What is the impedance of an off center fed dipole?

Like most HF antennas, the OCF is based on the dipole. By measuring impedance between the center and the ends of the dipole, you may find impedances between 73 and 3,000 ohms.

Should I use a balun with a dipole?

If a dipole antenna is fed with a coaxial cable from the transceiver, it is always a good idea to use a “BalUn”. BalUn means: Balanced to Unbalanced. This enables us to adapt an unbalanced fed system (coaxial cable) to a balanced antenna system (dipole antenna).

What balun do the ocf40/ocf80/ocf160 use?

The OCF40, OCF80 and OCF160 all use our Guanella 4 to 1 Current Balun. This balun uses two special ferrite cores and is rated at 5KW. More details on this balun can be found on our Balun web page. Band Coverage: 2, 6, 10, 20, and 40 meters.

Do I need an antenna tuner for my OCF dipole / Windom?

The SWR is generally below 1.5:1 on 6, 10, 20, 40 & 80m bands and can be operated without an antenna tuner. With an antenna tuner, you can operate 12, 15, 17, 30 & 60m bands with ease, where most built in antenna tuners will find it very easy to tune. The W8AMZ OCF Dipole / Windom dimensions are as follows:

What size balun do I need for a dipole antenna?

The picture above on the left shows the classical Dipole, which is usually fed with 50 Ohm coax, through a 1:1 balun. The picture on the right above shows an OCF Dipole with the feedpoint positioned at the same feedpint of the classical WINDOM antenna, fed with 50 Ohm coax through a 4:1 or 6:1 balun at a point 1/3 of the distance from one end.

What ham bands does the ocf160 cover?

The OCF160 covers the following ham bands. They are 6, 10, 12, 17, 20, 40, 80, and 160 meters. Our Hy Power 40-meter off center fed antenna is made with the same material as our 80-meter off center fed antenna. The only differences are three: 1. The over all length of the 40-meter off center fed antenna is 66 feet.