G5RV's...fact not fiction.

[K1OU]

Is it just me, or is the G5RV the most misunderstood antenna with the greatest amount of misinformation?

What are your experiences with this antenna, if any?

[w0aew]

Never did any measurements or anything, but I've had good luck with mine. It's for 40-10 meters, one end in a tree about 50 feet up, the low end about 10 feet up. I work a modest amount of DX and lotsa stateside QSOs with a maximum output power of 20 watts on CW (mostly), SSB, and PSK. I generally work 40 and 20 meters with it.

On 80 meters I use a random wire about 150' long and a counterpoise about 40 feet long connected to a chain link fence. This also works ok on 160.

However, I'm not a contester except for the occasional QRP 'test or PSKfest.

[w2amr]

Is it just me, or is the G5RV the most misunderstood antenna with the greatest amount of misinformation?

What are your experiences with this antenna, if any?
From what I've heard that seems to be the case, I've heard good and bad. Never used one tho

[al2i]

We had one up for a while here at Kuparuk. I stuck our $11,000 Anritsu antenna analyzer on it and it had a cool dip in VSWR precisely on each HF ham band. What a bizarre antenna. I never had much luck with it, so I put up a couple of simple wire dipoles. The dipoles seemed to be an order of magnitude better.

[N2RJ]

First experience with G5RV's totally turned me off with them.

We were operating 9Y field day and I was a fresh n00b, wet behind the ears.

Someone else brought a g5rv and his TS-440s.

I heard a few stations and tried calling and calling but they wouldn't hear me.

Another guy had a 20m inverted vee set up, and not only was he hearing more, but I was able to work a few stations.

So I guess that bad impression of the G5 has stuck with me ever since.

I used to think that the G5RV was a magic all band antenna, but with its disappointment I asked my elmer, why? He said, "boy you don't know, the G5RV is a compromise antenna, it needs a tuner. Where do you think that extra power is going?"

[K1OU]

Another guy had a 20m inverted vee set up, and not only was he hearing more, but I was able to work a few stations.



It didn't take long to figure out that putting an additional ten feet of wire on each end and just running ladder line straight to the tuner was far more effective.

Better yet, I've always had good luck with loops. Several years ago I had a 270' loop delta loop that I fed with 450 to a 4:1 balun to a very short run of coax to the tuner. With 100 watts, it really made a difference.

[al2i]

Another guy had a 20m inverted vee set up, and not only was he hearing more, but I was able to work a few stations.



It didn't take long to figure out that putting an additional ten feet of wire on each end and just running ladder line straight to the tuner was far more effective.

Better yet, I've always had good luck with loops. Several years ago I had a 270' loop delta loop that I fed with 450 to a 4:1 balun to a very short run of coax to the tuner. With 100 watts, it really made a difference.

For some reason (possibly the trees) Alaska is full of loopy antenna builders. The best loops have an external, outdoor, automatic or remote controlled antenna-tuner. It is the tuner that I have been slow to aquire or build for myself. Loops are definately rockin' though.

[K1OU]

Another guy had a 20m inverted vee set up, and not only was he hearing more, but I was able to work a few stations.



It didn't take long to figure out that putting an additional ten feet of wire on each end and just running ladder line straight to the tuner was far more effective.

Better yet, I've always had good luck with loops. Several years ago I had a 270' loop delta loop that I fed with 450 to a 4:1 balun to a very short run of coax to the tuner. With 100 watts, it really made a difference.

For some reason (possibly the trees) Alaska is full of loopy antenna builders. The best loops have an external, outdoor, automatic or remote controlled antenna-tuner. It is the tuner that I have been slow to aquire or build for myself. Loops are definately rockin' though.

Loops have a different feel about them. They SEEM to knock back the static much more so than with an open antenna system.

I had all of about $45.00 in the wire, 450, 4:1 balun, coax and rope. And especially on 75, with an AL811 and about 600 watts, I had no problem swatting flies and pig farmers when the going got tough.

When it comes to tuners, I'm rather partial to this brand...

http://www.palstar.com/

[wd0ct]

They are great when used for what they were desgined - gain on 20.

Part of the bad rap comes from manufacturers using solid, lossy 300 ohm twinlead and then using excessive lengths of cheap rg8x coax and a crap balun at the twinlead/coax junction. The extra coax hides some swr and makes it appear better to the noob's meter.

