so i finally took the plunge and built a center-fed dipole for 40m instead of just buying one. used some 14 gauge solid copper wire i had laying around from some old electrical work, cut each leg to roughly 33.5 feet. i know the formula, i just wasnt 100% sure if i should account for the velocity factor of the wire itself since its bare copper not insulated. anyway i got it up in an inverted-V config off a tree limb maybe 30 feet at the apex.

the feedpoint is where im second guessing myself. i used a choke balun i wound myself, 10 turns of RG-8X on a FT-240-43 toroid. seemed like the right move for a balanced to unbalanced situation but honestly i wasnt sure if i even needed one for a simple dipole or if a 1:1 choke is enough versus a 4:1 voltage balun. antenna analyzer is showing about 1.3:1 SWR at 7.150 which seems pretty great, but the feedpoint impedance was reading around 58 ohms which feels a bit low for a center-fed dipole, expected closer to 72. probably the height over ground affecting it i guess.

anyone done similar builds and have thoughts on the balun situation? and does the inverted-V config naturally lower the feedpoint impedance compared to a flat-top?

yeah the inverted-V definitely pulls that impedance down, its not just your height. the angle of the legs matters a lot - closer the legs are to each other (sharper the V) the lower it drops, you can get down into the 50 ohm range easy which actually works out great for direct coax feed. so your 58 ohms is probably right where youd expect it with that geometry. your choke balun setup sounds totally fine for this, the 1:1 choke is the right call for a dipole, youre just keeping rf off the coax shield, you dont need voltage transformation here. i wouldnt overthink the balun situation honestly. only time id reach for a 4:1 is if youre feeding something way off resonance or running a doublet with open wire line.

bare copper wire vs insulated doesnt make much practical difference on the velocity factor thing for antenna wire, its negligible for something this long. if your analyzer is showing 1.3 SWR at your target freq you basically nailed it, id just trim a little if you want to bring it down further.

nice work getting it up. my first homebrew dipole was a mess, connections were terrible and i had a big swr problem that turned out to be a cold solder joint at the feedpoint connector. worth checking your connections if anything changes over time especially with weather cycling. i used some self amalgamating tape over my feedpoint and center insulator and it held up really well through a whole winter.