OCF Dipole

I was looking for a good performing, multi-band HF antenna that I could fit within the confines of my yard.  My original antenna was a 40m dipole made from some #14 THHN wire, hanging from some trees in my yard.  But I really wanted something that would work well on 80m-10m.  I kept hearing all these great things about the G5RV, but I remained unconvinced. While researching various antenna designs on the web, I ran across a 7-band “off-center fed dipole” made by Buckmaster.  They wanted $225.00 for this contraption.  Sounded like a great idea.

I did a bit more research on this antenna and what I found is that it is an 80m dipole, 135 feet long, but rather than being fed at the center it is fed at the 1/3 point.  The beauty of this for me is that it would work great in place of my 40m dipole, since I already trees to support it at one end, and at the feedpoint. The long end presented a bit more of a problem, but as it turns out I had a tree in the front corner of my lot that could be used, if I made a bend in the long leg of the antenna at the 45′ point.  And that’s what I did.

The OCF Dipole antenna is very simple.  As already mentioned it is fed at the 1/3 point.  So for 80m and up, you have one leg that is 45 feet long, and another leg that is 90 feet long.   Some tweaking may be needed, but mine was built within an inch or two of those measurements.  Further research indicates that the total length might need to be closer to 133′. Various sources gave different information on the feed point.   Some say a 9:1 balun, some say a 6:1 balun is required, and yet some say a 4:1 balun.  Others claim that it must be a current balun to work.

I already happened to have a 4:1 Unidilla voltage balun still in the package hanging in my garage.  So it was decided that I would use it. I ordered new antenna wire to use from TheWireman.com.  I chose their 13ga Toughcoat Silky (#531) wire.  It’s a copper-clad steel wire, with a protective insulation.  I wanted this antenna to last.  I spent about $50 on the wire, including shipping, but it should outlast the #14 wire I was using before, and it sure beats $225 for the commercial version.  Add some Dacron rope, the balun, and 3 insulators, and I have less than $75 total in the antenna.

Actual construction of the OCF Dipole was very straight forward.  My son helped me measure out the two legs of wire, as stated earlier we used 45′ and 90′.  We attached the legs to the balun, attached insulators to the ends of the wire, and one insulator for the middle of the long leg that can free slide on the wire.  We needed this as a support point where that leg makes a bend at the lot line and changes directions approx 40 degrees towards a tree in the front yard.  We tied some rope to the end insulators, and to the balun, and up the trees I went.

Ideal height for the feedpoint is around 30-35 feet.  I chickened out before getting that high, I ended up about 20 feet up.  I used RG8X for the coax, and let it hang down from the balun.  I slid 5 ferrite beads over the coax, and used shrink tubing to hold them in place.  By the way, Harbor Freight Tools is a great place to pick up an assortment of shrink tubing.

On-air testing seemed to indicate that the OCF Dipole antenna works quite well.  One of the first stations worked was in Siberia on 20m.  I later worked Switzerland on 40m. Both contacts were with 100W on my Yaesu FT-450. Other stations working the DX were running considerably more power than I was.  I’ve since worked lots of DX using this antenna.

Using an Anritsu Site Master I swept the antenna from 5 to 30 mhz.  The results are shown below (click the image to enlarge).

As you can see, the SWR dips on most of the ham bands.  It’s best on 40 and 20 meters, and acceptable on the other bands, especially for a multi-band antenna.  The Site Master doesn’t go below 5 mhz, so results for 80m aren’t shown here.  Testing with an MFJ antenna analyzer indicated that the SWR was less than 2:1 across the entire 80m band, and was lowest in the CW portion.  The antenna may be a bit too long, but I’m certainly NOT going to change anything!  My LDG tuner has no trouble tuning the antenna anywhere that I’ve tried it.  The antenna is designed to also work on 6m, but I have not yet checked the SWR there. Overall I’m very pleased with the results obtained, and would not hesitate to build another OCF dipole antenna in the future.  

 

Edited April 4 2011:  Received this info via email from Joe KQ4BX:

From all that I read on the OCF Dipole, the height determines the type of balun required.  At 33’, the feed point impedance would be 200 ohms, requiring a 4:1 balun.  The higher it goes, the more the impedance rises, so the balun must change with it. There are a few web sites with the exact impedance at each height. At the 20 feet you have, the impedance might be low enough to use a simple 1:1 to get RF off of the coax.

Thanks, Joe!

Page edited December 3, 2013: Improvements to formatting and readability.

Update: April 26, 2016
Last summer a storm broke one of the support ropes in a tree that was supporting one end of the antenna, and the the tree supporting the mid-span of the 80m section was cut down several years ago. To top it off, a rabbit chewed the coax over the winter. So I have taken the OCF down. At this time I don’t plan to replace it with anything, and will instead stay on 20, 15, and 10m using the tri-band beam. I’m on the air very infrequently, so I hadn’t even noticed the damaged coax until I was outside mowing the grass.

 

Update November 5 2018:  My OCF is official done for. The loss of a tree and a broken wire was the cause of it’s demise. It served me well, but is being replaced with an 80m loop.

