160m-6m

Bands

5 kW

Output

Frequency	1.5-54 MHz
TX power	5000 W (5 kW from 1-35 MHz, derating to 3 kW for 35-54 (resonant load) - the maker rates by range, not by wish)
Modes	all

Connectors

rf in	SO-239 (coax input)
rf out	stainless steel stud terminals (balanced output to antenna wire)
power req	none (passive)

A 4:1 CURRENT balun on stacked dual cores - the Guanella architecture (whose ham-radio gospel was written by Sevick) that transforms impedance while still choking common-mode, which single-core 4:1 voltage designs cannot 1.5-54 MHz rated 5 kW through 35 MHz and 3 kW above, wound with heavy 14 AWG 'Allex 240' polyamideimide wire INSIDE Teflon tubes over Fair-Rite custom-mix cores - the breakdown-voltage build that shrugs at high-SWR voltage peaks (the famous Thermaleze winding belongs to its 4115 sibling) The mission profile: OCF dipoles, doublets, and multiband wires whose feedpoint lives in the few-hundred-ohm neighborhood - the 200-to-50 transformation with the common-mode discipline those antennas desperately need The dual-core current architecture is exactly what the OCF literature's deep-divers prescribe over lone voltage or single-core current designs Family ladder: the 4113 carries 3 kW for less, the 4116 hybrid adds an integrated 1:1 choke stage, and OCF-specific variants exist - the maker's catalog reads like a balun taxonomy lesson Small Texas maker (Bob Rumsey, building in Denton since 2005) with a cult following; the 4x4x2 NEMA-4X marine box terminates in your choice of a six-variant stud/eyebolt/wingnut menu plus SO-239 or N

Strengths

The buy-once 4:1 for serious wire antennas: dual-core Guanella current architecture does the transformation without surrendering common-mode control, the Teflon-tube winding survives the voltage spikes that kill bargain baluns at band edges, and 5 kW of margin means the amplifier upgrade never revisits this purchase. The maker's application guidance is half the product.

Weaknesses

Triple the price of import 4:1s (the cores and Teflon are where the money went), heavier than wire antennas expect (plan the center support), and a 4:1 is only right when the impedance actually needs quartering - the maker's own catalog will talk you into a different ratio if your antenna wants one.

Verdict

The reference 4:1 current balun of the wire-antenna world: if an OCF or doublet is the station's backbone, this is the component that stops being a variable. Budget builds survive with less; nothing this side of homebrew does it better.

The Model 4114 is the wire-antenna world's reference 4:1, and its architecture is the entire argument: stacked transmission-line transformer cores in the arrangement Guanella invented - the architecture Jerry Sevick spent a career measuring and championing for hams - which transforms 200-ohm-neighborhood feedpoints to coax while still functioning as a common-mode choke. That dual nature is what separates current baluns from the voltage 4:1s sold cheaper: on antennas like OCF dipoles, whose offset feed guarantees common-mode current, the distinction is the difference between a quiet feedline and a radiating one.

The construction is where the price went: heavy 14-gauge 'Allex 240' polyamideimide wire run inside Teflon tubes over Fair-Rite custom-mix cores raises the breakdown voltage far beyond bare-wire windings - the celebrated Thermaleze winding is its 4115 sibling's recipe - which matters because multiband wires at their SWR extremes develop voltage peaks that quietly murder bargain baluns. The rating tells the same story by the numbers, honestly split: 5 kilowatts through 35 MHz, 3 above it. Hardware follows house style - a 4x4x2 NEMA-4X marine enclosure, SO-239 (or N) below, and a six-variant menu of stud, eyebolt, and wingnut terminations above - and the maker's catalog surrounds the 4114 with a taxonomy of siblings: the 3 kW Model 4113 below it, the 4116 hybrid (an integrated 1:1 choke stage behind the 4:1, the very architecture the OCF deep-dive literature prescribes) beside it, and application pages that will cheerfully talk you out of a 4:1 entirely if your antenna wants a different ratio.

That guidance culture is the small maker's signature - Bob Rumsey has run the Denton, Texas shop since 2005, signing technical articles as recently as last fall, with a cult following built on answering the question before selling the toroid. For Windom-family wires, doublets fed occasionally at awkward impedances, and any antenna whose balun keeps becoming the suspect, the 4114 is the component that retires from the suspect list. The import-priced alternatives are a third the cost and, at band-edge voltages, intermittently a third the balun.

Balun Designs Model 4114