I wouldn't hesitate to use one made with good 300 or 450 ladderline staright to a tuner. I think cebik.com has a good write up about it.

[N9FE]

They are great when used for what they were desgined - gain on 20.

Part of the bad rap comes from manufacturers using solid, lossy 300 ohm twinlead and then using excessive lengths of cheap rg8x coax and a crap balun at the twinlead/coax junction. The extra coax hides some swr and makes it appear better to the noob's meter.

I wouldn't hesitate to use one made with good 300 or 450 ladderline staright to a tuner. I think cebik.com has a good write up about it.
well for one there to dam short, even the one for 160 is to short, and your right they were designed for 20 meters, if you use coax with them they have way to much vertical component, best thing to to is tear off the coax and twin lead, add 12 feet to each leg, and feed it with 450 or 600 ohm, right to the tuner, then you'll have something, but they are a good camping type temporary antenna,, and jerry were the hell ya been

[m3jzt]

I use one my self inverted V ,workd most good on 80m - 75,.......even beter on 20m,....made some good contacts on this one.102ft top,450 ribon into a balun to 50 coax.Works for me......but i have just put up a coroliner Windom for 20 to 10 no to 6 m,.....works a treat,....But back to the post,...in my mind the G5RV works great if you cannot put up beams and the like... ;)

[kd6nig]

The G5RV, properly positioned above ground is a great......

receive antenna.

:)

[W5IEI]

I ponied up the bucks for a Palstar BT1500A,and will be running a 260' balanced dipole.
600 ohm feedline right in the shack with me.
Hope cowchip doesn't read this :lol:

[N3ATS]

My first HF antenna was a Tru-Talk (sold on eBay) G5RV. It worked very good for me from 80-10. No problems tuning it anywhere. Every other antenna I have ever built caused me grief on at least one band tuning wise.

I hung it at 35' (my maximum height here) and worked stations all over the lower 48, and a few outlying islands with 100 watts.

Then I started to actually learn about antennas, and how much loss is incurred in 75' of coax with a high SWR (non-resonant bands). I tried to improve up on it and got it up to 82% efficiency at worst. Still that's pretty crappy. I took it down long ago and haven't used it since.

It is what it is. A 1-1/2 wavelength 20 meter antenna that happens work on other bands with a tuner. It is not very efficient (other than 20m) for multi-band use. But, if you only have 102' of linear space and you want to get on 80' it will work. Makes a helluva SWL antenna too! It had decent receive from 3-60 MHz.

I now have an antenna (home brew design) that takes up on 42' feet total and I can tune it from 30-10 (except for 15m which is always a pain in the arse here).

http://zrq.informe.com/viewtopic.php?t=415

My next project is a .64 wavelength 60 meter antenna which will provide a nice pattern and gain over average soil for 80-40.

[N9FE]

There is absolutly nothing dangerous about running any kind of open wire line into your shack, NOTHING, the old wives tales and all the other bull is false, totally false, fact, you have more rf flying out of your computer monitor that comes off of open wire line, lighting, if your smart, as we all are, we disconnect ALL feed lines when lightning is snapping in your neighborhood, loss, the loss factor between open wire and coax is terrible, open wire loss is like 0.2 ,a true balanced line system the feedlines do NOT radiate, as long as your not laying on metal for a good distance there will be no problem, you can go through steel or aluminum siding, as long as your not running along it, you must have a good ground, as you must with coax also, see the biggest thing with a balanced line system is it's so dam simple the brainiac type just can't get there very large brains "and ego's " around this very very simple system that WILL wipe ANY i mean ANY coax fed dipole right off the air, and that is a well proven FACT

[W5IEI]

There is absolutly nothing dangerous about running any kind of open wire line into your shack, NOTHING, the old wives tales and all the other bull is false, totally false, fact, you have more rf flying out of your computer monitor that comes off of open wire line, lighting, if your smart, as we all are, we disconnect ALL feed lines when lightning is snapping in your neighborhood, loss, the loss factor between open wire and coax is terrible, open wire loss is like 0.2 ,a true balanced line system the feedlines do NOT radiate, as long as your not laying on metal for a good distance there will be no problem, you can go through steel or aluminum siding, as long as your not running along it, you must have a good ground, as you must with coax also, see the biggest thing with a balanced line system is it's so dam simple the brainiac type just can't get there very large brains "and ego's " around this very very simple system that WILL wipe ANY i mean ANY coax fed dipole right off the air, and that is a well proven FACT

I agree with you.
Mike

[N3ATS]

For some reason I could never get the RF out of my shack with the ladder-line running right to the tuner. I tried EVERYTHING. I finally settled on using 15' of RG-8X (loss is negligible with that short of run) from the ladder-line, through a coax wound choke, into my shack.

