On Mon, 01 Dec 2003 17:33:53 GMT, "Willy" wrote:
I just started on hf bands and i usiing now a FD4 from Fritzel and I hear
all goods things about the G5RV.
Is that so, works it's also great on 10 and 15m?
Works better than a dummy load, but probably not much better than (or
as good as) a dipole.
How 'good' an antenna works is relative to the antennas the operator
has previously used. If you a) never had an HF antenna, or b) used
only a long wire, your opinion would probably be that it's 'great'. If
you had previously used 5 x 5 x 5 monobanders on the high bands, your
opinion would probably be that it sucks.
I've used lots of wire antennas, and it's been my experience that any
multiband wire antenna (like the G5RV) never works any better than a
simple half wave dipole, and most of the time they work worse. But the
G5RV has advantages - you can feed it with one coax and use it on many
bands instead of feeding five or six dipoles, and it takes up less
room than five or six dipoles.
I have the same problem you do, not enuff space for a tower and a good
antenna. One wire antenna that I have always like is a loop. It seems
to be a little quieter than other wire antennas, and it supposedly has
a tiny bit of gain over a dipole. It doesn't take up any more space
than a dipole, and you can mount multiple loops inside of each other
without much interaction between the different bands. So I made one
for 10/15/20 meters and it seems to work a bit better than dipoles I
tried and also much better than a mutliband vertical in the same
location. You can see a picture he
http://kh2d.net/photos.cfm
If I buy a G5RV is that with a Balun or without a balun what's the best??
Don't buy one. Make one. It's always more fun to use an antenna you
make yourself. Not to mention that it's a lot more fun to throw it
away because it doesn't work 'great' than it would be if you invested
100 bucks in it. RealHams(tm) never buy wire antennas. Here's some
info on how to make one:
http://www.astrosurf.com/lombry/qsl-g5rv-2.htm
If you are going to spend money, don't buy wire antennas. Buy
propagation. Because on a day with good propagation, you can work the
whole world with a very bad antenna, but on a day with bad
propagation, you can't work anybody with even the best antenna......
73, Jim KH2D