Excellent features:
*** Covers 40-20-17-12-10 meter ham bands under 2:1 at most heights no tuner required, 80, 15, 6 meter bands require wide range tuner
*** Great digital/FT8 antenna on many bands without tuner
*** Low SWR on many bands or use antenna tuner
*** 500 watts/1.5KW/5KW PEP (SSB-ICAS) options
*** Stainless Steel hardware for long life
*** Halyard Hoist hole for ease of center support installation or hang at ends only
*** Insulated #14 wire for durability
*** High Strength insulators (may be black, white or gray)
*** Ladder Line to 1:1 Balun (Note 1500/5000 Watts CUBE Balun can be mounted to a wall, 500 watts MB-1-500 is supported by ladder line
Super convenient and quick – great for contest operation! Choose 500, 1500 or 5000 watt PEP (use 5KW model for digital modes over 1000 watts).
INSTALLATION
For best results support center at 30+ feet and ends over 15 feet. Angle of feed each side must be great than 45 degrees or 120 – 180 degrees total between each side preferred. Any length of 50 ohm feed line ok (from the matching unit) but longer feed lines over 50 feet may show reduced SWR on some bands due to losses in feed line and soil conductivity, nearby objects, etc. Due to local ground conditions, antenna height and feed line length, SWR may vary from samples shown and an antenna tuner may be required or some bands to bring SWR at end of feed line to acceptable levels.
Antenna Length Note:These antennas are shipped from the factory with each side at 46 feet long (92 feet total) so that you may adjust(shorten) the length for your personal installation.The SWR graph shown for this product is for a side length of 44 feet as this length provides a lower SWR in the 17 meter band than the 46 foot length. The longer 46 foot length tends to shift the SWR curves to the left (lower frequency) which can sometimes be offset by reducing the length of the ladder line (up to 2 feet max). Each antenna installation is unique – try the antenna lengths as received and shorten the wire length by bending back the wires on themselves at the ends as needed.
Use an antenna tuner for 80, 30, 15 meters and reduce power if balun saturation occurs.
FREE USA Shipping on orders over $100
Insulators may be black, grey or white depending on stock at hand when order is placed. Wire is stranded, AWG#14, insulated and black or grey color.
Testimonial
Hi Bob,
Radio: Flex-6700 running barefoot -10 to 100 Watts max.
Antenna: MFJ-1216 – 160/80 meter OCFD wire antenna with matching network.
Elevation: Over 60 feet AGL – fully extended.
Installed: Mid November 2013
I operate mainly on the digital modes running less than 50 Watts. All of the sudden after a few days operating with this antenna, I start to have RFI and my radio was acting up; such as changing bands, SWR changing values, radio failures and turning off. However, when I used my Hy-Gain 18 HT vertical on the same band none of the abnormality occurred.
I contacted MFJ and confirm that what I was noticing was a failure of their “matching network” AKA balun. They offered no solutions. Then I contacted Palomar Engineers and bought the 1:1 new toroid RF beads. I called Palomar Engineers and I happened to talked to you directly; regarding the on going issue with the MFJ antenna. I found out that the 1:1 balun was not what I needed (I was miss-informed by MFJ that it was 1:1 matching network.)
You offered to make the required balun 4:1 and the rest is history.
Here are my findings:
- No more RFI displayed on the monitors.
- Radio not acting up or turning off.
- The SWR at 160/80 meter is 1.2:1
- No antenna tuner required. (radio goes to Bypass automatically.)
- Worst SWR is on 10 meter with a 2:1 but still usable, with antenna tuner 1.5.
- One happy OCFD user!
Thanks to Palomar Engineers design and engineering for solving this issue.
73, Ernest – W4EG