Review on 📻 Affordable Balun One Nine v2: Compact 9:1 (1:9) Enclosed Balun with Input Protection for Improved HF & Shortwave Reception. Ideal for Software Defined Radio (RTL-SDR & SDRPlay), Ham It Up, and Compatible Radios. by Lance Story

I should have followed my instinct and not bought the product. Typically Chinese, the descriptions of suitable transformers are often wrong, but that is literally true. It's BALUN and he's acting like one. Most commonly, baluns have a 1:1 and 1:4 ratio and are used to isolate lines or dipole antennas. At higher values like 9:1 or 49:1 the core is wound as UnUn for use with random and half-wave wire antennas where ground or counterpoise are not as critical. What does that mean for you? This means that a ground or counterpoise is absolutely necessary to have any meaningful signal level. When I connected a 35ft cable to the antenna connector (not grounded) and this Balun One Nine, the signals on my RSPdx were about 10-12dB LOWER than on my passive YouLoop. When I connected the cable directly to the middle pin of the SMA and removed the Balun One Nine, the signal level increased by about 8dB. I built my own UnUn 9:1 and it is used with 125 feet of wire fed through 50 ohm coax and NO GROUND. I was hoping the description was wrong and I would have something small for portable use with a shorter antenna. It's a shame because it's very small, well made and comes with useful plug adapters.