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.

So you say. If I can tell the difference between a tuner/
ladderline fed dipole vs a coax fed dipole, I bet I could
tell the difference. But I use the receiver, and switch
between the antennas. Much more accurate than
relying on reports.

The G5RV has a slight amount of gain over your 40m dipole.

That just means I'm almost sure to be louder in the
other two directions.. :/

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?

At the ladderline/choke/coax junction I would suspect.



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?

Does that version use the choke? Being the data is incomplete,
hard to say at this point. But if there is loss, I can probably
find it.. :/

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.

Hummm...Does that mean it's not really a G5RV anymore?

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

No doubt about it.

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.

I bet those did use a 4:1...Kinda makes sense as they were
the absolute worst wire antennas I'd ever used on 80m.
But like Owen points out, you have so many perversions
of the G5RV, it's hard to tell what is what. I *think* the
versions I used were made by the same company that
makes the carolina windoms, but not sure. I don't
really keep up with antennas I know I'll never be using.. :/
What boggles my mind is why people would want to use
a compromise antenna at a field day, when you have
enough room to fit 49 full size antennas... :/
Or at home for that matter.. If I have room for full size
antennas, I'm gonna use them. Life is too short for
compromise antennas. I guess I'm spoiled. I've never
had to run those funky things due to lot size, etc..
Even if I did, I think I could cook up something better
than the usual G5RV. Whatever I use will never mix
feedline types midroute to the antenna, I know that
for sure. It's like a crapshoot hoping things will pan
out at the junction. I couldn't live that way.
MK