85 comments

  1. i built one for 160M using 180/90 ft. and it works great, i used a 4:1 balun and feed it at the 66 ft level. i used to have a full wave 80 meter vertical diamond shaped wire fed at 100ft that didnt work as well. worked alot of dx from africa including libya, jordan etc with 100 w on 17M. wish i build it alot earlier.

    1. KF7NN…   did you use a voltage or current balun for your 160m version?  I'm getting ready to build a 160m OCF with a Unidilla 4:1 voltage balun.   Plan to hang it 30-35' off my tower.

      Kevin – N0KDZ

      1. at first i used an old mfj 4:1 balun which worked very good but was afraid of it with my Alpha so i upgraded to the DXE 4114 current balun (dual core). i just worked Saudi Arabia on 80 meters with it tonight.

      2. I have an OCFD that is cut 23feet on the short side and 46feet on the long side. It is up 23 feet with a Radio Works 4:1, 1kw Balun fed with 50feet of LMR 400 coax. My auto tuner is part of my Expert Amp linear amplifier and I can only get a match (1.68 : 1 swr) on 80m. The rest of the bands are in sixty and seventy range!! My mast is aluminum and my lot is 90feet in depth. Do you have any suggestions/advice for me? Thank you.

        1. Herman, you may have common-mode current on your feedline (RF coming back to your radio on the coax braid). The addition of a 1:1 balun between your feedline and your present 4:1 balun may help.
          This can be a store-bought balun or you can get the proper choke coils to add to your coax just below the existing balun.
          SOME Hams put the balun on the bottom of the feedline feeling that the RF coming off the coax adds a vertical component to the radiation pattern of the antenna. Like many other subjects in Ham Radio, opinions vary on this. I prefer the 1:1 near the center balun.
          You CAN buy a Guanella (not sure of the spelling here) which has both baluns made into one enclosure. Here’s a good resource:
          http://palomar-engineers.com/baluns-and-ununs/model-ba-4-250-kit
          Lonnie, N9IUI

        2. In order for you to work on 75 meters one leg needs to be 90 feet and the other leg needs to be 44 feet. The height above ground is important between 35 and 45 feet and joy keep your antenna away from any metal objects and I guarantee will work nicely WB0U
          SA

          1. Today I built and put up a OCF inverted-v dipole using with a 133 foot total length of #14 insulated THNN with the short leg cut to 44 feet. The center connection is an old Carolina Windom 4:1 current balun fed with RG-8X. The balun is offset 3 feet from my tower at the 36 foot level. SWR is less than 1.5:1 across the 75, 40 and 20 meter bands. I didn’t have time to check 17, 12, 10 or 6 but will do so soon. Bottom line is that I think I am going to be extremely pleased with this antenna and wish I had built one sooner.

          2. Hi, do the legs of the Buckmaster Off-Center- Dipole need to be in a straight line with one another? I have a tree in my yard I can hang it at 35′ but the legs will angle down to the corners of the yard. Inverted V but the overhead look is also a V , not exactly equal, left to right

  2. Excellent article. Truly inspiration to those of use with obstacle laden yards who want to work some decent DX. And you should have kept your old callsign; I have some rather creative phonetics for your old call. LOL

    1. No matter how many times I said it phonetically on HF, they always got it wrong. Hotel Charlie seems to get through every time.

  3. Thanks for the article. I was thinking of installing an 80M inverted V in my limited back yard, can probably just fit. I was planning 450 Ohm ladder line to a tuner. While planning it, a local ham suggested I think about an OCF instead. I have a tree limb at about 55 feet that already has rope around it , waiting for an antenna. It is a single tree, no second tree for traditional dipole. Any thoughts on a home brewed OCF with a 55′ apex ? Yard space is limited I probably have 40-50 feet on either side of the tree that provides the apex.

    1. Dont worry about what is the hot/center.  The balun does the heavy lifting.  You need a 4:1 current balun at the feed point to bring it down from 200 ohms to 50 ohms.  Google 4:1 guanella balun.  Simple to make and better than the voltage balun.  If you have access to an antenna analyzer you put a 200 ohm carbon resistor on the output and you should have 50 ohms across the spectrum.

  4. I am a huge fan of build-it-yourself antennas. These are easy to build, inexpensive and work great! I'm getting ready to put one up using my MFJ 43' vertical for support. I'm going to take the stinger off the top and use my ground radial wires for OCF elements. It won't be built like a tank but it should last long enough to be worth the price. I already have a 4:1 current balun so this will be fun! 
      Thanks for the great article!
    Kevin WWØJD

  5. I built to 80 meter version. Feedpoint at about 40 feet. Used a 4 to 1 current balun. Great match on 10, 12, 17, 20, 40 and 80. I like the fact that I can use an amp WITHOUT a high power tuner. Just use a high power(3KW) balun. Unbelievable antenna!
    Jim
    AB4XO

  6. I have built plenty of wire antennas over the years with great success.  For once, I decided to buy the commercial buckmaster high powered version.  No compromise, I love it.  Yes, it is expensive as all get out, but I saw immediately upon arrival I could not duplicate what they did in the construction, wire etc. in building the antenna.  It also performed exactly as the charts show.  In fact, I believe it is the cheapest antenna I will buy due to how long it will last.  Performance is outstanding, no tuner required and it will handle all the power I will ever need.  What more could you ask for?   You just set it and forget it.

    1. I have a Carolina Windom and have high swr on 80. the radio tuners won’t touch it. have to use a Paltsar manual tuner.

      Was considering the BuckMaster 8 band 160-10.
      You really don’t need a tuner? I have a small auto tuner that should work on 160.
      Anyway, I had blown two of their baluns running power. I had Bob at Balun Design make me a balun for this windom.
      Just a little fed up with the Carolina Windom. Any thouhts. You have had that antenna for a few years now?? The Buckmaster seems like the antenna I should buy.

  7. I also made my own 40m OCF.  I purchased a spool of .14 gauge THHN insulated wire from Lowe's.  It's 500 feet, but does multiple projects.  I bought a 4:1 balun from Balun Designs.  Bob Rumsey is very helpful, and the plans are on his web site.  It's a simple 36/64% combination.  His balun comes in a NEMA case, with a silicone gasket and SS hardware.  
    A synthetic rope holds it to a pulley.  Coax putty is on the connection, and 100 feet of RG-8X goes under the house to the radio..  The ends are probably 15 feet off of the ground.  I've been using it on 40/20/15/10m.  This afternoon, I put my Yaesu FT-450AT on 17m and 12m, and hit the tune button.  It tuned it.  As the internal tuner only goes to 3:1, I might try these bands.  The SWR can't be too far off.  I had been told it only worked on even multiples (and 15m), but if it tunes…  
    I've had some good luck with it.  I commonly work all over the USA, and up into Canada, as well as Europe.  It has gotten me the Canary Islands, Alaska and Hawaii, and Australia, as well as a bit of South America.  

  8. Great article!  After being out of ham radio for the past 17 years, I just got a new rig, bought a Comet vertical (which is great dummy load, I might add) and based on my poor results, I've been on the search for a good, dependable, long term wire antenna.  Thank you for taking the time to write this.  My search just ended.  Putting one up!

  9. Enjoyed the article.  I've looked at it several times as I have studied to plan and build my own 80 meter OCF dipole.  I got the antenna built and up today about 35 feet.  With a little adjusting of the ends I have better results than I expected.  I have less tha 1.5 on 80, most of 75, 40, 20, 17, 10 and 6.  12 meters is like 1.7 which is ok and 15 meters is off the charts;  so, no good without a tuner.  But 8 bands with one antenna and no tuner is pretty impressive and reports are impressive as well.  Comparing my dedicated 75, 40 and 20, I see them very much the same.  Mine ended up 88' on one side and 44' on the other;  maybe a few inches longer on each end but not much more.

    73,

    Mike Baggett, ki5so

  10. Great article. A few notes from my own research and experimentation:
    OCFD is typically  fed at 1/3 of the antenna ie. (44/88 ft) as in the article. These numbers relate only to OCFD and Caroline Windom antennea. The G5RV is a different beast.

    Though the Original Windom antenna was a single wire feed, the Carolina Windom is coax fed and an improvement on the OCFD design with slightly different feed point, and a "recommended" current balun to assist in better SWR across the bands than a Voltage balun. The antenna also uses an RF choke 11 or 22 ft., depending on a 40m or an 80m/160m Carolina Windom, to handle 15m better and provide a better takeoff angle on some of other the bands, plus feed line isolation… But if you use a voltage balun remember to have the longest leg on the centre conductor side of the coax, on a current balun it doesn't matter.

    Now for the tough stuff:
    The big issue with what ratio balun to use relates to how far above ground the feed point is and what is the resistance of the feedline solution you are using in relation to the average resistance at the antenna feed point. (Wow, that a mouthfull and there is still reactance to consider at another time).  A 9:1 balun would work best with 450ohm feedline to 50ohm Transeiver interface, but I have never experienced
    Since new transevers use 50ohm interface to 50ohm coax, we will use this as the common point of reference for our examples. 50 ohm coax at 35ft feed point to the antenna will give about 200 ohms resistance so a 4:1 balun works best to match 50ohm feed line. At 40-50ft feed point above ground you get about 250 ohms at the feed point so a 5:1 balun would render an average of 50ohms, and at 60 ft it would be about 300 ohms at the feed point so a 6:1 balun would render 50ohms at the feed point and be a better choice.  There are dozens of other ways to feed the OCFD.

    Though the RadioWorks CW 80 or CW160 are built well, but if you can measure and solder, both the Carolina Windom  and an OCFD are almost impossible to build wrong. I built my 66ft 40m Mini-Carolina Windom without an RF Choke so it's more truly an OCFD fed at 35 ft above ground… IT KICKS BUTT! and often outperforms my CHA250BX at 1/8th the price.

    I cannot say enough good about the Carolina Windom version of an OCFD except: RECOMMEND, RECOMMEND, RECOMMEND… 😉
    De Ve3QTH   a.k.a. Robert Critch
     

    1. Thanks for the feedback, and the additional information, Robert! Our ham radio club is getting ready to build a few of these so the info on height vs balun ratio is timely and helpful.

  11. Glad to hear you have had good results with the OCF! I am in the process of putting one up myself- hope to be on the air by tomorrow evening. I got licensed waaay back (late 80's) when I was in high school and never had the money to get an HF rig.  Then I got married, kids, etc, etc, etc.  I am now finally getting back into ham radio and studying for my General license.

