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Bruce
Senior Member
Username: Bruce
Post Number: 4610
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 5:43 pm: | 
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This last week I went back to the least expensive HF dipole you can find a G5RV-JR. Now its not that I did not like the 90 foot DX-CC just without the room to get it high enough to work correctly it became a very expensive dummy load.
NOW the G5RV-JR is NOT a very good antenna on any band except for 40 - 20 meters but at 55 foot it fits on the roof. VSWR is over 2:1 on all bands but my cheap MFJ-945e tuner works just fine with it.
For thoes who are getting a HAM license and want a good bang for the buck this is one way to go I wonder if others have ideas for those short on money and have found other antennas under say under $50 that do a good job ?
And any that at any money you just cannot recomend.
Bruce
On 6 since 66
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Tech237
Moderator
Username: Tech237
Post Number: 963
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 8:19 pm: |
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I have a home made version for several years and each year it sees use during Field because it is a good cheap workable antenna.
Simon
Tech237
N7AUS
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Bruce
Senior Member
Username: Bruce
Post Number: 4611
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 9:58 pm: |
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I have owned several trap dipoles and they are as good as the DX-CC HOWEVER like the DX-CC they are too big to fit on the roof without making 90 degree turns on each end. STICKER SHOCK best decribes the reaction when people see what a wire with traps costs ..... SPIRO antennas cost from 129 - 179 dollars and the DX-CC lists for 179. Now there are other under $50 antennas out there that the New licensee to radio might be able to use. I agree that for a hunk of 300 ohm TV TWINLINE and (2) 26 foot wires and costing about $30 and you can built it your self the G5RV-JR is darn good but there must be others ?
On 6 since 66
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Starface
Senior Member
Username: Starface
Post Number: 1794
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, February 14, 2008 - 2:09 am: |
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I use the big brother or the daddy of them g5rv's.
I'm useing the g5rv-max it's great on all bands from 80-10 meters except 30 meter.
I have used it on 10 & 12 meters 2 weeks ago with a contact to CEF#Ø376 Patzerozero in Long Island New York with my Icom IC-7Ø6mkIIg during the CEF Sunday nets.
So as Bruce says under $50.00 and a Multi-Bander it's a great starter antenna for HF.
STARFACE
CEF#Ø476
KI4NBE
HAM#181
CVC#Ø14
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Alsworld
Senior Member
Username: Alsworld
Post Number: 1028
Registered: 1-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, February 14, 2008 - 4:52 pm: |
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I helped my neighbor install a 102 ft G5RV multiband antenna. His was made by a ham in New York who sells them commercially (reviews are out there on popular ham equipment review sites). He is talking all over the world. Tunes great throughout the bands with his LGD tuner and Yaesu 857D. I do think his was around $64 so a little more than the $50 Bruce mentioned, but it came with 75ft of RG-8X low loss coax. I believe his shorter versions are less expensive maybe getting closer to the $50 ballpark. Really well contructed from quality parts and he is having a blast making contacts from Europe to the South Pacific.
And yes, he has the luxury of a large back yard so it is run in a single straight line east to west, but his contacts come from all directions equally well. This was his first "starter" ham antenna, but it's performance is extremely impressive!
Future antennas will all be built by him, he just wanted to get on HF quickly with something cheap costing but with good reviews, already having built a 2 meter antenna. We are planning on building a hex beam antenna in the Spring.
Alsworld
CEF 101 |
Captian_radio
Intermediate Member
Username: Captian_radio
Post Number: 354
Registered: 9-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, February 14, 2008 - 9:02 pm: |
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Try the Alpha Delta DXA sloper,slightly shorter than an inverted V for 80 meters,good for 160,80 and 40 as well as the rest with a good tuner.If you don,t have a tower to act as the other half you can use a grounded down lead as the other half.I used one for years and was more than able to get DXCC on 80 and 160 with 100 watts.If all else fails try an inverted L for 80 and use a variable cap to tune out the reactance,also use as many radials as possible,works great especially on 17 meters.