I envy those who never had problems, but I could never get it to work properly. RF got into my PC, it would get into other radios nearby (display on my 706 would go nuts), the phone would go crazy, etc. etc.

You name it, I've tried it, done it, implemented it, and I use the best practices. From proper antenna installation to Motorola R56 grounding techniques.

[N9FE]

steve: you must have had something unbalanced, you must have each leg exactlly the same length for one, with that said, are you shure you were'nt getting rf right off the back of the radio, or tuner, i not trying to be a jerk here by no means ok, but we have done this many many times, in many many situations, and found the source of rf not being the open wire line but if it truly driving you nuts, run a short as posible coax to get out of the shack to a balun, then open wire, now if you have a wire only tuner, like i do, you take two exact lenghts of coax and make twin lead out of it to get out of the shack,

[N3ATS]

steve: you must have had something unbalanced, you must have each leg exactlly the same length for one, with that said, are you shure you were'nt getting rf right off the back of the radio, or tuner, i not trying to be a jerk here by no means ok, but we have done this many many times, in many many situations, and found the source of rf not being the open wire line but if it truly driving you nuts, run a short as posible coax to get out of the shack to a balun, then open wire, now if you have a wire only tuner, like i do, you take two exact lenghts of coax and make twin lead out of it to get out of the shack,

10-4 on the jerk thing. I don't see it that way. No offense taken. :D

I double checked the leg lengths when I build the doublet, then checked them again when I had the trouble. They are within 1/4" of each other over 20'. At HF frequencies that doesn't amount to a hill of beans.

It COULD be a tuner issue (MFJ 969 VTII) but with coax in the shack out to the LL I don't have the problem. Maybe it IS a tuner issue with the crappy MFJ balun and the balanced circuit in the tuner. (All appeared okay by sight inside).

I will have to try the coax suggestion. I did once but I grounded the shields to my station ground and had no improvement. Should I just float the shields?

[N9FE]

I wished you lived closer than dam pennsylvania, but anyway, we can get this done, steve you don't know what your missing "signal wise" and recieve also till you get an balanced wire system playing, i'm telling ya, we have had 60 year old hams in my area say, i've never seen a 40 over signal in my life till i went open wire, this is no crapola

[N3ATS]

I wished you lived closer than dam pennsylvania, but anyway, we can get this done, steve you don't know what your missing "signal wise" and recieve also till you get an balanced wire system playing, i'm telling ya, we have had 60 year old hams in my area say, i've never seen a 40 over signal in my life till i went open wire, this is no crapola

Is there a difference between ppen wire (as in uninsulated wire with insulators to separate them) or store bought ladder line as far as performance goes?

[N9FE]

OK if ya make twin leed out of coax, some say 75 ohm will work better, i say if it is a short run like less than 10 or 15 feet the tuner will nevwer see it, now, yes ., equal legnths, take and strip back like 4 inches, pull back the shields, on the dipole end just wrap them together and seal seal seal, no no water, at the tuner end strip same way, take the braid and pull it and wrap it around like two wires, now hook them to the tuner ground lug, make shure the radio and amp are grounded there too, now i use old r8 coax, ya know the big stuff, strip back like a foot, pull the braid way back, cut the center wire and foam off way back, pull the braid back, and use that for my ground wire, you want to make shure that the ground wire is as short as possible, and not a multiple like 22 feet 66 feet you know what i mean, i use a nine foot ground rod right outside the window, and drive that mother all the way in, like with an inch showing above ground, shine up rod, wrap coax braid around good and tight, seal seal seal, no water there either, and you should dam well close,,,,,