    My OCF is about the same specs as yours except I opted for the addition of a 20' vertical radiator coming down from the 4:1 balun.  The antenna should be about 30' up once all is said and done, so I am hoping for some good signals.

    I just need to get over my severe anxiety abut making that first CW contact on HF!

    Mike
    KC4APP

  12. I just put up an OCF dipole using an excellent 4:1 balun the OCF Dipoles 1.5 – 54MHz 5kW #4115ocf from Balun Designs. I have put up many dipoles, windoms, and skyloops over the years in different locations all home brew. But this time was a fiasco. I have horrific RF feedback in the shack on 40 meters.
    Does anyone have any ideas?
    Please email me at [email protected].
    THANKS!

    1. A line isolator outside or just inside the house cleared mine up. Buxcomm makes a reasonably priced one. I threw mine in the crawl space so I didn’t have to caulk it up to seal it. It has a ground lug so you can attach to a ground rod if one is convenient. This will also quiet the antenna somewhat on receive.

  13. I discovered the Buckmaster OCF a couple years ago, and mine has been up at 35' in the trees since then, even withstood Hurricanes Irene and Sandy. It is built tough, and I wish I would have known about this concept years ago, it could have saved me much work over the years.
    It works on harmonically related bands, so I'm thinking of modifying an 80 M version to cover 60/30/15 meters. That would give me 10 bands coverage with 2 antennas.
    73, de W3DL

  14. Last year I put up an OCF, cut to the length of an 80-meter dipole.  It is fed with 52-ohm cable and a 4:1 balun at the feed point.   Here are my SWR results:
    10 meters: lowest at 28.40
    12 meters: less than 1.3 entire band
    15 meters: 21.400 – 1.25, rising gradually to 2.4 at 21.000
    17 meters: less than 1:5 entire band
    20 meters: less than 1.4 entire band
    30 meters: unusable on 30 meters
    40 meters: 1.37 at top end rising gradually to 2.4 at 7.000
    80 meters: lowest SWR at 3.760, 1.04   Less than 1.6 across entire band
    On 6 meters, SWR will be less than 3.0 below 50.100

  15. One more thing, I was wondering what the SWR results would be feeding the OCF with 450-ohm twinlead?    I was thinking about building one fed with 450-ohm down to a balun, and then coax to the station.  One of the reasons for doing this concerns the weight of the coax.  Presently the feed point is about 75 feet up and coax down to the remote switchbox is quite heavy.  Any ideas?

    1. Planing on an OCF at 35′ (apex) fed with 450 ladder line at the top down to

      a 4.1 balun and from there into the house with RG8X.. Any tips would be helpful

      such as degrees between legs at he bottom.. any tips on length of ladder

      line etc..

  16. I have a question about OCF Dipole. I have a Kenwood TS-530S( with 160,80,40,30,20,17,15,12 and 10 meters) what would you suggest for my the maximum height I can have is roughly 25 feet.

    1. That should work just fine. Mine is around 20 ft at center and slopes a bit each way. Use a tuner. You will notice better reception using the tuner on some bands.

  17. Buddy – Some lengths of twinlead may work better than others. For a 132 foot (44+88) OCF dipole, try about a quarter wave (on lowest band) of twinlead – about 62 feet, then your balun, on a pole if needed. Test with an antenna analyzer 1.8 – 29.7 MHz.

  18. Josh good day. Just wondering you said that you use five ferrite beads on the feed line. Can you please tell me is there any spacing between them and what size are they? I found six or seven in my parts box and they are  about the size of a 1/2 in washer  do you think they will work?

     

    Gary

    1. Hi Gary,

      Sorry for the late reply. There is no spacing between the beads. These fit the coax pretty closely, and are maybe 3/4" long. 

  19. Built an old design "Spencer O.C.F." using dual RG-6 cable TV for feedline –78' long feeding 4 to 1 then cmc to 50 ohm to rig. Antenna performed best using 57.5 x 82.5 for legs. Lowest noise antenna I ever used in 50+ yrs on air. 160 – 2m

      1. MITCH; THANKS FOR THE REPLY. MY APOLOGY I DID NOT SEE YOUR REPLY ‘TIL JUST THIS A.M.
        1. AN RG-6 DUAL FEEDLINE USING TWO STRANDS WEIGHS ABOUT 11 #. I USED ’59 ON THE NEWER ONE.
        2. A FRIEND OF MINE WAS VERY IMPRESSED. [REALLY QUITE AN ACCOMPLISHMENT AS HES A PHD IN AEROSPACE ENGINEERING, HAS TWO BATCHELORS DEGREES IN RELATED CHEM. COURSES, AN M.D. AND MEMBER OF MENSA. – I’M SERIOUS!] – IT AIN’T FAIR; I’M A CLUCK -. USED 50 OHM RG-58. HE IS A RETIRED NASA ENGINEER. HE ABSOLUTELY LOVES IT. I TOLD HIM I DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE W/ 50 OHM; BUT, USE A TUNER!!!!
        I’M OLD HERE & TRY TO MAKE MY STUFF. MY 1 : 1 “CHOKE BALUN” IS 25 FEET OF RG – 8 COILED UP IN A 1 GAL. PAINT CAN. {YES IT TOOK SOME DOING TO DO THAT}. SO I USE A 4 : 1 CHOKE AT THE ANTENNA, -AND-, A 1 : 1 CHOKE AT THE FEED.
        I HAVE HAD E-MAILS FROM MANY HAMS W/ QUESTIONS; MOST ARE VERY , VERY HAPPY WITH THE LOW NOISE BENEFIT OF A DUAL SHIELDED FEED. ONE GUY IN BRAZIL SAID HE AND HIS FRIENDS LIKED TO WORK 160 FROM THEIR VARIOUS QTH SOME ON MAINLAND, SOME ON NEARBY ISLANDS. THE GUY SENT ME A REPLY SAYING THEY WERE THRILLED W/ RESULTS.
        73’ RICH KF9F