Bob CEF451/VE1CZ
Robert L. Spicer The days of radio are just beginning!
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Patzerozero
Senior Member
Username: Patzerozero
Post Number: 4148
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Friday, February 15, 2008 - 7:16 pm: |
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not multiband, but right in the $50 range....how about the monoband 'par endfedz'? my property is 50 x 200 & runs N/S, with the house less then 10' from each edge extending well rearwards. the neighbors' trees on both sides of me extend their branches well into my yard, and my house is situated well forward on my property which makes a full sized or larger dipole such as the g5rv difficult if not impossible to mount, plus, a 100'+ or 200'+ antenna would require at least a minimum 50' PLUS at least 50% of its length in ADDITIONAL coax since i wouldn't be able to have the feed anywhere near the entrance to my shack. inverted V or L are out of the question as well because the only way to effectively mount it would be centered in my backyard....besides the argument from my wife over THAT & my kids running through the wire, i just can't do it. SO....the par endfedz are 100% plug & play for whichever SINGLE band you'd like. they come with a balun & you just mount & attach coax, check SWR-which by the way is near 1.1:1 out of the box with NO TUNER. 50' of coax leaves my shack, the antenna is mounted to a branch on the west side of my property & extends across a gable & PRESTO! on the outside chance you find yourself a hair higher or lower in the band, they include a short piece to extend its length (go lower) or just cut an inch off to go higher. the drawback of course is that it is 1 band only, but again, 'plug & play' with NO TUNER! sure most of us want the ability to be on as many bands as possible. those with large pieces of property have many more options then those of us in the suburbs. so, since you've already compromised on antenna, why not compromise a bit more & be realistic about the bands you use? my SSB vhf/uhf forays are done with a pair of stacked loops for each 6m, 2m & 432 on a single 15' mast on a tripod on the roof. fairly inconspicuous. my maco v5/8 gets 10 & 11 perfectly, and currently with my tuner out of line, 12 & 20 get me 3.5:1 swr that seems to agree with my ic735....when the tuner is back in, things are good. i have par endfeds for 20 & 40-33' & 66' long. how effective will a 100 watt signal into a short antenna ever be on 75/80??? not very, so, i don't even bother myself with it. 60 or 30? have never seen a reason to bother myself with them. 15 or 17? if i really wanted to get on one of those bands.....yeah, coax may get pricey for 4 wires, but the losses at 50' or less on 40 & up using 8x are minimal. remember 'compromise'? my 20 & 40 endfedz are WAY MORE EFFICIENT then the g5rv jr i tried!
a final alternative that i have seen a friend use, again runs into a few bucks for coax but actually works as a compromise....how about a rotateable dipole? after seeing my vhf/uhf stack, he picked up a piece of 20' heavy wall pipe. he modified a 5' roof mount tripod to hold a cheap tv antenna rotator 'inside' the tripod. on the pipe, he mounted a pair of hamsticks in dipole formation for 12-15-17-20 meters. his 706 hears better on that formation then my 706 does on my maco, possibly some affects due to different polarizations, possibly due to swr of 2:1 or so. but it works & actually takes up less room then multiple wires..... |
Bruce
Senior Member
Username: Bruce
Post Number: 4616
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 18, 2008 - 12:36 pm: |
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Well after playing with that G5RV-JR and getting no place with the SWR staying above 2:1 on all bands I have ordered a 12AVQ 10, 15 and 20 meter vertical. STILL the G5RV-JR will find a use on 40 and 80 but now I should be able to get the match good enough that my radio dosn't fold back .... on those bands.
It's being shipped tomorrow from Ohio.
Stay tuned .....
On 6 since 66
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Bruce
Senior Member
Username: Bruce
Post Number: 4626
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Friday, February 22, 2008 - 10:47 am: |
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Well it arived and not too badly made. The 10 meter trap is 6 foot up from the bottom and the 15 meter one about 6 inches above it. Now to put it together and mount it this weekend .... just in time for the copper net.
On 6 since 66
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