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You can
write your own review of the Buckmaster 7 Band, 3KW, OCF Dipole Antenna.
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W1JUS
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Rating: 2/5
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Mar 1, 2009 09:33
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Failed after a while !!!!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I really hate to write this, but the balun failed
causing what seemed to a bad ground . This antenna
has given me fits since 8-08 & I wasted a lot of time checking my ground -- coax -- ect. It also fried the CI-V portion of my IC-7000. When I called Buckmaster they were very helpful & asked that I return the ant since they were aware of water problem with the balun.
When I put up my Alpha-Delta dipole up all my problems went away.
If U suddenly have "ground" problems -- STOP using
Buckmaster !!
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KA4ZPF
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 1, 2009 09:18
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EXCELLENT Antenna
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I got the 8 band version; works GREAT on 160 with no tuner needed; SUPERB on 80, 40 and 20 with great signal reports from all over Europe. It hears very well, and if I can hear them I have been able to work them with high reliability since putting it up several months ago. SWR is typical less than 1.8 across most bands, except on 75 which rises to around 2.6 around 3900, but the antenna is only about 25 feet at center right now with ends around 5 feet; plan to raise it soon, so may help. 15 meters is over 3 to 1, so tuner needed there; however this antenna is the most broadband (over-all) high performer I have used in any wire antenna design. Very well built AND fast shipping!! It's a keeper; I may get a 2nd one!!
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N1JMS
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 1, 2009 05:54
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Tough
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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We live right on Lake Erie and get lots of ice, snow and wind. This antenna takes it all in stride. It performs better than any other wire I have, even on 160 with a tuner.
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K4JAR
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 17, 2009 06:54
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Great antenna
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I live in an area where the salt air is so bad no metal antennas or towers can be used. I am 100 ft from the ocean and have been using home brew wire dipoles, since I am on salty sand they work pretty darn well. I compared the new Buckmaster 7 band 300 w OCF antenna I bought to my G5RV and 40 meter dipole.
The OCF is in a temporary set up, I want to raise it another 10 feet, currently at 25ft at the balun and 8 ft at each end. The directions say a 120° angle at the balun is best, mine is more like 160°.
I used my MFJ analyzer to show me the sweet spots on the antenna and I was amazed that my results are just about identical to the graph on the Buckmaster.com website for this antenna. I can use it without any tuner on all bands except 15m. I have to wonder if that is because I have it too low, raising it should help. 80m is wonderful, and it loves 20m and 40m.
The quality in the product is amazing, hurricanes will not hurt this antenna!!!
I paid $180 but I think it was well worth an extra $40-50 for the quality over what my home brew would have looked like and cost me to build, and who knows if it would work as well. Money well spent!
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B8KUE
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 8, 2008 19:10
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Great antenna
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I purchased the 7 band 300 watt version. It's up at 40 feet configured as an inverted 'V'. It works as advertised!!! I'm using an ICOM 746pro and an ICOM 7000. No tuner is needed for the 7 bands. I am able to use a tuner on 160M and the antenna actually gets out great on 160M. I am very please with the construction and how well it works.
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WA2VEX
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 27, 2008 05:29
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CAN'T SAY ENOUGH!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have two 40 foot masts. One had an 80 meter dipole the other a Buckmaster 40-6 OCF dipole. I wanted to get on 160 with a big signal so I took down the 80 and put up the 5kw version of the Radiowavz 160 double bazooka. (absolutely THEE best DB's in the biz). This left me with no coverage on 80.
SOLUTION? Sent the OCF dipole from Buckmaster back and for a nominal fee they upgraded it to 80-6.
I can't say enough about this thing. It's made out of the only wire I've ever used that won't kink. And the 3kw balun is the only one I've used that didn't saturate at 500 watts on 20. Construction is superb. Leave it up for life! It comes cut exactly to the tenth of an inch, don't even think about messing with it.
PERFORMANCE: Buckmaster recommends no tuner. My experience is it needs one on 80 but that could be the nature of the ground around here. (CLAY). For me it resonates just below the band but it's a very easy chore for the tuner and the signal reports on 80 are every bit as big as with the single band dipole. On the other bands the tuner is NOT needed. Every band falls right into the 1.3-1.7 to one range including 17 meters (you do the math, I can't balance my check book). I can't tell you the number of times I have jumped into a pileup on 20 and 0n the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd try cut right through. Most of my contacts begin with the words, "big signal Jim".
In conclusion, I have used multi-bands before and most of them aren't resonant on any frequency but they do "get you on the air". The Buckmaster is a whole different thing. This antenna gets you on the air WITHOUT the compromises you would have to accept from any other multi-band. Now I work 160-6 with a "band bully" signal and I do it with 2 antennas and no compromise in performance.
Last I checked they were around $260.00 Pricey? Not at twice the price. Buy it, you will love it.
W3VEX (formerly WA2VEX)
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KE4EX
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Rating: 4/5
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Sep 25, 2008 09:14
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compromise antenna
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Would I buy another? Read on>>>>>
I'll cut to the chase. You read all the comments and say, okay extreemly well made, yes sir I agree. However, it will not work and or not reccomended on some bands, okay, that is very true. If you need an antenna that will get you on nearly all bands, you got it. I have run my 3000 watt version with legal plus and no harm. I have it now at 45 ft and in the reccomended position. As compared to my home made 75/80 and 40 meter wire antennas it's okay. If I get fancy with the wire, loop's slooper w/ reflector folded, well you get the picture it (the buckmaster) is left behind. Now with that asid, if I had a cabin in the country, (OH I live in the country, belay that).... Travel antenna, yes an excellant travel antenna. I just love building wire antennas and get a charge when they out preform store bought, kinda gives you bragging rights.
