The Moxon, a beam out of wire and two sticks.

A Moxon is a driven element and a reflector, each bent toward the other until their tips nearly meet. You get most of a Yagi’s forward gain, a far deeper null off the back, and a feedpoint that is already close to 50 ohms — so coax connects directly, with no matching network at all.

How to use it

• Set the frequency to the part of the band you actually work. A Moxon is sharper than a dipole, so this matters.
• Set the wire gauge or conductor diameter. This is not cosmetic: every dimension shifts with conductor thickness.

What you get

• A — the width, tip to tip across the front.
• B, C, D — the driven tail, the gap between the tails, and the reflector tail.
• E — overall depth, front to back.
• Total wire needed, plus how it compares to a dipole and a 3-element Yagi at the same frequency.

Tips

• C is the dimension to get right. The gap between the tails sets both the front-to-back ratio and the feedpoint impedance, and it is the smallest number on the drawing. Build the rest to the table, then adjust the gap for the deepest null off the back.
• The tails must not touch. Use a spreader or an insulator to hold the gap.
• Point the null, not just the beam. Rejecting an interference source off the back is often worth more than the forward gain.

Good to know

Dimensions come from Cebik’s design fit — the same one MoxGen implements — where each dimension is a polynomial in the conductor diameter expressed in wavelengths. The fit covers conductors between roughly 1/100,000 and 1/100 of a wavelength thick; outside that the tool clamps and says so.

What you give up against a dipole is bandwidth. What you give up against a Yagi is about a dB of forward gain — in exchange for roughly 70% of the width, no boom, and no matching network.