[N9FE]

the only diff between 300 450 and 600 is 300 and 450 get a little goofy with rain and ice, 600 will not ever have that, if you run in trees you have to use insulated wire, now stay away from the solid 450 feed line, it will bust over time, ya got to use standed

[W5IEI]

Steve,
I used 450 ohm open wire feeders with a mfj 989 c.
It worked fine at legal limit.Until I learned about input baluns,as opposed to 4:1 output baluns I was in the dark.
Invest in the Palstar BT1500A,and the problem with current points,and voltage points on your balanced line will dissapear.
Mike

[W5IEI]

I guess I should have mentioned,it sounds like you have a high voltage point in the shack.
Did you try lengthening your feedline?
Mike

[N9FE]

I guess I should have mentioned,it sounds like you have a high voltage point in the shack.
Did you try lengthening your feedline?
Mike right you can try that also, i had to add like 5 or 7 feet to get it to tune ten meters

[ad4mg]

I guess I should have mentioned,it sounds like you have a high voltage point in the shack.
Did you try lengthening your feedline?
Mike

Excellent advice. I had to do the trial and error thing on my 80 meter dipole fed w/450 ohm line. I've got it (the feedline) at a length now where the only band I get RF in the shack on is 10 meters, and it's minimal. There is a noticeable improvement on received signals, particularly where the antenna is resonant. Of course, with ladder line, rain & snow will change the impedance. I use the "windowed" ladder line, so those effects are also minimal.

FYI - I'm using a Dentron tuner ... 2 kw I think (MT-2000A).

[W5IEI]

Luke,
When you switch to 600 ohm,the weather problems dissapear also.
Don't know why,but they do.
Mike

[N3ATS]

Keep in mind my problems are not limited to one antenna. I've tried many different ladder-line fed designs with the same problems.

I will try to answer the points...

Grounding...

All gear in the shack, which consists of two radios, two tuners, and a power supply, each have their own 10 AWG copper ground wire running from them to a copper bar mounted on the wall behind my little radio table.

From that bar I am running 6 AWG outside to my outside copper plate. That's were the PolyPhasers are mounted and all the coax goes through before it comes inside.

From the outside plate, I have another piece of 6 AWG (a little small, yes) running straight down to a 8 foot copper clad-steel ground rod in the ground all but 8".

With the exception of the smaller than they should be conductors, this is the standard for grounding. In essence every piece of equipment and every feedline has it's own ground, and all the grounds terminate in one place. Single point. Here are pics of the outside plate...

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j238/swweiss/ground_buss_1.jpg

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j238/swweiss/ground_buss_2.jpg

Tuner....

I used a really long jumper and moved the tuner to the other side of the room and still had issues. All of my tuners have trouble. I am seriously considering selling my three tuners and putting down the cash on a heavy duty Palstar. My MFJ969, my Vectronics 300LDP and my LDG 200 AT. One tuner to rule them all.

Feedline length...

I tried changing the lengths of both the ladder-line AND the coax, with no real difference in results. I have noticed that my tuning parameters change slightly in the rain. Going out back and giving the line a good "shake" generally rids it of most the water and improves tuning.

N9FE, I will try the coax balanced line idea when I get back from my business trip in Kentucky for 10 days. Woo hooo... :roll:

[W5IEI]

Steve,
I don't want to sound like a moron here,but,I grounded nothing.
Nothing!
Mike

[N3ATS]

Steve,
I don't want to sound like a moron here,but,I grounded nothing.
Nothing!
Mike

Some guys will swear by that method. For kicks and giggles I disconnected all my grounds at one time and tried it. Same problem!

[N9FE]

steve: it looks to me that your ground system is very well done, good job by the way, so that should not be the problem, but doing count it out alltogether, the ground loop thing, do you run the big coax for your jumpers?? it can make a diff, also i cannot remember what to do, but you could be getting rf through the ac line, or vice versa rf getting into the ac line, the display on the radio go goofy is what has me going down this path

[N9FE]

steve: i talked to one of my antenna gurus last night, you know one of these guys that have like over a mile of wire in the air since the sixtys, he said, ground the hf tuner seperate, and go with 600 ohm line, that all he said, a man of very few words, but has also worked the world on 160

[wd0ct]

Very interesting stuff. I'll add a few thoughts.

Coax choke baluns are narrow band. One with enough reactance for 160 is huge.
One with enough reactance for 40 will be too capacitive for 10 etc.

If the antenna is close to the shack you will have more trouble with induced currents on the line
and wiring. Lots of us have to live with such antennas though.

Try a 1/4 wave counterpoise wire hooked to back of tuner or rig for bands with rf. Any old cheap wire run around the
floor will sometimes take care of the problem band. The mfj tuneable counterpoise is just a tuner hooked
to a random wire to do the same thing.

Plenty of tuners use 4:1 voltage baluns that have poor balance and not enough reactance on the low bands.
This can be solved with a heavy duty and simple 1:1 current balun on one of the coax outputs from the tuner.

Palstars are good but so is the Ameritron ATR30 at half the price. The balun is a huge 3 core 1:1 current type.

We all have a ground even if it long and not efficient. The third leg of the power cords does this.
Our equipment is grounded to each other by the coax braid of the jumpers too.
The object of an extra ground is low impedance path to ground so rf takes the easy path.

If the ground can't be very short then make it odd 1/8 wave. Making this work for all bands might involve
multiple lengths in parallel. The object is low impedance for rf.

Consider copper or brass thin strap for grounds. .010 is thick enough [.015 will not cut fingers so easily] and 1 inch wide should give low impedance - better than number 10 or braid [unless braid is tinned]. Solders like a dream.

Brass shim stock in nice rolls is available at contractor supply places. It is used to shim motors etc for alignment. Cuts easy with scissors.

It is all worse at legal limit and running audio gear... lol

I'm no expert. Just been around a while and read some.

[N9FE]

Nope, no expert here either, but i do kinda get a kick out of tracking down this stuff

[KF5ER]

A G5RV was my first antenna when I got back into AR.
Mounted about 35 feet up, part of it just a few feet over the roof peak.
Used a Dentron tuner and worked 180 countries in three years.
Upgraded to a crankup tower and a Optibeam OB6-12 antenna but
the G5RV is still up and still in use.

[K1OU]

A G5RV was my first antenna when I got back into AR.
Mounted about 35 feet up, part of it just a few feet over the roof peak.
Used a Dentron tuner and worked 180 countries in three years.
Upgraded to a crankup tower and a Optibeam OB6-12 antenna but
the G5RV is still up and still in use.

How do you like the Optibeam?

[N9FE]

no g5rv's work, but there just not the most efficiant thing around, and the 109ft version is to short for lower the 40 meters, this w7fg guy in oklahoma is buildind doublets for cheaper than we can make them right now, "copper prices" you can't beat a doublet,

[KF5ER]

A G5RV was my first antenna when I got back into AR.
Mounted about 35 feet up, part of it just a few feet over the roof peak.
Used a Dentron tuner and worked 180 countries in three years.
Upgraded to a crankup tower and a Optibeam OB6-12 antenna but
the G5RV is still up and still in use.

How do you like the Optibeam?

A very good antenna. No traps, interlaced design, broad banded and very robust construction.

[n8ats]

i prefer the doublet, i also started with the g5rv, and do not get me wrong it did ok, but the 450 fed doublet put the coals to it hand over fist. i added 10 feet to the resonant base freq of my doublet length and it works well for me all bands if i choose to use it. but i will say, i do not regret buying the g5rv right off the bat, it gave be a basic starting point for my doublet, as well as a comparison point for my newer antenna's.

[N2RJ]

A G5RV was my first antenna when I got back into AR.
Mounted about 35 feet up, part of it just a few feet over the roof peak.
Used a Dentron tuner and worked 180 countries in three years.
Upgraded to a crankup tower and a Optibeam OB6-12 antenna but
the G5RV is still up and still in use.

How do you like the Optibeam?

A very good antenna. No traps, interlaced design, broad banded and very robust construction.

How's it compare to force 12?

I wish these manufacturers would offer simulation files for EZNEC to analyze the one best for our own needs.

Oh well.

[N2RJ]

Good one, Jerry.

That's like asking a car salesman to give you an actual price instead of a monthly payment.

[K1OU]

A G5RV was my first antenna when I got back into AR.
Mounted about 35 feet up, part of it just a few feet over the roof peak.
Used a Dentron tuner and worked 180 countries in three years.
Upgraded to a crankup tower and a Optibeam OB6-12 antenna but
the G5RV is still up and still in use.

How do you like the Optibeam?

A very good antenna. No traps, interlaced design, broad banded and very robust construction.

How's it compare to force 12?

I have a C3S at 70 feet my big station in Lancaster, OH. I've had it for six years, and it's a great antenna! No problem smashing pileup, no maintenance, and it is only twenty-six pounds, so not a lot is required to keep the thing in the air.

[N2RJ]

Cool.

I've heard great things about Force 12. In fact, the guy who's installing my MonstIR is their spokesperson...

He was really pissed off when I told him I'm going to put up a SteppIR.

[N9FE]

The older force twelves were some monsters,

[N8YX]

Is it just me, or is the G5RV the most misunderstood antenna with the greatest amount of misinformation?

What are your experiences with this antenna, if any?

We put up a full-size G5RV as an inverted Vee (32ft at the apex) for the last two Field Days.

10-20M...honestly, it sucks.

40 and 80...the setup pretty much owned the bands.

Complimentary signal reports were unsolicited and many.

Most stations could be worked with one call; this with 100w out.

I may take down my 75/17M loaded dipole and temporarily replace it with
a G5RV just for comparison's sake on the low bands.

[kc7mrq]

I have only used two antennas since being on HF since Sept 06. They are the G5RV and 135ft doublet fed with 450 ohm ladder line which is my current antenna. Both antennas were strung in the same location at the same height, and used used by the same radio with 100 watts.

My results:
Made contacts on all bands expect 12m with the G5RV.
The G5RV is more difficult to tune with my MFJ-949D.
The G5RV was more expensive to build.
SWR appears to change more as the antenna moves due to wind.



The doublet tunes on all bands except 10m much easier.
I have made far fewer contacts on 10m with the doublet.
Montana Traffic Net noticed an improvement on my 80M signal when I switched over to the Doublet.
A friend in IL noticed an improvement in the signal when I made the switch.
I hear more more stations with the doublet, but my noise floor never changed.
I noticed tuning changed as foliage died off and snow and ice accumulated on my trees.


If I were forced to choose between the two antennas, I would choose the doublet.

Corey

[M0GLO]

... as long as your not laying on metal for a good distance there will be no problem, you can go through steel or aluminum siding, as long as your not running along it...

Interesting, I am planning on running a long wire on my barge (a huge flat steel thing) in a couple of years and have been agonizing about how to get my signal out of the shack and over to the antenna feed point.

I was thinking of using a 4:1 at the bottom of the center mast and running coax from that, but if I understand you I can definitely run the twin lead at a 90 degree angle through the hull and in as long as it doesn't run ALONG the hull?

If I had a barge, I would stay pretty much with a vertical radiator. If you are out on the salt water, it will be hard to beat the gain you get with a vertical.

Am I missing something here?

[M0GLO]

If I had a barge, I would stay pretty much with a vertical radiator. If you are out on the salt water, it will be hard to beat the gain you get with a vertical.

Am I missing something here?

Nope, and you aren't missing anything. I was thinking of a 5BTV as well.
Gonna hide that in the mast.
I was thinking more about the local contacts, with the low take off I'll be getting from the vert I'll be shooting over the heads of everyone near me. That's a good chunk of Europe I'll be missing out on so a sky burner is what I'm thinking of for the long wire. An inverted V about 30 feet up center and 8 feet bow and stern should push the lobes up a bit.

What's been bugging me is having to use a balun and coax to bring it in to the shack.

[N8YX]

If I had a barge, I would stay pretty much with a vertical radiator. If you are out on the salt water, it will be hard to beat the gain you get with a vertical.

Am I missing something here?

Nope, and you aren't missing anything. I was thinking of a 5BTV as well.
Gonna hide that in the mast.
I was thinking more about the local contacts, with the low take off I'll be getting from the vert I'll be shooting over the heads of everyone near me. That's a good chunk of Europe I'll be missing out on so a sky burner is what I'm thinking of for the long wire. An inverted V about 30 feet up center and 8 feet bow and stern should push the lobes up a bit.

What's been bugging me is having to use a balun and coax to bring it in to the shack.

Put a remote single-wire tuner at the end of the wire then feed the arrangement with coax...

