so i finally stopped procrastinating and just built a dipole from scratch Saturday. used 14awg stranded copper i had sitting in a box, cut it for 40m, about 66 feet total which i know isn't exactly resonant at the frequency i want but i was going off the 468/f formula and figured i'd trim later.

the feedpoint is where im not sure i did it right. i soldered the coax braid and center conductor directly to the two halves and then wrapped the whole thing in self-amalgamating tape, and i hung a few snap-on ferrite chokes on the coax about 6 inches down from the feedpoint. my SWR is reading around 1.8:1 at 7.150 which honestly isnt terrible but i expected it to be closer to flat after reading so much about how forgiving dipoles are.

is the SWR likely a common mode current thing or am i just off on the length? also the antenna is kind of in an inverted-v config because i only have one tall tree, center is at about 35 feet and the ends droop down to maybe 10 feet. wondering if that's affecting things. havent done any trimming yet, just want to understand what im dealing with before i start cutting.

1.8 at 7.150 isnt bad at all for a first build honestly, most tuners will handle that no problem and plenty of rigs will too. the inverted-v geometry will shift your resonant point a bit compared to a flat-top so your effective electrical length is a little different than what the formula gives you. the drooping ends also lower the feedpoint impedance somewhat, 50 ohm coax into an inverted-v can get you into that territory even when everything is technically right.

i'd try trimming a few inches off each leg at a time and rescanning across the band to see where your minimum SWR actually falls. if its below 7.150 you trim, above you add wire. the ferrite chokes are a good call, common mode is definitely a real thing with coax-fed dipoles especially if your feedline runs parallel to the antenna for any distance. self-amalgamating tape on the feedpoint is fine, i do the same thing.

yeah the inverted v thing makes a difference, my first dipole was the same setup and i spent like two hours confused why my numbers were off before someone on here told me the angle of the legs matters. also 35 feet center height for 40m is decent but not huge, ground reflections and all that stuff i barely understand but it does affect swr readings apparently. anyway it sounds like youre on the right track, 1.8:1 is way better than where i started lol