wrote:

As someone who is relatively inexperienced with the hobby, I am amazed
at the confusion and mysticism surrounding the "G5RV" antenna. It
appears to be nothing but a dipole, with a length of "balanced line" to
transform the impedance to a better match for coax at certain
frequencies.

A little consideration reveals that this antenna should suffer from
unwanted return currents unless a balun is used (like any coax-fed
dipole), and substantial loss in the coax at certain frequencies. So
why is this antenna better than two pieces of reasonably long wire
driven with balanced line and a tuner? What am I missing?

It is a pretty good antenna on 80m, 40m, 20m, and 12m because
the 50 ohm SWR is relatively low on those bands. A dipole fed
by balanced line and a tuner may perform better or worse than
a G5RV depending upon the configuration. If one knows what one
is doing, the 100% balanced line approach is best and can be
done without a conventional tuner as explained on my web page.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp


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