[ICOM] G5RV & AT-500

[W. David Paperman]

AL;

I can hope to make Dayton next year. I missed the friends two years in a 
row. It all depends on budget (and how much junque I can dispose of). 
Since retiring I have been busier than ever but a lot poorer too <g>. 
Thus far I have no serious health issues, thank G-d.

Islamic fanatics (and all Moslems are if they do indeed follow the 
Koran) are not helping any either.

As far as the G5RV goes, depending on where the break occurs there can 
be sufficient capacitance to allow the antenna to function more or less 
normally. I too use the AT500 tuner. Its' one shortcoming is that you 
have no idea of how much it is compensating for an off resonance antenna.

I would take a SWR meter and put it in the antenna line to see the SWR 
at frequencies of interest. Or, turn the tuner off and use the SWR 
function in the rig.

G5RV antennas are "magic" in that, with a proper tuner, they work 
everywhere and are naturally resonant nowhere!

The version (and there are many) I use is the 102 ft. dipole going to 
app. 34 ft. of 300 ohm twin lead transitioning to 72 ft. of 75 ohm coax.

Hey; it helped me make first place in SO Mixed Mode in in Israel in 
2000. I carry one with me when I travel.

Be well.

Dave, W5WP


Alan Leith wrote:
> Hi Dave,
> 
> Long time -- no see.  Periodically I see posts from you but have not 
> heard you for ages.  Jack ('XT) and I will be going to the Maritime DX 
> Forum next weekend outside Halifax.  It would be a great place for you 
> to visit and a lot cooler for you too :-).  Maybe Dayton next year?
> 
> I thought of the broken twin lead thing but I would have thought that if 
> it was broken, I wouldn't be able to tune it on any band.  I did make 
> one QSO on 17 last night with 4O3T and could hear other stations but the 
> problem I outlined occurred.  I couldn't hear much, if anything on 80 
> (very noisy) but made QSOs on 40, 30 & 20 as well.  I'm only hearing a 
> VE3 & TI8 in QSO on 20 right now.
> 
> To say that conditions suck would be kind.  Too bad 'cause I need KH8S 
> (of course) and was looking forward to IOTA.
> 
> Hope all is well with you.
> 
> 73
> 
> Al, VE1AL
> ______________
> 
>  At 12:44 AM 7/28/2006, you wrote:
> 
>> Alan;
>>
>> Check to see that ONE side of the twin lead is not broken.
>>
>> Bad grammar, but you get the idea <g>
>>
>> Dave, W5WP
>>
>> A G5RV FANATIC!
>>
>> Alan Leith wrote:
>>
>>> I've finally raised by G5RV again, after it came down a few weeks ago 
>>> in an accident.  An old tree fell across one end and...well that's 
>>> not the problem.  Anyway, before it fell down, the antenna was 
>>> performing well on 12, 17, 20, 30, 40 and 80.  I tune the antenna 
>>> with my AT-500 and SWR was below 1.5-1 on all those bands.
>>> When it went back up today, I was able to tune it on the same bands 
>>> EXCEPT 17M.  For some reason, while I can tune it down to 1.35-1 in 
>>> the pre-set mode, once I switch to auto tune, the SWR goes up to 3-1 
>>> and the power output is cut to 50W.
>>> As far as I know, nothing has changed, except that this time, I 
>>> pulled one end tighter (I had not done that the first time) and about 
>>> 3 1/2 feet of the end is folded down over a tree branch.  Is it 
>>> possible that this has made an electrical difference in the length of 
>>> one leg?  But why does it tune so well on all bands except 17, on 
>>> which it worked perfectly well before?  I'm not interested in using 
>>> the antenna on 10 or 15.
>>> Can I do anything to fix it?  It is the only antenna I can put up for 
>>> 17M and that's one of my favorite bands.
>>> Help.
>>> 73
>>> Al, VE1AL
>>
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>