HAM Equipment 1-30Mhz Shortwave Radio Balun Kit NXO-100 Magnetic Balance Amateur Radio Antennas DIY

IMO, failure to provide the promised assembly info by email is a legitimate complaint. Contrary to 300cPilot's optimistic review introduction, it IS possible to assemble this kit "wrong," depending on your needs, simply because it has the potential to be so versatile. That's a mixed blessing. It should not be left up to the end user to have to research absolutely everything.Having said that, however, I give 300cPilot's review 5 Stars for filling in lots of the gaps and directing us to the necessary resources. Thank you! If you consider building this kit, take screen shots of his full review for your future reference, and also the product description section of the listing, and of each of the vendor's photos as well. Do this before you buy, so the info will be on your own computer even if the product is discontinued later.The ferrite toroid seems barely adequate for light duty at 100 watts. That's fine for my intended use, but don't expect to be happy at any higher power or if you're long-winded during your transmissions.As for value for the money, it is fair, but after purchasing this one I noticed there are seemingly identical kits available on Amazon for a few dollars less. For several dollars more, on the other hand, you can find kits with beefier toroids and more substantial boxes. I use one of the latter (purchased elsewhere) for my main antenna, but remain hopeful that this kit will provide reliable service on my smaller, portable setup. The major challenge I see thus far is getting my aging fingers to work well enough to screw the socket into place securely.

If you’re building a one-off antenna, this is good alternative to purchasing the components individually. If you expect to build multiples, you’re better off getting the parts in bulk. The overall quality is good: the kit includes a decent SO-239 bulkhead connector, stainless hardware, and a pre-drilled enclosure with a water-resistant seal and weep holes. I didn’t use the included magnet wire nor toroid for this project, and I’m unsure what mix the latter is (31?). The T130-2 is installed is as large as would fit in the tiny enclosure, which is fine; I wanted a nice-looking little transformer, rather than my usual hacked up project boxes.Edit: research suggests that the included “NXO-100” toroid is a NiZn composite material, corresponding to mix mix 43, 52, or 61, which may be suitable for EFHW autotransformers, but lacks adequate common mode choking impedance in other applications. YMMV!To those leaving poor reviews based on the lack of an included manual: the description indicates that instructions are available from the seller. There are so many ways to wind a balun or unun that including printed instructions would be impractical (and a waste of paper) IMHO.

This kit doesn't come with instructions, so there is no wrong way to assemble it! Actually I would encourage anyone to try this project.However a quick google search will find you more than you wanted to know. The kit has the ability to be assembled several different ways, I chose a 9:1 Unun for a long wire. As you can see in my final picture the winding's were loose. This is because I waited to shrink the tubing until it was wrapped. I have since taken it apart and re-wrapped it. The math I found on a website said I needed 11 wraps, an odd number, but hey it is a kit to play with and learn along the way. Google vk6ysf and you will find it.The bottom screws on the PL259 were a little tricky to get on, but with small fingers or pliers you can do it. Also I found that the varnish on the wire was more difficult to get off with sand paper, but did come off. If you want you can apply some heat and it will come off easier. I also cut off the top screws on the PL259 connector, this was to provide a little more clearance. Possibly to cut my finger on later as well.I spent a total time of about 90 minutes putting this together, but I did have to take it apart again after finishing. Still do not know what the white piece of rubber is for, maybe to hang it from? If you want it to be water proof then put silicone on everything.After testing this was able to be tuned just fine with my Yaesu FT-991a internal tuner.Edit: The white rubber piece is the seal for the lid.

You will need to locate something similar or a competitors product to get the instructions to assemble. It is not difficult yet leaves doubt if the balun is same size as others instructions provide, I would not buy again. Never received an email. No way to get one since you are not allowed to enter address here. There is no place in this page wjere there are instructions as indicated.

I did not get the promised email with instructions and if support from the vendor is what you need it deserves zero stars for unfulfilled promise. I did find some good youtube information. The kit was of reasonable quality though some holes were misaligned. Easy to fix since the shell is soft. Your mileage may vary. There was not enough wire for the ten wraps they mention but the youtubes were doing nine wraps and that's what I did. The kit went together easily though I had to use a piece of wire I had on hand for one connection. They really should have been a bit more generous with the wire. Since they state that the 1:9 is for people with an antenna tuner I can't gig them for that. It could be that I would have gotten better results with a longer wire, I don't know.I am space limited for the long wire and used 18 meters long. I tested across HF Amateur bands. If you have a good antenna tuner it will let you use a convenient but compromised long wire antenna. See the table.

Price was good, toroid was not coated and had a sharp edge on the outer surface. Using a NanoVNA analyzer it measured close to expected specifications for 1:9. When making the last three solder connections care should be used to protect the enclosure.

I had no dislikes. It was used to make an impedance matching transformer

It was easy to build and work very well with my longwire antenna