End Fed OCF Antennas
Off Center Fed (OCF) antennas are very convenient as they will allow multiple bands of operation with a simple wire antenna which is fed off center. For example, the Palomar Engineers 4010 OCF is a very popular antenna and consists of an off center fed dipole with sides of 55 feet and 11 feet and it will work all bands from 40-6 meters.The End Fed OCF uses the same dimensions but the wire section is 55 feet as in the OCF and the coax outer braid is used for the “other” short side of the OCF dipole. We place a choke on the coax at the 12 foot distance from the matching unit and we essentially have an OCF antenna with its great frequency range, but with only a 55 foot wire length instead of the 66 feet required by the regular OCF. You feed the antenna from one end which may be more convenient for some installations. This antenna will work on 40-30-20-17-15-12-10 and 6 meters. Most bands are under 3:1 SWR and easily tuned by your transceiver’s internal antenna tuner or external tuner used with an amplifier. (see BULLET-4006 for specific details and SWR curves).
These antennas are MUCH BETTER PERFORMERS than End Fed Half Wave antennas because they work the WARC bands, DO NOT HAVE A DANGEROUS HIGH VOLTAGE at the antenna connection and are SHORTER to fit in smaller spaces yet provide more band coverage up to 6 meters!
HF 1-61 MHz coax feed line common mode chokes
End Fed OCF Antennas
Off Center Fed (OCF) antennas are very convenient as they will allow multiple bands of operation with a simple wire antenna which is fed off center. For example, the Palomar Engineers 4010 OCF is a very popular antenna and consists of an off center fed dipole with sides of 55 feet and 11 feet and it will work all bands from 40-6 meters.The End Fed OCF uses the same dimensions but the wire section is 55 feet as in the OCF and the coax outer braid is used for the “other” short side of the OCF dipole. We place a choke on the coax at the 12 foot distance from the matching unit and we essentially have an OCF antenna with its great frequency range, but with only a 55 foot wire length instead of the 66 feet required by the regular OCF. You feed the antenna from one end which may be more convenient for some installations. This antenna will work on 40-30-20-17-15-12-10 and 6 meters. Most bands are under 3:1 SWR and easily tuned by your transceiver’s internal antenna tuner or external tuner used with an amplifier. (see BULLET-4006 for specific details and SWR curves).
These antennas are MUCH BETTER PERFORMERS than End Fed Half Wave antennas because they work the WARC bands, DO NOT HAVE A DANGEROUS HIGH VOLTAGE at the antenna connection and are SHORTER to fit in smaller spaces yet provide more band coverage up to 6 meters!
1:1 feed line Chokes (also known as feed line current chokes, common mode chokes, line isolators, current mode chokes, and 1:1 baluns/ununs) are available in kit form or assembled form in a weatherproof Current Unun and Balun Enclosure which we call a CUBE™. All 1:1 chokes are ferrite based and are designed for 50 ohm coaxial cable input and 50 ohm output. 1:1 Ferrite toroidal or bead chokes have a higher choking impedance than our popular Sleeve Chokes and various models are available for specific frequency ranges and power levels.
1:1 Chokes are useful for choking common mode currents that may flow on the exterior of the coax cable shield while allowing the signals on the interior of the shield and the center conductor to flow unaffected and keeping the common mode current on the antenna. They isolate the coax shield and prevent it from becoming part of the antenna system.
1:1 Chokes are useful between balanced lines for center fed dipoles at their fundamental frequency (468/f (MHz), beam antennas with a 50 ohm balanced driven element, G5RV, loops, yagis, NVIS antennas, mobile installations, portable antennas and anywhere common mode current (or RFI) is a problem. They are also helpful between transmitter and linear amplifier or between linear amp and antenna tuner or as isolation chokes where higher choking impedance is needed (in the range of 2K-7K ohms).
1:1 Chokes are also very useful as feed line current chokes at the “radio end” of the antenna (we call them coax noise filters) where they choke/filter common mode current induced onto the coax shield from radiated waves (from your antenna, and other sources such as DSL routers, computer devices, plasma TVs, etc. originating in your house or your neighbor’s house). For RFI issues see RFI/EMI Solutions for general use or for specific radios and devices.
For best results we recommend a 1:1 choke at the “antenna end” of the coax and a coax noise filter at the “radio end” of the coax. (A side benefit is a reduction in noise level caused by common mode currents). 1:1 chokes are also available as Sleeve Chokes (Slip on or Snap on) for ease of installation and light weight on the antenna.