WINDOM OCF DIPOLE

[KI4TWB]

The original Windom antenna was fed with a single wire and was worked against good ground. It appeared similar to the OCF dipole because they are both fed at the 1/3 point. http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=15689 The two are NOT the same. Windom =/= OCF Dipole.

The BALUN you'll need for the OCF will depend on the height you can hang it. Up to about 40 feet or so, a 4:1 will work fine. At 50-60 feet, you'll need a 6:1. In any case, you WILL need a 1:1 BALUN immediately below the other BALUN, or you'll have more RF in the shack than you'll be able to shake a buddistik at.

[W5LDA]

The original Windom antenna was fed with a single wire and was worked against good ground. It appeared similar to the OCF dipole because they are both fed at the 1/3 point. http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=15689 The two are NOT the same. Windom =/= OCF Dipole.

The BALUN you'll need for the OCF will depend on the height you can hang it. Up to about 40 feet or so, a 4:1 will work fine. At 50-60 feet, you'll need a 6:1. In any case, you WILL need a 1:1 BALUN immediately below the other BALUN, or you'll have more RF in the shack than you'll be able to shake a buddistik at.

I dont use a 1:1 under my 4:1 and I have no RF. I think it depends on how you erect it whether you need the 1:1 or not.

[W5DXP]

I dont use a 1:1 under my 4:1 and I have no RF.

What is the magnitude of the common-mode current at the input of your tuner when you are outputting 100 watts?

[W6ECE]

Isn't any piece of wire a dipole at some frequency?

[WB2WIK]

Isn't any piece of wire a dipole at some frequency?

Yep!

And if my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a bus.

[AC0FP]

If I had a OCF dipole, I would feel like Don Quixote but instead of fighting windmills I would be fighting to keep RFI out of my shack!

fp

[PA5COR]

No problems with R.F. from my Fritzel OCF AMA 83 FD-4 antenna, lengthened it with coil and 30 feet for 160 meters flat top at 45 feet.
Not even using 1 Kw in the antenna.
The balun has 1:6 and is followed by a 1:1 unun.

Except 15/30 all other bands are lower as 1:3, no tuner needed.

And yes, my space is limited 2/3 and 1/3 fits the space here even when i have 165 feet of wire in the air.

Though for 160 meters and 10/12/15/17 i also have vertical antenna's up.

[KB0OU]

Howdy,
I don't care what ya want to call it.
My antenna is fed at about the 1/3 length and is cut for 160 metres.
It loads up good and people hear me when I speak, especially when I hit it with about 1200 watts at the antenna.
I use a big 4:1 balun rated for 3KW. I do not use a 1:1 and have not had RF problems in the shack even running full legal limit power.

I call it my Off Center Fed Dipole or "that there wire antenna up there on the tower" depending on who I am talking to and how smart they are.
Sometimes I have to point at it because it is not the only antenna around.

73
John kb0ou

[KB3QJA]

I use a "dipole" (two elements) fed not at the center which was cut for half wave 80 meters. I like the multiband capability which off center feeding facilitates. The original Windom was fed with a single wire which was part of the radiator. I feed mine with coax into homebrew air core 1:1 and then 4:1 current balans. I have been well satisfied with the DX performance of this simple wire antenna.
73
mike-KB3QJA