24-08-2024, 09:24 AM
Hi Colin,
what bands are you wanting to cover with the OCF dipole? I have been using one here for near on 20 years (primary HF antenna). Many moons ago there was a Ham in VK3 that advertised them and as a new bloke to HF (I was a Z call) it seemed like a easy spot to start. He offered a few different offset ratio's in his OCF dipoles. As hard as I try I cannot remember the dimensions of mine but I did rebuild it with a new 4:1 BALUN and then new wire (Grandfathers Axe I guess) but it has always been a good performer for me. Usable on 40,30,20,17,15,12 & 10 mx only using the internal ATU of the rig. It is near as long as a 80M dipole but of course does not tune on 80m without treating it as a "long wire" type of tune. I wish I had kept the original doco for it. Might have to connect it to the ant analyser to see what proper dips it has but have resisted fiddling as then it might break the magic spell.
now to be fair I must declare it hangs from the top of a southern cross tower but is in an inverted V form (anchored into trees).
I will keep reading and I might learn something along the way.
what bands are you wanting to cover with the OCF dipole? I have been using one here for near on 20 years (primary HF antenna). Many moons ago there was a Ham in VK3 that advertised them and as a new bloke to HF (I was a Z call) it seemed like a easy spot to start. He offered a few different offset ratio's in his OCF dipoles. As hard as I try I cannot remember the dimensions of mine but I did rebuild it with a new 4:1 BALUN and then new wire (Grandfathers Axe I guess) but it has always been a good performer for me. Usable on 40,30,20,17,15,12 & 10 mx only using the internal ATU of the rig. It is near as long as a 80M dipole but of course does not tune on 80m without treating it as a "long wire" type of tune. I wish I had kept the original doco for it. Might have to connect it to the ant analyser to see what proper dips it has but have resisted fiddling as then it might break the magic spell.
now to be fair I must declare it hangs from the top of a southern cross tower but is in an inverted V form (anchored into trees).
I will keep reading and I might learn something along the way.
Peter Sumner, vk5pj
You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.
- Winston Churchill
You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.
- Winston Churchill