[SMCARA] G5RV antenna installation

Mon Sep 22 22:02:51 EDT 2014

I love wire antennas.  Just put up a new dipole fan today but haven't tested it yet other than to scan it with an analyzer. Tomorrow or the next day I will compare it to my OCF dipole.  In the past 6 years I have had a 80 meter dipole fed with ladder line - worked quite well and the loss in ladderline is negligible. Assorted single band dipoles; A Carolina Windom - worked ok but not as well as the prior dipole fan (80,40,20,10 elements) or a two element (80,40) OCF dipole.  I have had a couple different kinds of OCF dipole.  The advantage of the G5RV was that it took up less space. It didn't work as well as the others.  IF you have the room, I would recommend the Dipole Fan.  It is a PITA to get adjusted but it is worth the effort once done.  Second choice is the OCF Dipole with a good 4:1 current balun at the  feed point.  Just my opinion however as what works for one location may not work in others and you have to work with what you have space wise.  I make my antennas from electric fence wire from Tractor Supply.  It is cheap, strong and works well.  It is zinc coated and while better than tinned wire it is not quite as good as copper - a couple percent less efficient.  But - 20 dollars buys you a 1/4 mile of the stuff. That's a lot of dipoles and after a couple years you don't feel bad about tearing them down and putting up something new.

John KK4JC

> From: frederic.clarke at navy.mil
> To: SMCARA at mailman.qth.net
> Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 13:23:49 +0000
> Subject: Re: [SMCARA] G5RV antenna installation
> 
> Dave,
> 
> Since the G5RV was originally designed as a 20 meter antenna, results on other bands are pretty unpredictable.  As Bill stated in his email, there are a lot of factors going on here.  Having the whole antenna tilted will probably affect the pattern in the direction of the tilt, but not making it unusable.  The best thing is to put it up and see how it plays.  If it is a bust, try something else.  I have used an 80 m dipole fed with 450 ladder line for years.  The last hurricane sent that antenna to its happy hunting ground, so I now am going to try a Carolina Windom.
> 
> Just remember Clarke's First Law of Antennas: "If it sounds stupid, but works, it isn't stupid"!
> 
> 73 Tom/W4OKW
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: SMCARA [mailto:smcara-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Dave Q
> Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2014 1:53 PM
> To: SMCARA at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [SMCARA] G5RV antenna installation
> 
> All,
> 
> I plan to permanently hang my Optimized G5RV dipole tomorrow.
> 
> I have three large white oaks almost exactly inline but they are on a slope.  If I were to tie a string at ground level of the highest tree and run it level to the farthest tree there is an 11' drop crossing the center tree at 4 feet.  The center insulator will be at 45' where I already have a pulley installed.  I've made stand-offs from 4" PVC pipe by cutting 1"
> rings.  These will be screwed to the tree and the ladder line attached to them.  The ends will be attached to the trees with pulleys and homemade "window weights" to allow for tree movement, falling branches, ice/snow etc.
> 
> I have a 30' extension ladder so should be able to get the ends at least/about 20 to 25' off the ground.  The trees lie in an East to West orientation.  Would rather it be more N to S but it is what it is.  I will be also installing one of the 31' S9s.
> 
> Questions:
> Do the ends need to be the same distance from the ground in order to maintain the angle of each wire the same?  For instance, can one angle be
> 45 degrees and the other 60 degrees or other combinations?
> 
> The instructions say to maintain a an included angle of 160 -170 degrees for best performance but I'd like more of an omni directional pattern.
> What angle would you shoot for?
> 
> What would you do considering both of the antennas?
> 
> Any thoughts and advice greatly appreciated.
> 
> 73
> Dave - W3DLQ
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