  20. Hey W0HC, was just looking around, and stumbled onto your site here. Just got my Tech license last weekend in waterloo, and live in waverly. I’d love to swing by sometime and see this dipole of yours. Let me know if thats doable. Thanks!

  21. Update on the 132 foot OCF Dipole (88+44 feet) – now using 23 feet of 450 ohm Ladder Line (3/4″ wide) to get it down to the shed where the 4:1 balun is located. DX Engineerings 300 ohm line (VF=0.88) should also work well. Antenna was originally a 66 foot (22+44 feet) horizontal with 25 feet of 450 ohm LL vertical. Note that 44 + 25 equals about a quarter wave for 80 meters if used as an inverted L antenna. Works great and gives several extra bands besides the 80/40/20/10 meters using Kenwood with autotuner. Using 70 feet of coax from balun to house.

    1. Thanks Rob, I’ll take a look at that. The reason for using a choke balun at home was more bceause I knew I’d have a long run of cable snaking through the house. I’d hope to be sitting somewhat closer to the aerial when out portable so probably wouldn’t bother with one.

  22. I think I am going to build my own version of this to get on 80M, and i bet it sure beats an optimized G5RV. thanks a lot!

  23. So, I am planning on putting up a 80M OCFD. Part of the one leg will have to be strung through trees. The wire is 12 (or 14, not at home) Hopefully it will be away from brances but no promises. How much of a problem will this be?

    1. It shouldn’t be a big issue Jack, I live on the wet coast of BC and I run an 80m OCF dipole that is supported entirely by tall cedar trees (Both ends and the middle) I’m up to 150 confirmed DX countries barefoot. It works for me
      Ron VA7HZ

  24. I and retired and live in a HOA/CC&R community but I was able to put up an 80m OCFD at 70 feet on the ends and the feed point is at about 50 feet. I am feeding it with RG-8 and a Balun Designs special OCFD balun and using a PalStar tuner. Averaging about 1 KW and mostly on CW I have managed to work/confirm nearly 275 countries for DXCC mixed, earned DXCC award on 8 bands (yes, and even 30m and 15m) and I worked and confirmed all 40 zones for the CQ WAZ award in under 3 years. I am thinking of “stretching” this antenna for 160m operation now and getting that 160m DXCC award under my belt. The OCFD far exceeded my expectations and is an excellent all-round DX antenna. Try one. You’ll love it.

  25. I have a 22′ telescoping fiberglass flagpole that I can get up 3 more feet to make 25′ of 450 window feed to 22/44 OCF top section. Thoughts of how well that will work fed directly into a grounded MatchBox Jr., with short coax to the rig?
    Planning on ordering Balun Designs OCFD balun, but it won’t arrive in time for an emergency test this weekend. Wonder how it will compare to my second best performing portable 40m antenna (MFJ Big Ear V dipole up 19′)? Best ever has been a larger horizontal closed loop fed to the MatchBox.

    1. Based on the recent QST article, it looks like unless the window line is perfect length and routing, the radiated pattern could be way below that of a correct current balun and rf chokes even if the swr looks good in the shack.
      Thanks for posting the impedanc at feedpoint height info.

  26. I have not issues with RF getting back to the shack. The ferrites I used were selected specifically for the purpose of preventing this.

    1. Can you give the specifics of the ferrites you used? What brand, where did you get them, part number, etc. I would like to build an OCF antenna and use exactly what you used if possible. 73’z

  27. Great info!! Thanks Y’all!! I’m in the process of building a 10-160 OCF (90’/180′) using a MFJ 4:1 current balun with a MFJ 1:1 RF isolator. The feed point will be between 35-40′. I saw above that for 160 to put the isolater at 22′ from the balun. Is this ok or would a different distance work?

  28. I am interested in installing an OCF dipole (45’/90′) as this will come close to fitting in my yard. I am new at this so I wanted to share my (perceived) issue… The issue I have is that I have read that the peak needs to be about 35′ high (can-do) and the 2 ends need to come down to around 10′ off the ground (can’t-do). The 90′ section would come down to the (advised) 10′ height OK, but due to my constraints, the 45′ leg would need to tie off in a tree about 15′ or so above the ground. I am wondering if anyone sees an issue with that? I am getting my design advice via the buc master web site. thanks & 73

  29. hello. i have two masts 42 meters apart with the shack at one end. im very interested in building this antenna to compliment my all band vertical (supernova) and other dipoles. the farthest away mast is actually a 12 meter high concrete power pole where the three phase power came in. soon to be disconnected from the grid. my only problem is that i have the telephone / internet wire (600 ohms) coming to the pole a few feet lower and at 90deg to the intended antenna wire. will i have a high energy field around this point that could damage my internet box? has anyone used a similar setup .
    Also no one talks a out directivity for this antenna. mine will be on an axis of E/W with the shack and feed end on the east side. My location is France. Thanks

  30. ps. I will certainly have a go and run a spare internet box when testing for the first time..and post my results..colin F5VHZ.

