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Choke or not?
- Thread starter stingray
- Start date
I wish I would have choked mine before I put it up. Why do I feel funny saying that?
It's really a pain in the rear testing antennas in a neighborhood. Up, down, up, down. It's a lot of work to do with limited space.
The reason I didn't choke it to begin with was because I was attempting to see if a choke was going to make a difference or not. Well for the time and trouble just to run a test to see if 6ft of coax wound in 4" loops helps I feel it's worth it to do the choke and always wonder if it did help.
I purchased a tower recently so I will be pulling my antenna down yet again. This time whatever goes back up with have a choke on it.
It's really a pain in the rear testing antennas in a neighborhood. Up, down, up, down. It's a lot of work to do with limited space.
The reason I didn't choke it to begin with was because I was attempting to see if a choke was going to make a difference or not. Well for the time and trouble just to run a test to see if 6ft of coax wound in 4" loops helps I feel it's worth it to do the choke and always wonder if it did help.
I purchased a tower recently so I will be pulling my antenna down yet again. This time whatever goes back up with have a choke on it.
I am putting up a new in the box Antenna Specialists Mighty Magnum 3.
(half wave) it must be from the 70's.
Did you see this thread on that antenna?
http://www.worldwidedx.com/cb-antennas/27835-mighty-magnum-iii-1-2-wave-ground-plane.html
BTW, I don't know how long the radials are on that antenna. If they're shorter than they should be, use the choke.
http://www.worldwidedx.com/cb-antennas/27835-mighty-magnum-iii-1-2-wave-ground-plane.html
BTW, I don't know how long the radials are on that antenna. If they're shorter than they should be, use the choke.
i'm kinda wondering,..... just HOW are you going to (accurately) measure any "difference" between with/without a choke?
btw, install the choke the first time, even if you have to add extra coax
hookedon6, I think I can tell by use of my mobile field strength meter either sitting on my SWR meter or runing it along side of the feed line, near the back of the radio and/or out near the antenna support. I think we just want to see if the FS meter responds and and maybe record how much if we want to try a fix. The best way to really tell however, is to use a good clamp on amp meter, but they are just not as convient. Some would argue that just moving the coax around with your hand will tell you what you need to know.
I don't believe either way would be considered an accurate quantity measure, but a simple response or no response may be all we really need to know with such a test.
Another fairly simple test if a choke is doing anything is did it 'improve' anything? As in less RFI, which is probably the reason why someone would use a choke anyway?
'Chokes' do work. Maybe not the best thing in the world, but they work, and are certainly simple/cheap to use. They seldom if ever cause problems. They can certainly 'hide' a problem that ought'a be corrected, but don't tend to cause harm in themselves. They are also sort of frequency specific. What works on one band may not do anything on another band. One size does not fit all, but then, neither does them 'one size fits all' shoes. If it's a matter of do it or wait till you have to, why wait? Sort of like insurance, and 'insurance salesmen'. Which is a totally different thingy and I don't wanna go there.
- 'Doc
'Chokes' do work. Maybe not the best thing in the world, but they work, and are certainly simple/cheap to use. They seldom if ever cause problems. They can certainly 'hide' a problem that ought'a be corrected, but don't tend to cause harm in themselves. They are also sort of frequency specific. What works on one band may not do anything on another band. One size does not fit all, but then, neither does them 'one size fits all' shoes. If it's a matter of do it or wait till you have to, why wait? Sort of like insurance, and 'insurance salesmen'. Which is a totally different thingy and I don't wanna go there.
- 'Doc
MARCONI & W5LZ don't get me wrong, i use a choke coil @ hf. they are cheap and easy.
my point was , i see certain things often getting "credit" for outrageous Db gain figures or other similar concepts, often with out any real testing at all.... and each time the story is retold, the figures change.
my point was , i see certain things often getting "credit" for outrageous Db gain figures or other similar concepts, often with out any real testing at all.... and each time the story is retold, the figures change.