In this paper, a method for vortex beam OAM detection using crosshair diffraction is proposed. The OAM-related main bright spot in the far-field distribution contains most of the energy of the incident beam (50%~84%) and there is no secondary bright spot that interferes with the detection. In contrast, the energy proportion of the main bright spot in the conventional small-hole diffraction method is extremely low, particularly in the far-field main bright spot above the 7th-order topological charge, which contains less than 1% of the energy of the incident beam. Furthermore, as the topological charge level increases, the secondary bright spot becomes more intrusive. Consequently, crosshair measurements are particularly applicable to the detection of weak vortex beams, which has potentially important implications for the development of long-range free-space optical communications.