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Reviews For: Maxcon OCF Dipole

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Maxcon OCF Dipole
Reviews: 45MSRP: 79.95
Description:
Hand-built off-center fed dipole complete
and ready to hang with 3KW 4:1 current
balun. Operates 10-12-17-20-40-80 meters
without tuner exhibiting low SWR. Total
length 123 feet (88x45).
Product is in production
More Info: HTTP://WWW.MAXCONUS.COM
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00454.9
K8DXX Rating: 2017-07-31
Great Produce... Aims to Please! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is my second review of the Maxcom OCF dipole. I put my first one up about a year ago. It worked fine for about a year and then quit, unexpectedly (running 1.2 KW on 75 with 2.6:1 SWR... could be?). I placed a call to Milton at Maxcom to get his suggestions. He returned my call in 48 hours. Together, we went through a list of items to check which I had already done. Power & elevated SWR was not the problem, per Milton. He came to the conclusion that the balun had failed. He immediately offered to send me a replacement. I said, "Are you sure? Would it be more fair to go halves on it? Do you want me to send the failed unit back?" Yes - Not necessary. - No. The replacement arrived within 72 hours. It is now in place

I had recently ordered Maxcom's Line Isolator since the one I had designed a year ago wasn't all that effective. The isolator does a great job. All the Radio Works "line isolators" are now out of the feed line. Milton's unit appears to be sufficient. I did notice slight changes in SWR: 3.770 2.2:1 (from 2.6:1) 7.2 1.6:1 (from 1.3: 1), 14.2 1.1:1 (from 1.5:1). 18 and 28.5 MHz remained low. 21.3 now 1.7:1 (was 2.2:1). Hastily gathered signal reports remain the same. The OCF at 45 feet (apex) and 10 feet at the ends continues to be best for NVIS while my GAP Voyager vertical dipole is better for DX.

My bottom line remains excellent product and great service. I'd buy another one.
KB4BJM Rating: 2017-07-14
Works on 11 meters too. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Hooked up an old C.B radio to the antenna for the fun of it. All "channels" were at 1.5:1 SWR or less. So add 11 meters to the list. To date... my Maxcon antenna and isolator are working great.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by KB4BJM on 2016-12-06

I just installed the OCF-3K80 with the Maxcon Isolator. Everything works great. Perfect SWR on 80/40/20/17/15/10/6 meter bands. Well constructed to last and quick with return emails. I'm very happy with this purchase.
KC9WWM Rating: 2017-07-07
Great Performer Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have had this up for 7-8 months in a inverted V 8 ft off the ground on one end 12 ft off the other apex at 50 ft. It performed OK. I moved it to a flat top at 80 feet and its three time's the antenna before. Unbelievable Results, what a Great Antenna for Little Cost Byrnzie KC9WWM P/s I have 4 wire antenna's up right now and its my number one, it was my number 3.
W4JCW Rating: 2017-01-25
As Advertised! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had it up for several month's now and it has low SWR on the bands that it covers. I replaced a 80m dipole with it and can't tell any difference on receive/transmit except that it covers all the bands with NO tuner. I have it mounted at 70 feet flat top, feed it with LMR-240 and find it to be omni directional and low noise. Construction is of high quality! I may not put my hexbeam back up and I'm not sure I can justify it now. Thanks Milton...a very nice product!
W4IV Rating: 2016-11-27
Best so far !! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After fighting with G5RV type wire antenna's, using manual or auto tuners, I decided to try an OCF Dipole. My installation is not exactly great, with the apex at only 20'. I must say I am impressed. My SWR readings taken with an MFJ-259b meter match the supplied instructions almost exactly. Here are my readings. 3.5mhz/2.6:1, 7.1mhz/1.0:1, 14.2mhz/1.0:1, 18.1mhz/1.4:1, 24.9mhz/1.4:1, 28.5mhz/1.4:1, 50.1mhz/1.6:1. My 80 meter resonance was a little higher at 3.7mhz where the SWR was 1.5:1. Great antenna. I constantly get good reports, and on 20 meters it seems to hear better than my th3mk3 tribander that is mounted just above it on my tower. P/S, Milton also sells a line isolator that's works quite well. I am 100% happy with my purchase. Thank you Milton.
W4FSA Rating: 2016-08-24
As Advertised Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Having HOA issues, I installed the OCF in my attic, it required several turns to reach full legnth. I immediately noticed that I was hearing better than my ancient Hustler and have received consistent favorable reports. Attic mounting means you will have feedline and coupling issues. A Palomar line choke solved the feedline and ferrites on various devices were required to remove AC coupling gremlins. The antenna is well built and looks to give many years of service in it's HOT but protected environment.
K3AFR Rating: 2016-07-18
Excellent Antenna! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
As others have said, I usually build my own wire antennas...but when Milton offered his OCF for $54 I had to buy/try one. Again as others have noted...for the price, you cant hardly buy the materials and build one yourself. Heck you cant really find a good balun for $50 these days. Anyway the antenna works Super! And has great materials and top notch workmanship! I can't say enough about it. I bought mine to go portable with my Yaesu FT-991 which has a wimpy internal antenna tuner. So I wanted something that would have good swr. This antenna does that in spades. The antenna is easy to transport, and easy to deploy. And after shooting a line over a tree limb about 40' I had the antenna up and working in no time. I worked the world on 10, 20, and 40 meters...including Australia on 100 watts! I liked the performance so much that when I got back home from vacation I put this antenna up at my home qth. I like it so much that I'm leaving it up here and just ordered another from Milton. This OCF is a winner!
AI5JM Rating: 2016-06-27
Excellent Antenna! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The Maxcon OCF Dipole is even better than I expected. Construction is impressive and SWR on all bands is incredibly low! The internal tuner on my FTDX 1200 is only needed on 80 meters. All other bands (40-6) can be used with no tuner at all! Beats the G5RV I've been using the last several years all to pieces! Great company to do business with. Couldn't be happier!
N9CHM Rating: 2016-06-20
Super quick-deployment antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought one of Milton's Maxcon OCF-3K80 135' dipoles for my new QTH. It was a quick way to get back on the air after moving, before I had a chance to re-build my "antenna farm".  This antenna is very well built and works exactly as promised. The SWRs are below 1.3 on most bands, except for 17M, which is still usable at 1.8, without a tuner. Instead of an air-wound choke at the feedpoint, I used 8 x 1" snap-on chokes which I had in my junk box, they worked fine, as seen by the low SWRs and zero feed line radiation. I'll probably by another Maxcon just to keep in my junk box, as a back-up should storms (or falling tree limbs) take down my other antennas. It would be an excellent "quick deployment" antenna for emergencies, as it's the best non-home brewed antenna I've ever had in my almost 40 yrs on the air!
NY1S Rating: 2016-04-03
Everything hoped for Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Received my new Maxcon OCF-3K80 135' dipole in the mail this week... I got right to work getting it hung up about 30' in a tree outside of the shack, running the ends parallel to the ground to other trees. It has been years since making a contact on 80 meters... right off the bat I was making new contacts with excellent signal reports from my aging Kenwood TS-130S running at most 100 watts out. Results have exceeded expectations as well on 40 and 20 meters. The product is very well made. For my money, this is the best all around wire antenna you can own. Beats the end fed Zepp I was using hands down.