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G5RV antenna experience on K3

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raroth7

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 KAT3 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...Tried sending via my gmail account, but haven't seen it posted. I appologize for any wasted bandwidth.
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Keith Heimbold

Re: G5RV antenna experience on K3

I am probably the last person in the world to comment on this but in my. very limited experience as a ham I have found resonant dipoles to be superior to a G5RV. I have used properly cut dipoles that I made myself for 20m and 40m and they worked much better than the G5RV I had. You may want to consider multiple resonant dipoles in parallel separated by plastic clothes hangers. One of my old Elmer's had one of those and he did very well with it.

Just a thought from a total newbie.

Keith
AG6AZ

Sent from my iPhone please excuse typos

On Mar 9, 2012, at 10:56 AM, [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 KAT3 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...Tried sending via my gmail account, but haven't seen it posted. I appologize for any wasted bandwidth.
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

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Joel Black-2

Re: G5RV antenna experience on K3

In reply to this post by raroth7

I do not have a G5RV, but I do have a "Mystery Antenna" that is
similar. They both have a "stub" line made of ladder line. The problem
with the ladder line is that it radiates RF so you must must must get it
away from anything susceptible to RF. Mine is not far enough away from
the shack and I get into various items regularly on 30m and higher.
Once my hexbeam gets back in the air, I should be okay.

I have always read that you will need a tuner on anything other than 20m
with this antenna - the same is true for the mystery antenna.

I have the KAT3. I bought it after my LDG tuner quit working. I bought
it on the recommendation of the reflector and I'm glad I did. It tunes
so many more bands than the LDG tuned. You should have no problems with
the KAT3 and the G5RV.

Joel - W4JBB

On 3/9/2012 1:38 AM, [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 KAT3 up to the task of taming this wire?
>
> Any hints will be helpful
______________________________________________________________
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Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
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k1htv

K3 - G5RV vs ZS6BKW antenna

In reply to this post by raroth7

Dick,
Instead of the G5RV antenna, consider using a modified version of it, the
ZS6BKW, with your K3. The ZS6BKW antenna has better impedance characteristics on
more bands than the G5RV. The K3's ATU matches the antenna on all of the bands
that it is designed to work on, 80, 40, 20, 17, 12 and 10 meters. It will also
work on 6 Meters, but its lowest SWR is at 51 MHz, not very helpful. The ZS6BKW
antenna has a slightly shorter flat top and slightly longer section of ladder
line than the G5RV. I've installed two ZS6BKW antennas with a 45 degree
difference in orientation and can switch between either of them. On 20 Meters,
the results is that the 4 major nulls of one antenna can be covered by switching
to the 4 major lobes of the other antenna.

So, how do they work? Well, in the past 3 years since retiring from VOA and
moving to a new VA QTH, I have worked 275 countries with 100 Watts. I recently
added a borrowed 3 element tribander for most of the last 15 countries worked.
Over 260 countries were worked using ZS6BKW antennas. With the K3 and its ATU
the ZS6BKW will work well on 80, 40, 20, 17, 12 and 10 Meters. On 160, 30 and
15M, the ZS6BKW does not work well at all, even though the ATU can produce a
match for the K3 on some of those bands.

A ZS6BKW construction note, for one of the antennas I used a common mode RF
choke made up of the 20 turns of the 50 Ohm RG58U coax feed line wound around a
6 inch diameter plastic COSTCO nut container. The second ZS6BKW antenna uses a
choke made of the same type coax but wound on a pair of toroids, as described by
Jim, K9YC on his website. In each case, the choke is installed where the ladder
lead meets the coax and NOT at the shack end of the coax. If you are interested
in the ZS6BKW antenna, check out the articles below.

http://www.ab4oj.com/dl/sprat_zs6bkw.pdf

http://www.w5ddl.org/files/Zs6bkw_vs_G5rv_20100221b.pdf

73,
Rich - K1HTV
www.k1htv.us

= = =

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2012 2:38 AM
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 KAT3
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...Tried sending via my gmail account, but haven't seen it posted. I
appologize for any wasted bandwidth.

______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
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Dick Roth

Re: K3 - G5RV vs ZS6BKW antenna

Thanks for the info, Rich. It's amazing what one can start with a
question to the folk on this Reflector! Hams are truly a helpful lot.
With all the input that has been streaming in, I now have a lot to chew
on.