So for the buzz question, would I buy another? yea, if I found it on sale.
Enjoy, 73 ke4ex pound that key boy........
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N0YXE
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Rating: 4/5
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Sep 20, 2008 10:03
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MY LATEST REVIEW
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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This is a very high quality antenna. It is built like a tank and all parts appear to be of the finest quality. It is easy to put up and appears to work in many possible configurations, too. I have mine at about 34' above the deck and attacked to the ends of the fence. Currently it's in a Northwest (longest) to Southeast direction. The last time I was on Twenty, both California and New Hampshire were loud and clear from my QTH here in the center of the country. The week before I worked DR1A from the middle part of Germany during the European contest. He was 10 over 9 and I believe I probably blew his socks off as well. Canada comes in well and George (VP2VQ) comes in like thunder from the British Virgin Islands, too. This isn't a beam! But it works nicely! Add a little amp and you get an extra s-unit. The SWR is PROBABLY low enough to work most bands without a tuner with 100 watts out. However, on 75 Meters, the SWR approaches 3:1 and the internal Icom 756 tuner brings them down and there is no problem. GET A TUNER IF YOU DON'T HAVE ONE. Ten Meters is amazing with almost flat SWR all the way on phone. On 10 FM this dipole will need that tuner, but it works very well.
Write to me and I'll send you some pictures of it in the yard and a really wonderful article I found on OCF antennas!
tbgspaceship@yahoo.com
Good luck and let me hear how your antenna is working.
73's,
Terry, N0YXE
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KE5OQV
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 26, 2008 08:36
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Operating portable from Hilton Head
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Update on my experiences with the OCF 6 band dipole.......
Just finished a two week dxpedition to Hilton Head, SC. Stayed with my daughter who lives in a golf course community. This is a great place for a ham; no electrical wires above ground (i.e. no noise) and salt water marshes everywhere (i.e. great propagation).
I used a Kenwood TS-570D(G) transceiver to feed the OCF dipole. The antenna was suspended from the chimney at a height of 28 ft with each end suspended at a height of 10 to 12 ft. The angle between the dipole segments was approximately 130 degrees with the ends pointing in a east-west direction.
Inn spite of what others report, if you adhere to the recommendations of the antenna manufacturer, you won't have any problems with VSWR. This antenna tunes to a VSWR of ~1.0 on all bands tried (40m, 20m, 17m, 12m, and 10m).
The antenna really gets the signal out on all bands. The proof is the list of dx stations worked during the past two weeks. In no particular order, they were OK/EI2JD, HQ50RCH, AN5KB, 9Y4/G4ROJ, CQ35MD, IK4GRO, VP9HE, DM5TI, CO6LC, VP5/W8GEC, TI7/N5BEK, CT3FT, E77DX, F4ECJ, SP9LJD, M0ITY, 9Z4FT, YO4NA, J69KZ, HB9CVQ, P4/N1AFG, HA4FF, CT2ITR, ZF1DX, YN2N and YV5SSB (reports received varied from 5x3 to 5x9; all bands were used).
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W5RD
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 24, 2008 19:42
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Initial Observations
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have a 40 meter end fed antenna and a 75 meter inv. V. I wanted a common wire antenna for both 40 and 75 meters AND a useable antenna on 12 and 17M, especially 17 meters. I have a 5 band yagi, but it has only a dipole element for 12 and 17, very useable on these bands, but with only the gain of a dipole. I want to eventually put up a longer boom triband antenna with good gain on 15 and 20 and use this antenna for 12 and 17. My brother, K5WDW, has the 6 band version of this antenna and is very pleased with it.
I have a UST HDX555 crank-up and mounted this antenna on one of the coax arms at around 30 to 35 ft. off the ground for this initial test. The short end of the antenna was about 15 ft. off the ground on top of the house and the other end (the longer wire) was about 6 ft. off the ground, not per instructions, but good enough for me to start the initial testing. I was pleased that the VSWR was 1.6:1 or less across all the bands and only needed the tuner to get down to 1.2:1. I plan on doing a more exact return loss measurement soon when the antenna goes up permanently in a few months. My first impressions were very positive, especially on 17 and 40 and 80 meters. On 17 meters, it is on par with the WARC yagi at 55 feet. Sometimes the yagi was better, sometimes the OCF dipole was better, but always less than a 1-2 S unit differences. It had met my expectations for 17 meters. I heard no one on 12 meters, as it is always quite except during a DXpedition. On 20 meters, it was about 2-3 S units less than the yagi when the yagi was pointed in the OCF dipoles direction. Not bad for a wire antenna and very useable. Heard no signals on 15 to speak of. Now 10 meters seems to be the band where the antenna, although having good VSWR, does not exhibit a similar S-meter delta from yagi to OCF dipole as it did on 20 meters. When there is no signal, the antenna seems to have more noise pickup than the yagi. With 10 meters now open, it hears signals but quite a bit down from the yagi (3-4 S-units).
Overall, I say the antenna performs as I expected. I can compare it to my yagi and it does the job as specified. It has good VSWR across all the bands. I will repost my results when the antenna goes up permanently in a few months and is located per the specifications Fast delivery and ruggedly built.
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