  31. Im definatly going to install a 43 meter long antenna ( can’t understand why everyone sticks to feet, when cms and meters are so much easier to work with.) 300/freq equals meters. Anyway for a overall lenght of 141-145 feet and a feed point at 1/3 i will be using an industrial 200 amp fuse case for the central isolator and ceramic or glass end insulators with galvanised wire anchor points to both my steel main mast and the concrete/steel end support.
    The feed point impedance will be hard to measure up in the air between the supports, so i wil have to attach the feed before the antenna is raised. As my shack is a 2x2x2 meter steel box inside my steel clad barn/garage and the main mast is just outside the window of the shack. (the shack is on the side and a door and half width from the corner of the barn.) I would be able to drop a coax or better still a 600 ohm ladder feed down from the 1/3 feed point through insulators in the barn cladding and shack wall. So there are a few feed posibilities. whether to fit a balun instead of the main insulator ( industrial fuse case) and drop down with heavy 11mm coax rg11cx4 or to just drop a ladder feed and have a balun say 10 feet above ground then coax to the shack. or to run the ladder feed right into the shack and into a special home made tuner built for a high impedance output. I have a double flat overwound balun ferrite that would love the challenge and a nice adjuster coil that could work alongside and allsorts of variable capacitors but here is a point… i am so used to my vertical supernova all band antenna that i use for 40,20,10,meters without a tuner..and a seperate antenna for 80 meters that i would prefer the long wire antenna to be able to work all bands without a tuner… and high voltages running back into the shack. has anyone achieved this from a 140 ish foot long antenna ? that covers 160 through to 10 meters.
    Bearing in mind im surrounded by ponds and a high water table.

  32. I built one for 80 meters with it being fed at the 1 3rd point. Since I was going to need a tuner at least on some bands I figure “why use a lossy balun at the feed point”? Since my tuner has one built in that is more likely better quality than what can be purchased today I feed mine with 300 ohm tv antenna twin lead down to my mt-3000 a tuner. Works like a champ. “Coax is the devil”

  33. Due to an undetected partial kink in the antenna wire and wind (Oklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.) my impromptu 270 ft (90-180) OCF dipole came down. I left it down due to various reasons and recently tried to resurrect it but it was GONE. I think maybe deer got tangled in it and dragged it along with my 4:1 balun to who knows where only to be rediscovered later probably with my brush hog (tractor mounted mower.)

    It worked rather well on a tuner and let me make contacts not achievable in A-B tests vs a Hy-Gain Hy-Tower multi-band vertical. Other station was 120 miles straight line distance away. Vertical works well much of the time but with it I could not talk to the 120 mile away station. The OCF put in a booming signal there and received well also.

    I used it on 160-80-40-20-17-15-12-10 I have never heard anyone on 6 from my QTH so no tests there. I note your concern with the length, saying you need to be shorter. That gives me pause to consider. I am currently gathering materials to build another 270 footer. If you were doing it, what length would you use? What do you think of using window line from the balun at the off center location down to another balun to connect to coax. If I use coax for the vertical portion I intend to use ferrite toroids near ground level to eliminate/reduce current flowing on the outside of the coax shield.

    TIA for your consideration,

    Patrick NJ5G

  34. Great work sir!
    I made a OCFD total length is a shde over 20 meters. I feed with 7mm mini x coax,low loss, via a balun designs 4 to 1 balun…current…

    Hardly need the MFJ atu on 20 and top end of 10 m, also usable on 15 and 17 metres, with ATU, 40 metres does need a lot of ATU work odly enough, but I get great results, on 10 metres! Made with kevlar wire… heith is 6 metres, so not that high…cheers!

  35. The 90/45 OCF DP with 4:1 balun hanging from three pulleys/ropes in a inverted vee like configuration is a near perfect antenna if adjusted in this order. (An swr indicator is needed, an MFJ analyzer is hog heaven) First, get overall length for lowest swr at lowest freq. (I used split bolt electrical connectors to temporarily fold the excess ends back along the wire) Second, add to one end and shorten the other end equal amounts, keeping the overall length as in step one (in effect you are really moving the feed point). If swr got better-ya done good! If worse, add and shorten the opposite ends. Repeat until your perfectionist attitude is satisfied. Third, adjust angle/height of center for best feed line match. Mine is 1:1. Think about it-ends are at infinity, center is about coax match. Step 2 finds the real 200 ohm point. Step 3 finds the best match between 70 and 50 ohms. The higher bands will follow like good harmonics do. KI4B

    1. Let’s talk about your steps 1 and 2. I have an OCFD up and would like to improve the SWR. At the bottom of 80m, the SWR is 1:1, but at the top end of 75m, it’s around 2:1. Low at the low end, high at the high end — this says to me that the antenna is too long. All the bands follow this same trend with low on the low end and high on the high end. Earlier today I shortened it a little and saw a small shift upward, which was what I was looking for. Tonight I read your post. You say to find the lowest SWR at the lowest frequency. I have that already. It can’t get any lower at the lowest point of 80m. Then you say to shift the feedpoint (by lengthen/shorten the sides while keeping the overall length the same). This is the part I do not understand. What is this going to do? If the antenna is too long, indicated by a low SWR on the low end and a high SWR on the high end, how will shifting the feedpoint improve the performance?

