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Reviews For: Buckmaster 7 Band, 300W, OCF Dipole Antenna

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Buckmaster 7 Band, 300W, OCF Dipole Antenna
Reviews: 33MSRP: 192.00
Description:
A well-constructed 7 band off-center fed dipole, designed for 75/80, 40, 20, 17, 12, 10 and 6 meters. The wire is 65 strand, 12 Ga. PVC coated wire, with EVERY copper strand tinned to prevent corrosion.
Product is in production
More Info: http://hamcall.net/7bandocf.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00334.7
KG5TQP Rating: 2021-11-12
Definitely buy a buckmaster Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Had my antenna for about two years bought it off eBay had to have it repaired because I brought it broken Buckmaster fixed it antenna works beautifully barely have to use my tuner at all I love it it’s great and I’m gonna be keeping it
KC1LML Rating: 2021-11-11
Excellent quality Works great Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
In my case I had to run a messenger rope 58 feet high between tall trees at opposite ends of my lot. I suspended the Buckmaster balun from another short rope hung down in the middle of the messenger rope. The balun is 33 feet high. The ends are 15 feet high.

My RG8X coax hangs more or less straight down 20 feet and then slopes over to my house. The coax is 75 feet long.

At first my SWR readings were on the high side. But I soon realized the placement of the coax makes a big difference. I had mine running parallel with the ground wire for my ground rod/lightning arrestor. Moving them a couple of feet apart did the trick. Now my SWR readings are comparable to Buckmaster's published readings.

The only other issue I ran into was apparently RF getting into my radio and computer on the coax. My SignaLink USB kept dropping transmit if I tried to put out more than 15 watts or so running FT8 or PSK31 data modes.

Fortunately I had a spare ferrite choke (1 3/8" ID). Looping 3 turns of the coax through it completely eliminated this issue. I did try more turns, but found each additional turn raised my SWR a little. With 3 turns I can keep the SWR on all bands below 1.5:1.

Some users have complained about the price. Well I did try another brand OCF that was about 1/3 the price of a Buckmaster. I was never able to get it working acceptably on any band let alone all the bands. Another case of you get what you pay for.
KE7NJ Rating: 2020-04-28
Good solid wire antenna Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
In general, I really like this antenna. It is well made and easy to install. I've had it for a few months and have managed to work 100 countries using digital and WAS.

My original installation was 32 feet at the center and 10 feet on the ends. I got full coverage on six of the bands, but was not able to get the SWR under 4:1 on 6 meters. Recently, I moved it to my tower at 40 feet at the center and 15 feet on the ends. Much better on all bands and now have full use of 6 meters.
KN4YPT Rating: 2019-10-28
Great results and well built Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought this antenna to replace a home-brew Carolina Windom, which was pretty good but noisy.
Have only had it up a couple weeks now, but already made very clear contacts from Atlanta to Hawaii, southernmost Chile and Brazil with 90 watts; Central America and Caribbean with 50 watts. No tuner. Easy to install. My install is at approx 40' feedpoint with ends around 25' high, due to my trees available.
KC3MIO Rating: 2019-02-23
A very capable antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I passed my General in December 2018 after passing my Technician exam the month before. I was looking for an affordable antenna to go with the iCom 7300 my wife gave me for Christmas and settled on the Buckmaster after reading the reviews here and visiting their website.

With the help of my friend Rich, I put it up per the instructions, with the center feed at 30+' and the ends at 10-12', oriented 10D - 190D. I got on the air on the evening of January 4th and have had excellent results. I mainly work 40/20/17 and the SWR is very good on all three. I don't need a tuner on those bands. My recent forays into QRP indicate that this is a very good antenna. 10 watts into northern Brazil and Louisiana with good reports. It even works on 160 with tuning, getting out into New England and Virginia, although I intend to build an appropriate dipole.

The antenna has survived several ice storms and windy days, operating normally during all conditions. I have hooked it up to my RSP1A SDR and it gave good reception.

I expect to add antennas, such as a 160 dipole and a hexbeam or a Moxon, but I expect this antenna to be a mainstay for me. I heartily recommend the Buckmaster as a general purpose antenna.
K4JAR Rating: 2016-04-20
Great antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
First of all I am limited on what type of antenna I can use where I live. There are no trees and there is the Atlantic ocean 200 ft away to my east. Metal has no life expectancy here at all, aluminum returns to mother nature in a few years because of the salt air and steel or stainless does no better. We have 30-40 mph winds for days at a time many times per year and the occasional hurricane zips past. I have been using this 7 band antenna for 8 years now and not once have I had to do anything to it. My radio has a built in tuner but I don't have to use it on most bands. I use only 100 watts through a mini rg 8 cable so I would be lucky to have 80 watts at the antenna and I can bust through the busy contest stations pretty easily. If I hear them, they hear me. If this antenna died tomorrow I would order another the same day. It's wonderful and the center is just 25 ft high and the ends are only 6 feet high and it works beautifully.

tim
W4MEC Rating: 2015-11-18
Good ant. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I was given the 7 band ant as a cast off and was quite skeptical. In the dipole world, nothing works better than a ladder line center fed with a tuner which I have on the other end of my property to compare it to, but was surprised it works as well as it does. A comment down the line from a couple years ago said the ends needed to be 10 ft off the ground, that was a minimum. This ant does not need to be an inverted VEE only, a flat top is preferred if you have 3 good supports. The fellow with the poor SWR on 10 and 6, your 8ft ends may be some of the problem, get them up as high as you can, you can go around gradual corners to make it fit without too much degradation, just don't double back on its self. Another comment mentioned a height vs feedpoint impedance change, don't think this is right, Z varies from 73 to 50 as you bring it from a dipole to an inverted VEE, and will not approach 400 or 600 ohms just because it gets closer to the ground, but it may present an SWR that simulates an increased Z due to height, but it will be more reactive than resistive.
AE4PB Rating: 2015-07-14
It's Rugged but don't expect much help if it doesn't work Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased the Buckmaster OCF 7 Band dipole and installed it at my QTH. Surprisingly SWR is good on all bands EXCEPT 10/6M where the SWR is > 5:1 at the lower part of 10m down to 2.8:1 at the top. 6M is 3:1 at the bottom of the band and 4.5:1 at the top. I contacted Buckmaster and they don't have any ideas at all as to what's happening or why. I've read glowing reviews where the install was over a house and worked all designed bands fine..

I spent a bit of cash to try and get a good install. Parts: Antenna, Max Systems 22' push up fiberglass mast, 50' RG8x from HRO, FT-897D, House with peak at 20', House is retangular oriented N/S.

Mast installed at the Peak of the house with 3' inside of the attic bolted to a rafter beam. This gives me an overall height of 39'. I have a Diamond DX50 installed at the top, the Buckmaster is at 35', coax is fed into the roof peak and routed down to my shack. The ends of the dipole have > 10' of para cord running to a 10' tall fence pole. The short end height is over 10', the long end is 8' above the ground but we noticed that the ground in that area is a few feet below the ground height in the front. We'll be adding at least 5' to that pole to see what happens.

My confusion is the fact most bands SWR is good and only 10/6m are bad. I'm hoping that adjusting the long end higher will fix the issues.

The broadside of the antenna is directed at approximately 45 degrees towards EU.

I'm VERY happy with the rugged construction of the antenna. Overall, it's worth the money for the quality of materials, but it's a close call to lose 2 bands and for nobody to know what the antenna actually does.



KD6RSQ Rating: 2015-07-13
Best OCD I have had Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This thing works perfectly, no problems what so ever.
W3ALG Rating: 2015-07-13
Great Attic Antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have this antenna in an attic. So far it has been working exceptionally well. I have had QSO's with 57 countries multiple times and across the US. It is fairly long so you do need a big attic. Stations always ask what I am running and my set up and when I tell them, they can't believe it.