I am a new ham on the block as far as HF is concerned, and I am thinking about installing a G5RV on my block. Restrictions: 1) sloping block, up from front to back 2) no tower possible 3) short useable block length 4) very narrow block, so an inverted V would have an apex angle of less than 90 degrees, although there is a tree that would possbly suit.
So, looking at dimensions, I think an 80m G5RV will be the go. However the useable length is slightly too short, by about 5m.
My question then is how will a short "bend" at the end of one side of the antenna affect its performance?
I have looked at an ocf wire, but they are even longer as far as can tell from what I've read, and I do want the 80m capacity.
Hi Tim, When I was a 15 year old (Yup can still remember that far back) two local hams living in the same country town both had G5RV antennas on their town lots.I remember one was about 15 feet high running above his boundary fence and the antenna was bent around his back fence to accomodate the whole length.Needless to say he was quite successful operating on all bands using his home brew 807 AM rig for many years on the HF bands.As long as you can load power into the antenna you will be surprised at the results. An alternative can be a folded Marconi made from 56 feet of 300 ohm TV ribbon with the far end tied together and about 8 feet of wire added to the end to trim it into the 80 meter band..Get as much vertical height and anything left over bend it around to fit it in.Put down a couple or more radials (Lots of folks start imagining huge areas,not necessary)of what ever length you can and try it.To feed it attach your coax to the base between antenna and ground.whack in a length of water pipe to attach radials.This makes an excellent all band antenna.You may need a tuner to trim for 1-1 SWR but it should be fairly good as is.. 73...Bob VK3ZL..
I appreciate the advice. As I said, HF is all new ground for me. I should add that my interest in it is sparked by the fact that my daughter will be sitting for her F-call shortly, and I have purchased a secondhand icom HF rig for her ...... so I've been forced kicking and screaming into bands below 2m She is too far away to use VHF, so Hf is the go, unless we go echolink, but I like being a "real" ham actually, much as I get a bit of a kick out of talking to a frenchman on 2m.
Anyway as with most things ham that I've tried, I'm sure I'll enjoy the journey and learn lots of interesting stuff on the way.
i long time ago when i rented a house i was not aloud to put up masts, so i ran the G5RV aroun the top of the fence, this worked well. the G5RV was not straight.
She is too far away to use VHF, so Hf is the go, unless we go echolink, but I like being a "real" ham actually, much as I get a bit of a kick out of talking to a frenchman on 2m.
