Is there a difference between a RF choke and a RF coil ?

"George" schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Well,

A choke is a coil, but a coil is not necessarily a choke.

petrus bitbyter

Yes. The important feature of a choke is its impedance at some design frequency. It isn't always important that it look inductive. It may be close to self resonant. As long as it blocks passage of much current at the desired frequency, it will keep that frequency from getting across that boundary. Other coils may be much more constrained, because their Q and actual value of inductance take part in a resonance with other components. Or their mutual inductance to another coil may be important.

Yes. I guess a choke differs from a 'common coil' only inasmuch as its impedance to RF signals is very high (lots and lots of turns).

We agree on the purpose. we have different preferences for descriptive terms. I have no problem thinking of a blocking device as a decoupling mechanism. Decoupling involves either shunt or series elements or both.

The reactance or impedance of an inductance is dfirectly proportional to frequency. So at RF the choke is chosen to block or minimize the flow of electrical energy. Therefore I respectfully suggest that a choke is more of a 'blocking' device. The word 'decouple' IMHO is more suggestive of 'by-passing' or allowing electrical energy to flow; as in the manner of say a cathode decoupling capacitor.