Lightning Protection using Relays
The topic of lightning protection of our radio equipment and everything else in our homes wisely comes up often in the various ham related email lists on the Internet.
A particular thread on one of these lists spoke of ways to disconnect coax, rotator control lines, etc. at or near where they come into the building. One implementation described by some fellow used relays to disconnect things so he could through one switch and instantly isolate his radios from the antennas.
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The topic of balanced to unbalanced converters is broad, detailed and deserving of study to apply them where needed. However, this post will discuss the simplest balun of all… the Choke Balun.
Last March while preparing multiple backyard antennas for the Virginia QSO Party, I needed a way to use just one coax out to the back yard. A coax switch was in order. Cash is always limited and I was seriously thinking about the Ameritron products… especially the four port model that does not need a separate control cable. However, I read some reviews suggesting the Ameritron RCS-4 works fine, but has leakage to the un-selected ports albeit small. I continued to search for switch and remembered DX Engineering has some models to consider. I have purchased other DX Engineering products and find them excellent.