  36. I used several different sources including your s for info on building a OCFD. My OCFD for 80-10. Overall length is 135′ 45’/90′ feet feed by a 20′ coax stub. Feed point is about 30-32 feet . I think your right about the length being a bit long at 135, I am going to try fine tuning it to about 133. Below are my SWR results from, read from my analyzer

    28.500 MHz 1.5:1
    24.950 MHz 1.3:1
    21.250 MHz 2.5:1
    18.150 MHz 1.1:1
    14.200 MHz 1.6:1
    7.150 MHz 1.6:1
    3.755 MHz 2.5:1

  37. I used a MFJ 4:1 current balun, #14 insulated, stranded THNN wire, and ceramic insulators on the ends. I cut the antenna for 3.500mhz. I used a 67/33 split. I have the antenna in an inverted V configuration, the center being suspended from a oak tree limb at 37 feet. The two ends have about 10′ of parachute type cord attached to the ceramic insulators and are terminated to trees at about 10-12 feet off the ground.

    SWR Results:
    10 Meters, 28.450 = 1.1, 28.550 = perfect!
    12 Meters, 24.930 = 1.2
    15 Meters – unusable
    17 Meters, 18.115 = 2.5, 18.165 = 3.0
    20 Meters, 14.275 = 1.3, 14.345 = 1.4
    30 Meters – unusable
    40 Meters, 7.175 = 1.1, 7.295 = 1.6
    80 Meters, 3.505mhz = 2.8, 3.800mhz = 3.0, 4.00mhz = 4.5

  38. I am an 41m (134ft) OCF antenna user from 1983. Everytime has built in low height and with 4:1 balun + koax feeding. In 2014 December 21 renewed my licence and for easy startup on HF bands AGAIN rised an OCF with homebrew 2xFT140-43 core symmetrical current balun. The height of Balun i.e.highest point is 6m (20feet) and from there both legs run down to 4m (13feet). Meassured by MINI60 analyser and some shortening/trimming needed of both legs 0.5-1.2m (2-4 feet). From this date since Today I achieved 100 DXCC confirmed, 4 band WAC, with 100W CW and SSB of FT857D+LDG tuner later K3with built in ATU. The Antenna works fine and ATU can tune it from 80m to 6m in all bands (incl. 30,17,12m) See my results on qrz.com. I can only reccommend the building of this antenna.
    OM2GM

  39. Great article. Was building antennas for field day this year and ran on to an old unused 4:1 balun in the junk box. Humm…that and a spool of 12 gauge wire with alpha delta end insulators from the same junk box and I was in business. Put the center on 6 of the military fiberglass poles for the center support and one end with 2 of the poles and the other end on 3 poles. Man what a quiet antenna from the static that Kansas is noted for. Worked great on all bands that we used it. 80-40-20, killer antenna for the ease of assembly. I love it so much that I am building one for my home station using the maxicore balun from DX Engineering. 4:1 balun. Im getting the 10kw one to drive it with the alpha and avoid any balun problems. All coax has line isolators on them leading back to the station. This was an Awsome antenna with great forgiveness. I have recommended it to many other ops since using one myself. For what it is, it is the simplest most awesome antenna that a new or old ham can put up and it works great at both low heights and high heights. the Radiation pattern is nutz when you try to model it. Just forget the theory and put on up and play. The proof is in the pudding…The damned thing just works with great forgiveness.

    Morgan NJ8M

  40. I don’t know if any of you have tried this. I use a Spencer OCFD, using a twin coax (2 X RG – 6), 78′ long. Shields are ted together & grounded at the 50 ohm feed to-tuner end. My tuner is a Homebrew 3 kw roller ind. A friend of mine ask if I thought RG-58 would work; I told him I didn’t know. He built one, tried it, it worked great for him.
    This antenna performs well from 160 – 6 (w/tuner). The main advantage being the dual coax cuts QRN, sometimes by 6 S- units & can be run in & around other metal & reactive objects with no ill-effects. The only disadvantage in my design is the feedline weight.
    You can see the construction article, at

    http://www.hamuniverse.com/kf9focfdipole.html
    73, KF9F, Rich

  41. Aloha. Living on Oahu in a very strict HOA neighborhood. I initially put up a Mini G5RV. Due to the size of my lot I just couldn’t get it set up right. It worked, but not very well. After much research I decided to try the 40 mtr version of the OCFD. I found one on EBAY for under $50.00 so I purchase it. I put it up and liked the results. If I could hear them I could work them, most of the time. I then decided to try the MFJ-2010 which has the 4:1 balun and 1:1 common mode all built it a box at the feed point. I had to weatherproof it but that was easy. I put it up 30′ in a palm tree and hung they legs in an inverted V configuration. Ends are about 9 feet high. Initial testing was promising. I did add an additional common mode balun were the coax enters the house. No RF coming into shack now. I also reinvented my ground. I had been running a piece of wire to the cold water pipe. Instead I was able to get a ground rod down about 6 feet before I hit lava. What a difference it has made. My SWR is right at 1:1 now (with a manual tuner) on 40 thru 6 meters. Signal reports both close and far away are good.

