RadioBanter - View Single Post - Any experience with the G5RV multiband wire antenna?

January 10th 06, 12:15 AM posted to rec.radio.amateur.antenna

wrote:

The G5RV, with tuner, is a pretty
good 80m, 40m, 20m, and 12m antenna.

Depends what you compare it to... I bet my paralleled
80/40/20 dipoles would beat it on all those bands.

Not by enough to notice on the other end. The G5RV has
a slight amount of gain over your 40m dipole. It has
low loss on the ladder-line matching section and an SWR
of less than 4:1 on the RG-213 coax. Where are the losses?

If the series section
is varied from 20 feet to 36 feet, it becomes a very good
all-HF-band antenna. With the addition of a parallel 1000pf
capacitor with the series section at 22 feet, on 75m my "G5RV"
has SWR of 1.3:1 and works as well as a 75m 1/2WL dipole.

You would be the exception to the rule. And I still really doubt
it's the total equal of a simple coax fed dipole on 80m.

It's a 3/8WL dipole on 75m, fed with low-loss ladder-line,
a parallel door knob cap, and an SWR of 1.3:1 on the RG-213
coax. Where are the losses?

The "usual" G5RV that most people tend to buy and run
is one of the most pathetic 80m antennas I've ever used
in my life.

Well, maybe. The one I bought in 1988 was well designed with
a w2du balun and RG-8x coax. It worked well with a tuner and
I made lots of improvements as I learned more about it.

There was probably something wrong with the particular G5RV's
that you have been exposed to.

Some people run a 4:1 balun at the coax/twinlead junction on
a G5RV. That's the absolute worst thing to do on 75m as the
impedance at that point is already low at 16 ohms.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp