G5RV
My G5RV
2023-03-29 I noticed that I haven't recorded anything about this antenna for almost three years. Why? It just works. No fuss, no bother, it has been up and working every day come rain or shine, really for almost 17 years. Had it down a couple times but none related to the antenna itself. Many people "bad mouth" the G5RV but I'm very happy with mine. Its a store bought one from HRO. I've made a couple when in other locations but didn't want to be bothered back when we moved to our current location in Wisconsin from Florida.
So, it was a bit of a surprise, when I got up several days ago to find it lying in the snow. About six or seven inches of wet, heavy had fallen overnight. So, not wanting to wade around in the snow, I set up my mostly-forgotten magnetic loop and had fun making a few POTA contacts, hunting mind you!
Then I remembered I have another mostly-forgotten option, my QRPGuys 35' end fed with 9:1 unun. So feeling all smug and using one of my portable collapsible fishing poles I strung it up. 15 POTA hunt QSOs later, I went to bed last night proud of my creativity, back on the air again. Through yesterday I had 35 POTA contacts with it. But yesterday, with most of the snow melted I decided to investigate why my G5RV had come down.
Turns out it was an easy fix. The wire had taken in moisture (it is insulated wire) and broke right at the end insulator! I think the end insulator is a poor design but having lasted 17 years through Wisconsin winters and summers, not sure that's a fair comment! I fixed it by cutting off a couple inches and reattaching it. And while I was at it I checked out the other end. Good thing, as it was poised to break too.
What's my observation? Check your HF wire antenna occasionally, at least every 15 years! Also, always have a couple options! Nice to have my trusty old friend back in service.
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2020-05-30 A year ago we packed up our house intending to move. I took down all my antennas. One of those was my faithful old G5RV. A G5RV has been a shack staple of mine for many years. I carefully rolled it up and put it in a box. Yesterday something moved me to put it up again.
Our property has lots of trees, several very large. Many huge oaks. I'm sure every one of those trees purposely reached out to entangle my wire as i worked on putting that G5RV up. But I prevailed.
One thing I recall about this antenna is that it can be prone to RF in the shack. I needed an RF choke. But what to use as a "coil form?" Then it hit me, toilet paper! The result is shown in the picture. I don't know whether it works but I don't have any RF in the shack.
My timing was perfect. There is a world-wide CW contest under way today. The CW portion of every band is loaded. Result? I logged twenty one QSOs: three on 6 meters, ten on 10 meters, two on 15 meters, four on 20 meters and two on 40 meters using the G5RV.
The ten and six meter openings were fun. Low band noise and clear signals. Including today's I've had fourteen 6 meter contacts in the last 13 years and just 65 contacts on ten meters. So this was a good day! And as a last resort, I know where to find a role of TP
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Toilet paper Choke!
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2016-06-26 As noted under my 2016 Field Day Planning I built a 40 meter doublet using speaker wire to see if it would be a better antenna than other options I was considering for Field Day. And as reported there, I was disappointed with the results. I also mentioned that after comparing various end fed options as well as the 40 meter doublet with my old home built G5RV Jr, I pretty much settled on the G5RV Jr as my antenna of choice. It was made from 25-1/2 foot (each leg) old style copper clad steel wire for the radiators and 450 ohm ladder line for the 16-1/2 foot feed-line making it fairly heavy and unwieldy. My biggest complaint is that steel wire prefers to kink as its natural condition!
With a five day family vacation at my son's place in Minnesota coming up and my FT817nd and auto tuner all wire tied together in one unit I began thinking about taking a station along. But I don't want to take that "messy" G5RV Jr. That started me thinking about cutting the 40 meter doublet down to match the G5RV Jr. So a few minutes ago I did that. As with the doublet the radiators are single speaker wires which I pulled apart. The feed-line is simply the speaker cable wires un-separated, meaning they are only separated about 1/8th inch not the inch or so of 450 ohm ladder line. Initial checks of SWR look good. After the intensity of Field Day there are almost no signals on the bands. I guess everyone is burned out! So I haven't actually used it on the air. Hence too soon to make a judgment. One thing is for sure. It is MUCH lighter and easier to both take down and to deploy than the "messy" one I patterned it after.
With a five day family vacation at my son's place in Minnesota coming up and my FT817nd and auto tuner all wire tied together in one unit I began thinking about taking a station along. But I don't want to take that "messy" G5RV Jr. That started me thinking about cutting the 40 meter doublet down to match the G5RV Jr. So a few minutes ago I did that. As with the doublet the radiators are single speaker wires which I pulled apart. The feed-line is simply the speaker cable wires un-separated, meaning they are only separated about 1/8th inch not the inch or so of 450 ohm ladder line. Initial checks of SWR look good. After the intensity of Field Day there are almost no signals on the bands. I guess everyone is burned out! So I haven't actually used it on the air. Hence too soon to make a judgment. One thing is for sure. It is MUCH lighter and easier to both take down and to deploy than the "messy" one I patterned it after.