by Tony van Roon

Toroids & RF-chokes, come in different shapes and sizes, like in donut, tube, and stick models,
and are used on a large scale in a variety of electronic equipment. Toroids can be of different
materials, like Ferrite or Iron. The most common applications today are filtering, and
transformers. If you check your cable at the back of your computer monitor you will find one, or
even two, on the cable going to your computer. They are also used in Power Supplies, Radio,
Ham Radio, Scanners, Transmitters, Transformers, and Electro-Magnet applications.
Here is an excellent link to provide more 'Amidon' information: Bytemark Inc.

Below I have made up 4 tables with the most common-size toroids. I hope they can be of some
assistance to you. The µ stands for the permeability factor of the core. All measurements are
given in 'inches'. I don't have or know the info in mm (metric) so don't ask.
Iron Powder Properties:
Material Basic-powder Permeability (µ) Freq.Range(MHz) Color-Code
0 Phenolic 1 100 - 300 Tan
1 Carbonyl C 20 0.5 - 5.0 Blue
2 Carbonyl E 10 2.0 - 30.0 Red
3 Carbonyl HP 35 0.05 - 0.5 Gray
 6 Carbonyl SF 8 10 - 50 Yellow
7 Carbonyl TH 9 5.0 - 35.0 White
10 Carbonyl W 6 30 - 100 Black
12 Synthetic Oxide 4 50 - 200 Green/White
15 Carbonyl GS6 25 0.10 - 2.0 Red/White
17 Carbonyl 4 50 - 200 Blue/Yellow
26 Special 75 LF Filters,Chokes Yellow/White
*Non Linear: Material #17 was developed as a temperature stable (50) alternative to the #12
(170). Frequency ranges shown are for best 'Q'/Useful over broader frequency ranges with lower
'Q'.

The photograph at left shows a Toroid Red 'E' Iron core

and is used in a QRP CW-transmitter (morse-code) application
in the 30-meter band.

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Copyright © 1999, by Tony van Roon
Last updated January 8, 2006