G5RV antenna experience on K3

[Dick Roth]

Hi there--

Am considering putting up a g5rv antenna and was wondering what
experiences K3 users have with this antenna.  Is an external tuner
necessary?  Is internal ATU3 up to the task of taming this wire?

Any hints will be helpful
--
73 de Dick, ka1oz
Elecraft K3/100
GAP Titan-DX Antenna

PS:  Sent twice before but didn't see it posted, first with digital
signature affixed and the body as HTML and then without the signature.
This one is plain text w/out signature.



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[Rick Prather-2]

I started off with a normal G5RV and the tuner handled it fine.  But, it works better as an all band antenna with the tuner if you do what I did and eliminate the matching section (which only matches 20M's) and replace it with ladder or window line down to a balun or at least a current choke outside your shack with a short length of coax to the rig.

This set up lets the KAT3 comfortably tune all bands except 160.

Mine is at 35' and I worked 175 countries last year with the barefoot K3.  Not bad for a minimal antenna.

Rick
K6LE

On 3/8/2012, at 10:38 , Dick Roth <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hi there--
>
> Am considering putting up a g5rv antenna and was wondering what
> experiences K3 users have with this antenna.  Is an external tuner
> necessary?  Is internal ATU3 up to the task of taming this wire?
>
> Any hints will be helpful
> --
> 73 de Dick, ka1oz
> Elecraft K3/100
> GAP Titan-DX Antenna

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[Fred Townsend]

I have used a number of G5RVs, both with and without balun. I carry one in
my 'go-kit' because it goes up quickly and comes down easily. I have used
duel band dipoles too but found them harder to get set up properly. The
spacers would tend to get snagged in trees and made them harder to coil up
without getting a birds nest.  The K3 with internal antenna tuner likes it
too. I have used them without a tuner on other rigs with some difficulty on
10 and 20 meters. I really like the antenna on 80 since it is
omnidirectional and smaller than a 80M dipole.
73
Fred, AE6QL

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Dick Roth
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2012 10:39 PM
To: Elecraft Reflector
Subject: [Elecraft] G5RV antenna experience on K3

Hi there--

Am considering putting up a g5rv antenna and was wondering what experiences
K3 users have with this antenna.  Is an external tuner necessary?  Is
internal ATU3 up to the task of taming this wire?

Any hints will be helpful
--
73 de Dick, ka1oz
Elecraft K3/100
GAP Titan-DX Antenna

PS:  Sent twice before but didn't see it posted, first with digital
signature affixed and the body as HTML and then without the signature.
This one is plain text w/out signature.



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[Mike Morrow-3]

> I have used duel band dipoles too but found them harder to get set up
> properly.

That's because they're fighting each other! [duel vs. dual, :-)]

I use a six-band resonant dipole for my (portable) operation.  That's the
best thing I've found in 33 years of experimenting.  But my version works
for multi-band ops only when access to the antenna's various insulator
and jumper assemblies is possible.

73,
Mike / KK5F
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[Rick WA6NHC]

If you have access to some space (I hide my antenna in the HOA 'common area'
trees, no one looks up or even uses that area), then what I use may be of
interest to you.

A 340' dipole (170' per leg, ~5/8 wave on 80 meters) fed with window line
through a DX engineering common mode choke (coax to the rig) matches on all
bands 80-6 with the K3/100.  The pattern will change from band to band
(cloud heater on 74, but I worked ZL7 last night on 40).  But for a 'simple'
antenna, I'm quite pleased.  

Although adding a few tens of feet more wire would give me 160 M coverage,
it works so well now I don't want to mess with it.  It's only 30-50' above
dirt.  If I had pines instead of oaks, it would work better.  ;-)

I used an 'Antenna Launcher' to get the wires over the trees and as I put it
up on a weekday when everyone was at work/school, no one knows its there.

http://www.antennalaunchers.com/antlaunching.html 

73,
Rick
WA6NHC



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[Geoffrey Mackenzie-Kennedy-3]

They do :-) Another way to feed dipoles cut for different bands using a
single feeder which I find to be less fussy, is to configure the dipoles as
"Coupled Resonators", with the feeder connected to only one of the dipoles -
usually to the dipole cut for the lowest frequency band.  The dipole wires
(tubing in a beam) are run parallel to each other with their mid-points
facing one another.  The spacing between the dipoles (in wavelengths)
depends on the wire guage (or tubing diameter).  The ARRL Antenna Handbook
20th edition covers this scheme in some detail in Chapter 7.

I have a three band wire version (12 - 10 - 6m) here at this time, with a
plane reflector behind it. 15m yet to be added.

73,

Geoff
LX2AO



On March 09, 2012 at 22:41 +0100, Mike Morrow wrote:


>> I have used duel band dipoles too but found them harder to get set up
>> properly.
>
> That's because they're fighting each other! [duel vs. dual, :-)]

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[Mike Morrow-3]

> Another style 80/40m dipole was made using a 3-inch spacer of nylon
> rope to disconnect the outer part the 80m dipole from the center 40m
> dipole.  A plain old alligator clip was used switch bands.  Unclip
> for 40m and reconnect for 80m...Makes a great portable antenna for two
> bands (a lot more efficient and lighter than traps).  I even ran the
> this at 12 feet off the snow on some years with good results.

I've had similar very positive results for a couple of decades with a
multi-band dipole that is constructed in like manner, but for six bands
(40m through 10m) using 1.5-inch plastic insulators with integral
jumper/clip assemblies.

It's almost impossible to match the low cost, effectiveness, light weight,
and simplicity of a resonant center-fed half-wave dipole without traps.
Plus...no ground, radial, or counterpoise system is required or desirable.

Verticals and OCFs are typically poor choices that are never simple for
multi-band use.  I call those "Fashion Designer" antennas.

73,
Mike / KK5F
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