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?

-JJ

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?

-JJ

(A) The G5RV feedpoint impedances are relatively low within some of the
ham bands. (B)It's a coax-fed antenna which does not need a balanced
antenna tuner which are scarce, complex and expensive.

w3rv

wrote in message
oups.com...
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?

-JJ

Marketing.

On 24 Feb 2005 16:27:51 -0800, 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?

-JJ

Well, this is what G5RV himself wrote about his antenna:

http://www.qsl.net/aa3px/g5rv.htm

And Mr. Cebik did a nice 3-part analysis on same:

http://www.cebik.com/g5rv.html

Bob
k5qwg

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?


============================
Well done! You are correct about the G5RV in every respect.

As a multi-band HF antenna it is just another dipole without any magical
properties.

With the coax (Zo unspecified) its loss is greater than other dipoles.

Its balanced feedline impedance Zo is not specified. This important
performance parameter can be anything you like and the antenna will still
remain a G5RV.

It has an approximate impedance match at only one frequency, 14.15 MHz. You
will be very lucky to find a resonance in any other band.

The impedance match to coax at 14.15 MHz is not at the desirable 50 but 75
ohms.

It has a cloverleaf radiation pattern only in the 20m band, sometimes
praised as desirable if you work from South America into both Europe and the
USA as G5RV often did.

As with other balanced line fed dipoles a current or choke balun is best
when converting impedance from a balanced line to a tuner plus 50-ohm
transmitter.

But the biggest joke of all is the half-size G5RV. Mr R L Varney must be
turning over in his grave.
----
Reg, G4FGQ

Reg Edwards wrote:
It has a cloverleaf radiation pattern only in the 20m band, sometimes
praised as desirable if you work from South America into both Europe and the
USA as G5RV often did.

It has a multi-lobed pattern on all frequencies
above 14 MHz. A 102' dipole has a beautiful clover-
leaf pattern on 17m.

But the biggest joke of all is the half-size G5RV. Mr R L Varney must be
turning over in his grave.

Antennas are scalable with frequency, Reg. The
102' G5RV is a pretty good antenna for 80m, 40m,
20m, and 12m. That makes the 51' half-sized G5RV
a pretty good antenna for 40m, 20m, 10m, and 6m.
When Mr. Varney designed the G5RV antenna, there
were no WARC bands.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp


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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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On 24 Feb 2005 16:27:51 -0800, 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?

Nothing.

JJ,
What you're missing is the 'mystique' the advertising
department has generated.
'Doc

PS - By the way, I have this bridge for sale. Built from
gold bricks...

G5RV originally designed the antenna for gain on the 20 meter band.
Over the years, various mfg. have made minor changes, but the design
essentially remains unchanged.
(The "double-size" for 160 is not an efficient antenna. Better to feed
260' of wire via ladder or open wire line.)