    73’s de NH6RF
    Bill

  42. hallo again. i now have two * windoms* up and running one on a east west axis main lobe west, and another north south with the main lobe north.
    The results are fantastic..both use a guinella type balun but wound 20t on each of two ferrite cores that are then taped side by side. this and a 1to1 choke on pne of the antennas made from microwave coax and fed with 11mm75ohm coax.. the radiating wire is just 1mm thick stainless steel wire. i have worked 70 countrys in six months including a station running long path and me shortpath with a superb echo. so we both heard the echo signal from the back of the antenne and the front.. that was a first for me..both the main signal ( off the back of his antenna ) recieved short path on the front of my antenna and the echo ( off the front of his antenna) long path and picked up on the back of my antenna. signals and echo were both 57 each way just amazing… Yes these Windoms are a lot of fun, easy and cheap to build, and easy to errect strung between any two supports 45 meters apart. fed with 50 or 75 ohm coax and almost invisible when using 1mm stainless steel wire. see my qrz pages for photos of construction and balun detailes f5vhz colin. build one you wont regret it…

  43. I share your enthusiasm for the OCF. If you have limited property it’s a good way to go. I have a 40 meter OCF with the shorter end attached to a pole on my chimney about 35 feet up. The longer end slopes down to a fiberglass mast and is attached at about 24 feet. The XYL does not want guy wires so I can’t get the low end up any higher unless I can find something really rigid that won’t bend like a fishing pole. The SWR is under 1.5 on 40, 20 and 10 meters. My auto tuner works beautifully with it on 17, 15 and 12 meters.

  44. Aim in a hoa. Ccf I plan to put up a 40 m shortened o c f at two feet about the roof so 11 feet above ground. Any ideas should I run 45 and 22.5. Will a 4:1 balun work at this height above ground. Will I need a 1:1 balun at the shack.

  45. I was looking for an antenna to work 20/17/15 meters. Only needed those three bands. I have an OCF for 20 meters. 22ft/11ft 4:1 and coax to shack. performance on 20 meters is good, 17 and 15 are absolutely abysmal. Ideas?

  46. Does anyone have a 1.8-30MHz plot of a 160m OCF dipole please? I’m wondering what the match would be like om the higher bands.

  47. Thank you for the web site. Good information. I just got my OCF up and running at 50 feet. It has 90′ and 45′ legs with a Guanela balun at the feed point. Using 50 ohm coax and works great on 80, 40, 20 and 10 meters. I had to put a dog leg in the long leg due to limited width of my lot but that did not seem to cause any problems. I had a ball last night on 40 meters working in to both eastern and western Europe with 100 watts and the band was NOT in real good shape. SWR sweep of the bands shows 80M = 1.2 to 3.6, 40 M = 2.6 to 1.4, 20M = 1.5 to 1.1, 10M = 3.0 to 1.2 All in all a great multi-band antenna. I got the balun kit from Amidon Associates. Total investment about $50 for balun, wire, stainless hardware for the balun and 200 ft of rope.

  48. Has anyone tried using a trapped OFD? Seems to me that combining traps with the offset feed should give more resonances…so, that the antenna would have a resonance at the 30 meter band, for example. Also, there might be improvement in the 75/80 meter band (i.e., by having two resonances so that the entire band is covered better.) Traps can be easily made using PVC pipe and either coax, or with wire (for the coil) and PCB material (for the capacitor). Anyways, the traps could also make the antenna shorter which would be good for those with smaller lots. Any thoughts?

  49. Is there any harm in adding ferrite cores, just for insurance against RFI in the shack? If not, how many cores are ideal, how close to the 4:1 balun, and can someone please provide a link to a seller of the correct cores. Thanks!

  50. For RG8 style coax, use Fair-Rite #2631102002. For RG58 use #2631540002. Both are stocked at Mouser.com.

  51. Good afternoon!

    I have a German made OCFD, 80-10 and it’s given me great service over the years.

    Recently, the SWR has crept up cloe to or over 3:1, but only on 80 mtrs……?

    All the other bands are fine but the resonant point has dropped to 3.5 MHz on 80 and 3.8-4.0MHZ is over 3:1.

    Can I shorten the legs to bring the SWR on 80 down without affecting the other bands?

    Also, cut 2 to 1 from the long/short legs since the long leg is twice as long as the short?

    Tnx n 73!

    B

  52. I found the problem, I think….

    I took the antenna down to clean it and found that the vinyl coating on the wire had been torn, probably by a falling branch or similar. I’m guessing that water and or corrosion are to blame for the increased SWR.

    At least that’s my best guess.

  53. Hello , how long should be the antenna 135′ , 133′ or 132′ ?
    I would like to work mostly on pfone section of bands .
    Jacek ve6pll

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