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Reviews For: MyAntennas OCF-8010E-3K Windom

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : MyAntennas OCF-8010E-3K Windom
Reviews: 4MSRP: $170.
Description:
Off Center Feed dipole for 80 through 10 Meters HF. Ballin at the apex, coax
fed.
Product is in production
More Info: http://myantennas.com/wp/product/ocf-8010e-3k-windom/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0045
KB1N Rating: 2021-09-22
Well-made and designed OCF wire Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The OCF-8010-3K Windom is proving to be an excellent replacement for my lightning-destroyed RadioWorks Carolina Windom (now out-of-business). I did not add an isolator-choke to the feedline. My SWR has been quite good across most bands. The antenna favors the upper band freqs, and I mostly work the lower CW freqs. My limited SSB operation at 300-500W does not approach the design limits, and 70W CW allows me to Work-The-World. No need to burn the air and create ozone, for zero gain.

I mounted the Windom as a flat-top at 35 feet. The end insulators are of the Captive Design, meant to retain the aerial if the insulator is damaged... nice design thought which will save time in restringing it.
K9UR Rating: 2020-05-11
commercial OCF with proper balun design 4:1 and 1:1 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Came across this antenna a year ago and and wanted to comment/review it. I have found that it's one of the better designed OCF antennas out there. It is not the most heavy duty antenna, but is designed as follows:

It is an OCF 80M antenna which is 133 ft total length and is fed in the 81% / 19% configuration. This provides reasonable VSWR curves for 80M/40/20/12/10 meter bands.

The balun is a dual core design - the first core is a 4:1 balun to convert the typical 200 ohm impedance to 50 ohms. The second balun is a 1:1 choke balun designed to remove common mode currents from the coax. It is the only commercial OCF that I have found that uses the proper 2-balun choke design (others require that you purchase a separate common mode choke, install it near the feedpoint, and hope that the antenna performance is not degraded). Be careful - some OCF even claim to use the common mode to "radiate" the signal -- eg, the carolina windom designs.

The baluns are single core. While this thing is "rated" at 3KW IACS, there is no way that it will hold up at even 1KW cw unless you are below 2:1` VSWR. See my SWR plots below

Mine is installed with center at 55 ft, end are at approx 35 ft. The VSWR curves are reasonable, with resonant points at 3750 (1.2:1), 7075 (1.4:1), 14.180 (1.8:1), 24.920 (1.1) and 28.500 (1.1:1)

80M Bandwidth 3.5-3.5 (edge to edge)
40M Bandwidth 1.9-1.9 (edge to edge)
20M Bandwidth 2.0-2.0 (edge to edge)
12M Bandwidth 1.2-1.1 (edge to edge)
10M Bandwidth 2.3-2.0 (edge to edge)

It's a quiet antenna -- which makes it a nice receive antenna.

OK, these are a compromise. Myantennas claims 15M performance but I do not see less than 2.5:1 VSWR on 15M. I've used other OCF antennas that were fed 66%/33% and they seem to work great on 17M but this one will not resonate on 17M (over 4:1 vswr) so it is very dependent on the balun and on the placement of the feedpoint. The attempt I think was to feed it 19%/81% in order to get it to work on 15M, but, as noted, I don't get a match on 15M even after playing with the ends (adjusting the end-height above ground didn't change the VSWR on 15M enough to matter).

Every multi-band antenna is a compromise. I like this one because it is coax fed... very little "frequency wander" even when wet. The balun housing is a black plastic "made in germany" although it's kinda thin..worry that it might crack, but so far it's been just fine through a winter and summer.

I have run it the past year without changing the length.

I intent to experiment a bit on the antenna -- i will lengthen the antenna (I'm a cw man) in order to bring the 80M resonance (and 40M and 20M) into the cw portion of the band. It may or may not work.

I find this is a SUPER performer on 40M. That is probably it's best band.... On 80M, unless you're right at the resonant point, it likely just heats the balun and performance is meh. On 20M, it seems to be OK but does no better than a resonant dipole. On 12/10m, the SWR is good but it's just too long.

But again, it's a compromise and will get you on 5 bands with the ability to make QSO's and the VSWR is low enough ON THE BANDS IT WAS DESIGNED FOR (except 15M as noted above) that most of the click clack internal antenna tuners will work fine to get a signal on the air.
K4IIE Rating: 2016-04-20
Works great Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Have been using now for a week.Outstanding performance.You really don't need an antenna tuner except on 80 and 30 and even there the internal ATU will tune it.Less than 1.5:1 on most frequencies.Could not set up as an inv. V or L,so it looks like a Z.Performs as well as my home-brew ocf dipole at 100FT.Hears well and very quiet.Well worth the $139,highly recommended.
N0DNY Rating: 2015-07-12
Very satisfied with operation. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I had some weather damage to my original dipole (80-20) during the winter, so shopped for something to replace it with. I found the OCF offered by MyAntenna.com and took the leap. I installed in on July 4th, so I've not had it up long. I have been delighted with the antenna. I've been able to work lots of DX barefoot, and find the signal reports I've been getting to be more than satisfactory. The receive capabilities seem great, too, so I'm very satisfied. The construction of the dipole seems very sound, and mounting it in my pine forest was a snap. I have the apex about 40ft up, and the ends in the neighborhood of 15-20 feet. Right now I'm delighted. I hope it can withstand life in the forest.