Yb+ ions were trapped in an uncompensated rf trap with light buffer gas and then the storage time, as well as the total number of the trapped ions, was determined by the rf resonance method. When the ratio of the frequency of the trapping field to that of the macromotion of the trapped ions was an integer, the total number and the storage time were smaller and shorter, respectively, than those obtained when the ratio was a half-integer. A theoretical calculation shows that this effect, called the subharmonic oscillation, is caused by excitation of the macromotion of the trapped ions by the leaked trapping rf field, in the case in which the ion trap has an octupole besides a quadrupole potential.