[N2RJ]

We put up a full-size G5RV as an inverted Vee (32ft at the apex) for the last two Field Days.

10-20M...honestly, it sucks.

40 and 80...the setup pretty much owned the bands.

Complimentary signal reports were unsolicited and many.

Most stations could be worked with one call; this with 100w out.

I may take down my 75/17M loaded dipole and temporarily replace it with
a G5RV just for comparison's sake on the low bands.

Interesting. That goes against theory and general consensus.

The theory is that the G5RV is a 3/2 wave on 20, which is what it was designed for.

The general consensus is that is an okay to good antenna on 20, and it "kinda works" on 40 and 80.

We put up a full-size G5RV as an inverted Vee (32ft at the apex) for the last two Field Days.

10-20M...honestly, it sucks.

40 and 80...the setup pretty much owned the bands.

Complimentary signal reports were unsolicited and many.

Most stations could be worked with one call; this with 100w out.

I may take down my 75/17M loaded dipole and temporarily replace it with
a G5RV just for comparison's sake on the low bands.

Interesting. That goes against theory and general consensus.

The theory is that the G5RV is a 3/2 wave on 20, which is what it was designed for.

The general consensus is that is an okay to good antenna on 20, and it "kinda works" on 40 and 80.

There are so many nulls I guess they could be a problem on the higher bands.

[N5TDA]

Greetings

I guess it's obvious I'm new here. I am a Tech and have had my ticket for 15yrs,have always worked VHF/UHF.

This last weekend I put up a G5RV,35ft at the center,50ft of RG58 into the house. I can hear stations on all freqs. My radio is an Icom IC-725. I have not yet tried to talk to anyone,since I am a Tech I can only talk on 10m. My problem is the S meter doesnt move no matter how well I can hear the signels and when I try to tune the antenna when I push the PTT on the mike,which is a SM-6 the power meter does not move until I talk.

So can anyone tell me whats the problem?

Thanks
Rex

[WV6Z]

Hi Rex,

It sounds to me, as I am sure that you are on 10m in the portion that you are allowed, as if you have the mode switched to USB, which produces no carrier, or no output until it is modulated. For tune up purposes, I would suggest rolling back your power and then select AM or CW, just for simplicity of tuning and to get you going. If you have an internal auto tuner in your rig, you will not have to do the last step, as it will do it for you. If your tuner is manual, tune the tuner for what seems like maximum noise, from there, key up the microphone or CW key in AM or CW mode and finish tweaking your tuning while in transmit. Do not take too long to do this, or do not do it all in one go if it is taking you a bit of time. Even at reduced power, you will not really want your radio to see a mismatch (high SWR) for too long.

That's about as simply as I can put it to try to make it easy to follow, so, if the above doesn't answer your question, or 'get you there', please post again and let us know how we can help.

[KC8TCQ]

Hi Rex,

It sounds to me, as I am sure that you are on 10m in the portion that you are allowed, as if you have the mode switched to USB, which produces no carrier, or no output until it is modulated. For tune up purposes, I would suggest rolling back your power and then select AM or CW, just for simplicity of tuning and to get you going. If you have an internal auto tuner in your rig, you will not have to do the last step, as it will do it for you. If your tuner is manual, tune the tuner for what seems like maximum noise, from there, key up the microphone or CW key in AM or CW mode and finish tweaking your tuning while in transmit. Do not take too long to do this, or do not do it all in one go if it is taking you a bit of time. Even at reduced power, you will not really want your radio to see a mismatch (high SWR) for too long.

That's about as simply as I can put it to try to make it easy to follow, so, if the above doesn't answer your question, or 'get you there', please post again and let us know how we can help.

That is exactly how I tune my rig/ antenna. I do need to get a new/different tuner as mine will not cover 6m.

[HUGH]

If I had a barge, I would stay pretty much with a vertical radiator. If you are out on the salt water, it will be hard to beat the gain you get with a vertical.

Add variations on a vertical, a "slot", Moxon and so on. Something you could hang your Laundry on perhaps?

[N2RJ]

The older force twelves were some monsters,


The new ones aren't so bad.

My friend W2IRT has a C31XR which actually does pretty good. I still have an edge over him because I have four elements on 20 versus his three, but he does pretty good, and no broken motors like I have. :roll: