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Typical half-wave end-fed antenna kits include either a 9:1 or 49:1 toroidal balun or unun, which is a transformer for impedance matching, but with one primary winding endpoint (for the coax shield) shorted to an end of the secondary winding (the counterpose attachment) of the unun transformer windings.

What happens if this short is eliminated, making the unun into an isolation transformer? (9:1 or 49:1 or another suitable ratio to match the feedpoint impedance, perhaps with an added multi-MOhm static bleed resistor, if conditions require that).

Will antenna performance change? And if so, how?

hotpaw2
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Interesting. Assume half-wave resonant antenna. The feed point in the middle (just a series source, or a transformer) results in 70 Ohm real impedance. When the antenna height is lower a match to 50 Ohm is sometimes possible.

When moving the source insertion point in the direction of one of the ends the impedance grows up to beyond 1500 Ohm (depending on the environment) with a complex part in series: the capacitance of the shorter part of the line.

The asymptotic case that the "rest of the antenna length" is short as, just an example, 1 meter results in 10 pF in the chain: series impedance of counterpoise (10 pF with very low radiation resistance), feed point resistance (up to 1500 Ohm) and some losses.

In my working life I wondered about the counterpoise of a short-wave portable with a telescopic antenna of about 1 meter. The counterpoise was just the radio (without additional wires functioning as ground). In fact this set-up is a vertical dipole with very a-symmetric feedpoint, just as in your question but in total not as long as a half-wave. The counterpoise with dimensions 20 x 10 x 4 cm (portable radio) is for shortwave close to 30 pF with almost zero Ohm real. The telescopic antenna is 10 pF with very low radiation resistance: for reception it is a capacitive sensor in the E-field. Total source impedance for the low-noise (FET or tuned circuit) amplifier is close to 7.5 pF and almost zero Ohm real. (This antenna set-up is NOT for transmitters!)

So you need a counterpoise.

Mike Waters
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The coax connection is technically not a short, as the path still has to go through the transformer. Also, a 49:1 balun has a different number of turns for primary and secondary windings, where an isolation transformer has the same number of turns and is similar to a 1:1 balun. While an isolation transformer may reduce common mode current, it will not correct the impedance mismatch the 9:1 or 49:1 balun is designed to fix, and it may not have the power carrying capacity of a balun designed for transmission.

Additionally, some balun designs use two or three wires wound around the core together, with the coax shield connected to one of the wires on both ends. Removing one of these connections would effectively remove one of the windings of the transformer. Removing what you incorrectly see as a "short" does not turn it into an isolation transformer.

You can run an end fed antenna without an impedance transformer, but the result is a large impedance mismatch that must be dealt with. See What is the impedance of an end-fed half-wave antenna?

A common half wave end fed antenna is the J-pole or the end fed zepp. This antenna uses a quarter wave open wire transmission line as an impedance transformer. The transmission line (of any impedance) is shorted at one end (Z=0) and open at the other (Z=infinite), and a feed point is placed in between where Z=~50. The radiating element is connected to one side of the open end. The J-pole typically has a separate 1:1 balun, but this isn't strictly necessary. (An effective "air core" balun for this would be 5-10 turns of coax bound in a coil.)

user10489
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