Thanks loads!!
--
73 de Dick, ka1oz
Elecraft K3/100
GAP Titan-DX Antenna

On Sat, 2012-03-10 at 09:01 -0500, Rich - K1HTV wrote:

> Dick,
> Instead of the G5RV antenna, consider using a modified version of it, the
> ZS6BKW, with your K3. The ZS6BKW antenna has better impedance characteristics on
> more bands than the G5RV. The K3's ATU matches the antenna on all of the bands
> that it is designed to work on, 80, 40, 20, 17, 12 and 10 meters. It will also
> work on 6 Meters, but its lowest SWR is at 51 MHz, not very helpful. The ZS6BKW
> antenna has a slightly shorter flat top and slightly longer section of ladder
> line than the G5RV. I've installed two ZS6BKW antennas with a 45 degree
> difference in orientation and can switch between either of them. On 20 Meters,
> the results is that the 4 major nulls of one antenna can be covered by switching
> to the 4 major lobes of the other antenna.
>
> So, how do they work? Well, in the past 3 years since retiring from VOA and
> moving to a new VA QTH, I have worked 275 countries with 100 Watts. I recently
> added a borrowed 3 element tribander for most of the last 15 countries worked.
> Over 260 countries were worked using ZS6BKW antennas. With the K3 and its ATU
> the ZS6BKW will work well on 80, 40, 20, 17, 12 and 10 Meters. On 160, 30 and
> 15M, the ZS6BKW does not work well at all, even though the ATU can produce a
> match for the K3 on some of those bands.
>
> A ZS6BKW construction note, for one of the antennas I used a common mode RF
> choke made up of the 20 turns of the 50 Ohm RG58U coax feed line wound around a
> 6 inch diameter plastic COSTCO nut container. The second ZS6BKW antenna uses a
> choke made of the same type coax but wound on a pair of toroids, as described by
> Jim, K9YC on his website. In each case, the choke is installed where the ladder
> lead meets the coax and NOT at the shack end of the coax. If you are interested
> in the ZS6BKW antenna, check out the articles below.
>
> http://www.ab4oj.com/dl/sprat_zs6bkw.pdf
>
> http://www.w5ddl.org/files/Zs6bkw_vs_G5rv_20100221b.pdf
>
> 73,
> Rich - K1HTV
> www.k1htv.us
>
> = = =
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]]
> Sent: Friday, March 09, 2012 2:38 AM
> 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 KAT3
> 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...Tried sending via my gmail account, but haven't seen it posted. I
> appologize for any wasted bandwidth.
>
>

bodelect@juno.com

Re: K3 - G5RV vs ZS6BKW antenna

In reply to this post by k1htv

I have also been using the ZS6BKW with the K3 for several years at my 2nd home in the mountains of So Cal. A few Ops in the local radio club (BBARC) are using the "BKW" with great results.
It is very easy to construct and works great when the ladder line is trimmed properly.
At first I was trying to tune the antenna as you would a standard dipole via trimming the radiator conductors. Once I figured out that it is tuned via the feed line and got it right, I was very impressed. It outperforms my 500' plus loop on many occasions. Can't wait to try it out on my new KX3 in a couple of weeks (I hope :)
Mike WB6CLZ

---------- Original Message ----------
From: "Rich - K1HTV" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>, "'Elecraft Reflector'" <[hidden email]>
Subject: [Elecraft] K3 - G5RV vs ZS6BKW antenna
Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2012 09:01:10 -0500

Dick,
Instead of the G5RV antenna, consider using a modified version of it, the
ZS6BKW, with your K3. The ZS6BKW antenna has better impedance characteristics on
more bands than the G5RV. The K3's ATU matches the antenna on all of the bands
that it is designed to work on, 80, 40, 20, 17, 12 and 10 meters. It will also
work on 6 Meters, but its lowest SWR is at 51 MHz, not very helpful. The ZS6BKW
antenna has a slightly shorter flat top and slightly longer section of ladder
line than the G5RV. I've installed two ZS6BKW antennas with a 45 degree
difference in orientation and can switch between either of them. On 20 Meters,
the results is that the 4 major nulls of one antenna can be covered by switching
to the 4 major lobes of the other antenna.

So, how do they work? Well, in the past 3 years since retiring from VOA and
moving to a new VA QTH, I have worked 275 countries with 100 Watts. I recently
added a borrowed 3 element tribander for most of the last 15 countries worked.
Over 260 countries were worked using ZS6BKW antennas. With the K3 and its ATU
the ZS6BKW will work well on 80, 40, 20, 17, 12 and 10 Meters. On 160, 30 and
15M, the ZS6BKW does not work well at all, even though the ATU can produce a
match for the K3 on some of those bands.

A ZS6BKW construction note, for one of the antennas I used a common mode RF
choke made up of the 20 turns of the 50 Ohm RG58U coax feed line wound around a
6 inch diameter plastic COSTCO nut container. The second ZS6BKW antenna uses a
choke made of the same type coax but wound on a pair of toroids, as described by
Jim, K9YC on his website. In each case, the choke is installed where the ladder
lead meets the coax and NOT at the shack end of the coax. If you are interested
in the ZS6BKW antenna, check out the articles below.

http://www.ab4oj.com/dl/sprat_zs6bkw.pdf

http://www.w5ddl.org/files/Zs6bkw_vs_G5rv_20100221b.pdf

73,
Rich - K1HTV
www.k1htv.us

= = =

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2012 2:38 AM
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 KAT3
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...Tried sending via my gmail account, but haven't seen it posted. I
appologize for any wasted bandwidth.

______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:[hidden email]

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