Carolina Windom

[WA4FKR]

To the Hams that have used one of the Carolina windom antennas can you give me an opinion on thier performance? 73's Jerry wa4fkr

[AA3CE]

I used a Carolina windom beam during 1998-1999. The hieght was about 40 feet or so. Very loud on 80 meters and I worked quite a bit of dx on 40 and 80. 160 was fair at best. never used it much on 20-10.
I would recommend it,and probably will purchase another when the time comes.

[N8CWR]

Hi Jerry, very good antenna if your deciding to get one. I just set up 2 towers 50 foot tall 300 feet apart and stretched a Carolina Windom 160 between them and man does it do a good job for me. I live in Martinsburg WV and Im tickled to death over mine. Im thinking about getting the Windom 80 and setting it up in oposite directions of the 160.
Id say go with it you wont go wrong.
Calvin N8CWR

[AB0HX]

Jerry,
Ive been using the 160 special for several years now. I love it. I get reports of being a very loud station and thats without running a amp. The only drawback is since its fed off center is wants to radiate all the way back to your rig. Using a line isolator is required and will stop the problem. I used the one they have that has a ground point as well. 73

[wr3y]

I have had 3 Carolina Windoms and Carolina Beams. All have been wonderful. I only work DX and there has hardly been a day that I have not been able to produce DX. Some bands perform better than others. I have had the 40M version. In the CQWW and ARRL Dx tests I have made hundreds of DX contacts in each contest. Mine is up 40feet working bearefoot. One criticism is that no matter how I seal it. Water always gets into the line isolator after awhile. It will outwork any other multiband wire or vertical.

[kg6qkj]

I have never owned a Carolina Windom but I have built Off Center Fed Dipoles before. These are sometimes just called Windoms.

Basically, The antenna is 1/3 on one side of the feed point while the other side is 2/3. Figure the length for the lowest band. A 160 OCF Dipole is about 235 ft long. I use a 4:1 balun at the feed point and feed with 50 ohm coaxial cable.

This antenna works great but there are some basic needs that make it perform very well. One of these is: you need to make sure that the antenna is basically all horizontal. You may get away with it in an inverted "V" configuration but you will lose on the gain.

I like this type of antenna. With the automatic antenna tuner built into your radio you should be able to work all bands including WARC.

I started out with a folded dipole and if you ask me, it was just like transmitting into a dummy load.

[n4dsp]

Build the longest dipole that you can and get it as high that you can. Use 450 ohm ladderline and tune it with an antenna tuner. You will then be able to use this antenna on all bands and it will do a much better job for you than the carolina windom. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[kb0qmf]

I took the plunge and spent the money on a Buckmaster OCF Dipole, which is the basic Windom design.

I did a lot of research and review reading, and this antenna has absolutely performed as-advertised. Completely resonant on 7 bands, including 6 meters. My tuner is now used ony for the SWR and power meters, and I keep it set for 30 meters, as the antenna is not resonant there. A simple throw of the switch, I'm good to go.

Extremely heavy duty materials, with a balun the size of a small coffee-can on the high-power version, which is what I bought. The full length version is 135 ft. of wire, or you can take a section out for a total of 68 ft. if space is a problem. Resonance on 4 bands in the short configuration. I've been told that the baluns used on these antennas is a big reason for thier success.

I've built, rebuilt, and re-rebuilt wire antennas and wound up with the same money or more in them as I spent on the Buckmaster. I seriously don't think I'll be having that problem anymore. Especially if you factor in the price of a decent tuner, I consider the money spent here an investment that will save me money down the road.

The company reccomends the inverted vee configuation with the ends at least 8 ft. above ground. My apex is at 22 ft., and I rarely recieve a report below 58 on SSB or 589 on cw. I also have a rather long coax run at 150'.

Absolutely the best money I've ever spent on a wire antenna. They are pricey ($259.00 usd for legal-limit model, $200.00 usd for 300 watt model) and I fully expect it to be the last wire antenna I'll ever purchase. I'm thinking about picking up another one to take out portable and/or dedicating to 6 meters.

Do a google search on Buckmaster OCF Dipole and read the reviews. Sure glad I did. Also, I have no interest in Buckmaster and am not trying to advertise for them. It's just been a great performer for me, and it's opened up a whole new realm of fun and convenience for this op. Would love to hear from anyone else who has any experience with this antenna.

Best 73,

--mc

I've been using a Carolina Windom that I built for 2 years now. And I love it The only bands I can not use with this one are 160,30 and 15. It's cut for 80m. By adding a couple of extra legs to it I can bring in 30 and 15, but I have no place to tie them off.

I've made contacts all over the world, with the longest haul at 11,000 + miles to Australia. The highest point is only about 25 feet in the air. And the SWR is great across most of the bands I need the tuner for some of 80m but 40,20,17, 12, and 10 I don't use the tuner at all.

I'll build another if this one ever dies on me for sure!!

73 Steven

[nc4bj]

Jerry The Carolina Windom is a SUPER antenna.
the best to you !!
73
bj
NC4BJ

[ab8ma]

I have the CW40 "Windom", and it is indeed SUPER. I have excellent DX results on 10, 12, 15, 17, and 20 meters. Won't do 80 though.


Wow, this thread is OLD - Nov. 29 2003,23:23

[W0LC]

Well, here I go. I have one. Had it up mounted off my tower. It was bulky. With only one high support, it is hard to work with. Couldn't get the SWR down and gave up trying to get it to work. seems to be sensitive to what length of Coax you attach to the connection on it.

I would love to use it, but it is heavy in the center and supposedly, you can't mount off a tower very well at all.

Maybe I am missing something. If you have installation ideas for mounting on a 50 ft tower, let me know. I am all ears!

[k5upi]

I have the Carolina Windom 80. (133 ft ) I am very pleased with it. I have many trees so I use a line to hold the center up to 35 feet. I cut 25 feet off the feedline for neatness, but I will have to put it back. It is very sensitive to feed line length. It is a great wire antenna. k5upi

[W4INF]

Heres my OCF dipole, Windom, whatever you want to call it... Fed with 50ohm coax into a 4:1 balun at the feedpoint, 1/3 off center, if I had somewhere to put it ALL THE WAY up, Im sure it would have done better... It worked great, even at the uber compromise install I put it in. At any rate, the only expensive thing was the balun, the wire I already bought.. the antenna works FB, its off the same design as the BuckMaster.

I wasnt going to spend $175 of a wire antenna when I knew I could build it for $35.

http://rogertango.com/articleread.aspx?idnumber=64229534

HTH,
Andrew

[k7cow]

Recieved the Carolina Windom 160 on Wednesday and installed it the next day here on the ranch (elevation 4600 feet) across the canyon from the ranch house to a juniper tree 340 feet distant with an RG-8X+ feedline length of 225 feet. The antenna components are well constructed with CoaxSeal for all connectors included. The antenna loads easily on all bands with my FT-900's built-in tuner. #Signals are amazingly improved! Very satisfied with the performance.

K7COW
Burns, Oregon