure 4

 

 

 

Figure 2 Winding details of the 1:1 choking balun  

 

Construction

 

The construction was simply to wind 8 turns of RG174 coax onto a FT140-43 Ferrite Toroid Core. The result of 8 turns achieved an average of 40uH lumped value inductive reactance to common mode RF currents from approximately 10MHz to 70MHz.

Parts list.

  • FT140-43 Ferrite Toroid Core

  • About 0.3mtr of RG174 coax.

  • 2 x N type chassis mount connector

  • Sealed Polycarbonate Enclosures 82 x 80 x 55mm

 

 

Photo 1 Low band choking balun assembled. 

 

 

 

Photo 2 Rear view of the Low band choking balun assembled showing the hose clamp mast attachments. 

 

 

Testing

 

The AIM 4170C antenna analyser recorded in Figure 2 show the Impedance as measured in the coax shield presents an acceptable 2000 Ohms or greater from 14MHz to about 54MHz.

 

 

Figure 3 The evaluation of the choking impedance of the balun over a bandwidth from 10MHz- 60MHz.

 

 

 

Figure 4 The evaluation of the balun with a 50 ohm load over a bandwidth from 10MHz- 70MHz. The balun shows a very low  SWR from the ideal 1:1 and despite the visual appearance in the graph this result is almost perfect and flat.

  

Also see other baluns and ununs:

 

BALUN 1:1 CHOKE & 1:4 BALUN  HF ladder feed-line to coaxial cable combination choke and 1:4 balun. (0.1MHz - 30MHz). 

BALUN 1:1 CHOKING Choking balun for lower HF and MF bands. (200kHz - 10MHz).

CHOKING 1:1 BALUN - HF BANDS Reisert choking balun. (1.0MHz - 30MHz). FT240-43 Ferrite Toroid Core.

CHOKING 1:1 BALUN - HF BANDS Reisert choking balun (1.5MHz - 30MHz). FT140-43 Ferrite Toroid Core.

CHOKING 1:1 BALUN - LOW VHF BAND Choking balun. (10MHz - 60MHz). FT140-43 Ferrite Toroid Core.

BALUN 1:1 CURRENT 1:1 Guanella Current balun using a L15 ferrite core (1.8 - 30MHz).

BALUN 1:4 CURRENT 1:4 Guanella Current balun using a L15 ferrite core (1.8 - 30MHz).

BALUN 1:4 SINGLE CORE CURRENT 1:4 Guanella Current Balun, single FT240-43 ferrite toroid cores. (0.3MHz - 30MHz). 

BALUN 1:1 VOLTAGE 1:1 Ruthroff voltage balun using a T-200-2 powdered iron toroid core  (1.8 - 30MHz).

BALUN 4:1 VOLTAGE 4:1 Ruthroff voltage balun using a T-200-2 powdered iron toroid core  (1.8 - 30MHz).

BALUN 6:1 VOLTAGE - VERSION 1 6:1 Voltage balun using a L15 ferrite toroid core  (1.8 - 30MHz).

BALUN 6:1 VOLTAGE - VERSION 2 6:1 Voltage balun using a FT140-43 Ferrite Toroid Core  (1.8 - 30MHz)

BALUN 9:1 VOLTAGE - VERSION 1 9:1 Voltage balun using a L15 ferrite toroid core  (1.8 - 30MHz).

BALUN 9:1 VOLTAGE - VERSION 2 9:1 Voltage balun using a FT140-43 Ferrite Toroid Core  (0.5 - 60MHz).

UNUN 9:1 VOLTAGE 9:1  voltage unun using a T-200-2 powdered iron toroid core  (1.8 - 30MHz). 

UNUN 9:1 VOLTAGE VERSION 2 9:1  voltage unun using a L15 ferrite core (1.8 - 30MHz). 

UNUN 9:1 VOLTAGE VERSION 3 9:1  voltage unun using a FT140-43 ferrite core (0.5 - 60MHz).

 

 

TOP OF PAGE

Page last revised 25 September, 2019

 

 

   Space Weather

   https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/

    

26 January

   Notice Board

VK6YSF JS8Call and Olivia 8/250 operations.

Current activity is generally focused - though not restricted to - JS8Call operations on the 20m, 30m, and 40m bands.

Olivia 8/250 is used occasionally on the 20m band.

Proposed band and mode activity is often communicated on HamSpots: https://hamspots.net/js8/ or my profile on 

X: https://x.com/vk6ysf97230 .  

Feel free to contact me to discuss or arrange a schedule for a contact.

Post date: 2 January 2026

 

Western Australian SSTV net 

Popular Western Australian SSTV net for both digital and anolog SSTV.

Generally found at 7214.0kHz LSB every afternoon from 08:00 UTC (4:00pm WST)

For more details: https://www.wasstv.net/wasstv.net/index.html

Post date: 8 December 2025

 

VK6MJM LF (136kHz) and MF (474kHz) Beacon

VK6MJM is a  LF/MF station located in Manjimup, Western Australia.

Common Mode: FST4W 300 (Similar to WSPR)  

Note: other modes and sub-modes may be used.

Station details were presented by Peter Hall (VK6HP) at PerthTech 2024.Presentation PDF: Peter Hall VK6HP at PerthTech

QRZ Page: VK6MJM on QRZ.com

Post date: 10 March 2025

 

 

 

 

All content may be used for unlimited distribution with full credits.

Amateur Radio Station VK6YSF - Promoting amateur radio communication and experimentation.