[SMCARA] What to expect from a G5RV....

Mon Sep 22 16:38:09 EDT 2014

Boz, I ran the antenna analyzer on mine this past weekend.  This isn’t with calibrated equipment, just an MFJ analyzer.

The configuration of my ZS6BKW is inverted vee, center up at 35 feet, and ends up at 8 feet.  I have 5 feet of the ladder line that touches the ground, it comes down and makes a 90 deg bend at the ground.  The ladderline attaches to 75 feet of LMR400 coax.  With my MFJ-949E tuner I can tune 80M and 15M and have worked DX stations on all bands.   I can operate on 40M, 20M, and 12M without a tuner and be under 2:1.(I usually tuner just to get it as low SWR as possible.

      BAND
     RES. FREQ
     NOTES

      80M
     3.503
     5.6 SWR at 50 ohm

      40M
     7.080
     1.0 SWR at 50 ohm

      20M
     14.079
     1.0 at 50 ohm

      17M
     17.945
     1.5 SWR at 50 ohm

      15M
     21.180
     10.8 SWR at 50 ohms

      12M
     24.850
     1.2 SWR at 45 ohm

      10M
     28.800
     1.8 SWR at 60 ohm

From: Richard (KG3BOZ) 
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 3:49 PM
To: jbr13 at md.metrocast.net ; smcara at mailman.qth.net ; William S Merritt 
Subject: Re: [SMCARA] What to expect from a G5RV....

Thanks.  

I did read about this 'optimized' G5RV.  I'd be interested to see some actual antenna measurements (with calibrated test equipment).  I'm not sure I am ready to believe all of the claims on the website. 

Having said that, what really counts is whether the user enjoys the antenna performance. Everything else is academic. 

73 DE KG3BOZ

-------- Original message --------
From: jbr13 at md.metrocast.net 
Date:09/22/2014 15:33 (GMT-05:00) 
To: smcara at mailman.qth.net, William S Merritt 
Subject: Re: [SMCARA] What to expect from a G5RV.... 

  BODY { font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px; }
Just so everyone knows, Dave is not working with a regular G5RV.  He
is using what is called a ZS6BKW G5RV, or an Optimized G5RV.  Slightly
different antenna, that was optimized by computer modeling off the
original G5RV.   

You can see what it looks like at the bottom of this page, and under
the regular G5RV.  http://www.w8amz.com/W8AMZ_G5RV_Page.html [1] 

The ZS6BKW as I was optimized to be better than the original G5RV
antenna, and is capable of operating on 10, 12, 17, 20 & 40m bands
generally without a tuner, with SWR readings usually 1.5:1 or less. 
Using a tuner 6, 15, 30 & 80m bands with much higher efficiency then
the original G5RV.   

I researched this antenna a good amount before I purchased it, and
this is a .pdf that details a comparison between the G5RV and the
ZS6BKW.   

www.w5ddl.org/files/ZS6BKW_vs_G5RV_20100221b.pdf [2]   

Just wanted to through this out here so everyone was on the same
page antenna wise. 
Jason N3YUG 
On Mon 09/22/14 1:19 PM , William S Merritt merrittws at earthlink.net
sent:
  Tom Rausch, W8JI, a noted engineer and designer of ham products 
discusses the G5RV...
http://www.w8ji.com/g5rv_facts.htm [3]
In particular he comments:
"...The G5RV has a _reasonable SWR_ on 80, 40, 20, 15, and 12
meters./It 
is not an acceptable performer on 30, 17, or 10 meters/.'
and:
"While the G5RV requires an antenna tuner, it is very efficient on
at 
least 5 bands."
-- 
Bill Merritt
KB4QAA/3
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Links:
------
[1] http://www.w8amz.com/W8AMZ_G5RV_Page.html
[2] http://www.w5ddl.org/files/Zs6bkw_vs_G5rv_20100221b.pdf
[3]
http://metromail.metrocast.net/parse.php?redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w8ji.com%2Fg5rv_facts.htm
[4]
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[5]
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