On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 02:36:11 -0500, Gary wrote:

I've looked at some commercial "full size" G5RV's and the leg lengths
are about 51 feet long each, that seems a tad short for 80 meters.
Would I experience quite a bit of loss in the tuner ( External ) Or
maybe I should try and erect a dipole with leg lengths as long as I
can and feed it with 450 Ohm Ladder line or 300 Ohm twinlead and be
able to operate on 30 meters ? I understand the G5RV doesn't work too
well for 30 meters, and I need some place to operate during contests.
My primary bands of interests are 80 thru 20 CW.

Thanks in advance.

Gary K8IQ

Dear Gary,

When G5RV designed that antenna, it was designed for 20 meters.
What does that tell you?

Your own suggestion is a pretty good one. However, don't expect that
you will be lucky enough to have it tune to 1:1 on all frequencies,
just because you use a balanced feedline and a tuner. Usually, some
matching is necessary with discrete elements or transmission line
segments, stubs, etc.

If you want to take advantage of the extensive work of others on the
"all purpose" center fed dipoles, take a look at Cecil's web site.
Bob, W9DMK, Dahlgren, VA
http://www.qsl.net/w9dmk