#1 Falcon Off Center Fed 40-6 Meter Dipole Amateur Ham Radio Antenna

How well this tunes pretty much depends on how well it is put up. The science is there, I think most people (like me) just do not do a very good job of installing it. The height above ground and any angle on the radials will make a difference. Mine is strung out about 8 feet above the roof top and has about a 100 degree angle on the two radials. On 40 meters it is a perfect 1:1 match. I can tune it on all of the other bands, including 6 meters, with my MFJ-945E. Without the tuner, the antenna has too high of a SWR for transmitting anywhere but 40, at least in my installation.I like it because it is mostly invisible to the casual observer. It is also relatively inexpensive. I am new to ham radio as a talker, long time listener. I have a 100 watt HF/6 meter and a 50 watt 2 meter rig. The base of the 2 meter antenna made a good mounting point for one of the legs on this antenna.I would recommend this to anyone, like me, who wants the ability to work HF but cannot afford to or does not want to turn their home into an antenna farm. A good antenna tuner is something you will probably need if you plan to transmit more than a few watts.** UPDATE** 30 Mar 15I have experimented with some clamp on ferrite 'bead' type devices (10 of them) and found I had a little bit of SWR tuning available by moving the the devices up and down my 25 foot feed line. I ended up placing them right under the BALUN and got 1.8:1 on 40 meters and about 1.2:1 on 20 meters. The strange thing is that I got about 1.3:1 SWR on 10 meters and have had reports that this OCF long wire puts out about the same signal as my IMax-2000 vertical on 10 meters. The built in tuner on my Yaesu FT-450D can easily set a 1:1 SWR for the TX. I will upload a photo of my final configuration. These are fun antennas to experiment with. Ken K6WGX

I thought I would try an OCF design to see if it worked better than my G5RV. On this basis, it certainly gets good marks at least for the only two bands that it will resonate on, 20m and 40m. Don't bother with this one if you were hoping for an antenna that didn't need a tuner for any other other bands. The SWR on my setup is under 1.2:1 for most of 20 and 40, but only gets under 3:1 at the very bottom of the 10M band. I had hoped to use it on 6M since it was advertised this way but don't waste your time if this is an objective. SWR was way above 6 across the band. Delivery was reasonably quick although I did pay the extra for expedited shipping. I ordered an 18M dipole at the same time without expedited shipping and it has not yet arrived.Workmanship seems fine and I like the black-painted balun..

This off-center dipole is well-constructed and simple to put up pretty much anywhere. I imagine the quality and length of coax one runs to it might provide varying results, but for me this antenna does not do everything I expected it to -- for example tune on 30 meters (at all) or on 6 unless working exactly at 52 MHz, in the middle of the band. If I didn't have my MFJ Versatuner, I would have to put up a separate 30 meter dipole, which I'd really rather not do.Still, this beats the 5 band vertical I had. It's a lot less obvious, too. All in all, an okay compromise IF you have a separate antenna tuner

OCF dipole appears well made. It fit my space exactly. It is 22 feet on the short leg and 44 feet on the long leg. It must be used with a match box, as it gives an SWR of between 2.5 and 4.5 at the (limited) frequencies I have measured.

I like this antenna so it can be hidden better in a restricted area where I live. You still enjoy the Ham Radio and the neighbors or managers don't complain. Mine id hidden in a double sided fence.

Neat little multiband antenna works better than my Alpha Delta and maintains a good range of SWR over it's designated bands. A bit on the narrow band side.

I really will not comment about performance as that is extensively documented for this type of antenna and depends greatly on individual installation situations. It should be noted that one end should be at least 33 feet off the ground. Construction is mostly pretty good. Like most inexpensive antennas the balun is made from PVC pipe materials. UV light can damage PVC so Falcon has coated these components with a black protective finish. I do not see anyone else doing this. A downside is that they have just used short pieces of PVC with drilled holes for insulators. This leaves sharp edges that would quickly cut through rope. Egg insulators cost under $1ea which I would have gladly paid. I used a clevis and pin setup for strain relief. With egg insulators I would have given this product five stars.

I installed this antenna and has a great performance. I am in a site where I have enough space, but I managed to place and has been very good