[Elecraft] Balun with a G5RV?

[George, W5YR]

Same system I use here, Ron - I have SpectroGram running most of the time I
am on the air plus the dual-trace scope for time domain monitoring of
receive and transmit audio and output r-f envelope. I would feel lost
operating "blind."  <:}

73/72/oo, George W5YR - the Yellow Rose of Texas         
Fairview, TX 30 mi NE of Dallas in Collin county EM13qe   
Amateur Radio W5YR, in the 56th year and it just keeps getting better!
QRP-L 1373 NETXQRP 6 SOC 262 COG 8 FPQRP 404 TEN-X 11771 I-LINK 11735
Icom IC-756PRO #02121  Kachina 505 DSP  #91900556  Icom IC-765 #02437


Ron D' Eau Claire wrote:

> I have discovered that I can use received signals with some success using
> Spectrogram. What I do is to watch signals using Spectrogram with the
> receiver AGC OFF, so the AGC is not trying to manage the audio output and
> keep it at a constant level. The RF gain is backed well below the point
> where the output starts to compress, so the computer is getting audio level
> out that changes linearly according to the to r-f signal level at the
> antenna connector.
> 
> Then it's a matter of finding a signal and "averaging" it on the Spectrogram
> display, setting the marker, swapping the antennas and monitoring it again.
> How long I have to "average" the signal and how often the measurement must
> be repeated depends upon how fast I can switch antennas and band conditions.
> QSB will normally cause variations in strength far exceeding the differences
> between any two decent antennas. Also, when using a CW signal that does not
> have a steady carrier, the keying will affect the displayed signal level.
> For those reasons a lot of signals are useless. Even so, useful readings can
> be made on many signals.
> 
> I can reliably see as little as 2 or 3 dB of difference in antennas by
> repeatedly checking a signal over a period of five or ten minutes. That's
> below what most ops can see to report on the air without spending a great
> deal of time swapping back and forth between the antenna during a QSO.
> Spectrogram does a better job of averaging the signal over time than one can
> do by eye watching the S-meter as well.
> 
> Comparing my readings vs. distance between a "cloud warmer" horizontal and a
> vertical on 40 meters, my reception results agree very well with the on-air
> checks that I have done with a few reliable ops on the other end.