= NOW 40 WPM = ANTENNA IS THE RESONANT HALF WAVE DIPOLE, WHICH HAS THE BENEFICIAL PROPERTY THAT IF YOU FEED IT AT THE CENTER, WITH THE TWO ELEMENTS EACH A QUARTER WAVELENGTH LONG, THE FEED POINT IMPEDANCE HAS NO REACTANCE AND IS PURELY RESISTIVE. THUS, IT IS EASY TO MATCH FOR MAXIMUM POWER TRANSFER FROM THE TRANSMITTER VIA A COAXIAL FEEDLINE. BUT ON A FULL WAVELENGTH DIPOLE, A CENTER FEED LOCATION IS ACTUALLY AN EXTREMELY HIGH IMPEDANCE POINT. LETS LOOK AT FIGURE 2, WHICH DEPICTS THE RMS ASK DAVE MYSTERY BALUNS, REVIVING A RADIO, DIPOLES, AND MORE ON SPLATTER DETERMINING A BALUN OR UNUNS RATIO Q I HAVE A COMMERCIALLY MADE BALUN IN MY JUNK BOX THAT I ONCE USED FOR A WHILE AND WOULD LIKE TO AGAIN, BUT THE LABEL HAS FADED. ITS EITHER 1 1 OR 4 1. IS THERE ANY TEST I CAN DO TO FIND OUT? A ABSOLUTELY, AND YOU PROBABLY HAVE THE REQUIRED EQUIPMENT IN YOUR HAM SHACK ALREADY. YOU NEED A RESISTANCE OF KNOWN VALUE USE A RESISTOR, OR EVEN YOUR DUMMY LOAD AS WELL AS AN ANTENNA ANALYZER. PLACE THE KNOWN RESISTANCE ACROSS THE OUTPUT TERMINALS OF THE BALUN, THEN CONNECT THE ANTENNA ANALYZER AS THOUGH YOU WERE MEASURING SWR, I RECOMMEND SWEEPING ACROSS A WIDE SECTION OF THE 80 METER BAND. THE ANALYZER WILL TYPICALLY MEASURE AND DISPLAY BOTH THE RESISTANCE AND THE REACTANCE. ESPECIALLY IN THE HF BANDS, THE REACTANCE SHOULD BE VERY LOW, BUT WERE JUST INTERESTED IN THE RESISTANCE MEASUREMENT. MY TEST SETUP IN FIGURE 1 USES A 100 RESISTOR. ON THIS 4 1 BALUN WE WOULD EXPECT A READING OF APPROXIMATELY 25. THE ANTENNA ANALYZER ACTUALLY READS 28, WHICH IS CLOSE ENOUGH TO CONFIRM THAT THE BALUN IS 4 1, AS INDICATED ON THE LABEL. WITH A 1 1 BALUN, WE WOULD EXPECT A READING APPROXIMATELY EQUAL TO THE VALUE OF THE RESISTANCE. PLEASE NOTE THAT HAM RADIO QUALITY TEST GEAR IS USUALLY INEXPENSIVE AND MAY GIVE RESULTS THAT ARE ONLY CLOSE TO THE EXPECTED VALUE. AS YOU TUNE THE ANTENNA ANALYZER ACROSS THE HF BAND, YOU WILL SEE SOME VARIATIONS IN THE MEASURED VALUES OF RESISTANCE AND REACTANCE. THAT IS WHY A LOW BAND SUCH AS 80 METERS IS IDEAL FOR THE MEASUREMENTS, AND IN SWEEPING ACROSS A WIDE ENOUGH SPECTRUM YOU SHOULD GET AN IDEA OF WHAT THE MEASURED RESISTANCE TENDS TO LEVEL OFF AT, SO YOU CAN IGNORE POSSIBLE FREQUENCY RELATED ABERRATIONS. IT SHOULD BE EASY AND OBVIOUS TO TELL WHETHER THE BALUN IS 1 1 OR 4 1. YOU CAN FIND A VIDEO THAT SHOWS THIS MEASUREMENT PROCESS ON THE ARRL YOUTUBE CHANNEL. BRINGING A SWAN BACK TO LIFE Q I AM TRYING TO REPAIR A SWAN 750CW HF TRANSCEIVER THAT EMITS SMOKE. I HAVE A SCHEMATIC WITH PIN TO CHASSIS VOLTAGES, BUT NEED A LIST OF TUBE PIN TO CHASSIS RESISTANCES. CAN YOU HELP? A IM VERY SORRY, I DONT HAVE A READY ANSWER FOR YOU. BUT IF THE UNIT IS SMOKING, UNPLUG IT AND LEAVE THE POWER OFF UNTIL YOU HAVE FOUND THE CAUSE. OLD RADIOS OFTEN SUFFER FROM COMPONENT AGING. RESISTORS, FOR EXAMPLE, CAN DRIFT TO VALUES WILDLY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT IS MARKED ON THEM. BUT CAPACITORS, MORE THAN ANYTHING, CAN POSE THE BIGGEST PROBLEMS. RADIO RESTORERS OFTEN REPLACE ALL THE CAPACITORS WITH MODERN COMPONENTS AS THEIR = END OF 40 WPM TEXT = QST DE W1AW <