i bet you havent heard this one,lol.what multi-band antenna is the best one to use?? i have room for a g5rv,no problem.what is better??
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wire antennas
- Thread starter zeke9547
- Start date
Anything, seriously, any full size dipole will outperform a G5RV, put it up in an inverted V configuration for lowest SWR and omni-directional operation. if you are going for higher frequency or want multi-band operation then a quad loop would be the way to go.
Sent from my mom's basement using smoke signals
Sent from my mom's basement using smoke signals
Last edited:
Depends on what you want to do.
If mulit band I am a big fan of the multi band dipole (fan dipoles)
Google is your friend here.
Ham universe is good site for finding wire antennas with instructions.
If you want mono band it is hard to beat a full wave loop.
If you want one wire and multi band then an all band doublet, ladder line feed with tuner works ok.
Just depends on what you want to do and how you operate.
try all of them experiment and have fun.
If mulit band I am a big fan of the multi band dipole (fan dipoles)
Google is your friend here.
Ham universe is good site for finding wire antennas with instructions.
If you want mono band it is hard to beat a full wave loop.
If you want one wire and multi band then an all band doublet, ladder line feed with tuner works ok.
Just depends on what you want to do and how you operate.
try all of them experiment and have fun.
A single band dipole or fan dipole would be a good way to go about it ,simple to build and usually no tuner required.
If you are going to buy one an off center fed windom works fairly well and in most cases the built in tuner in most radios will work just fine.
I use an off center fed windom by Buxcomm that does a really good job for me personally and would recomend it to anyone that is looking to get into a wire antenna,the specs say it will have a swr of under 3 to 1 (150 ohms) on all bands ( and the internal tuner in my radio will tune it for all bands the antenna is speced out for )
the G5RV is not a really good antenna for all bands,works fairly well on 80,40,20 and 10 meters but the other bands it takes a pretty good outboard tuner to make it work and then it wont work very well.....
Another one to look at is the delta loop,I know a few folks that run that antenna and they really like it,and it usually will be a bit quieter on the receive ( lower background noise )
Take the time to do your homework on the wire antenna and find one that will work for your application and have some fun with them...in alot of cases you can build your own with under $30 in parts and some old bailing wire...or even barbed wire might work
If you are going to buy one an off center fed windom works fairly well and in most cases the built in tuner in most radios will work just fine.
I use an off center fed windom by Buxcomm that does a really good job for me personally and would recomend it to anyone that is looking to get into a wire antenna,the specs say it will have a swr of under 3 to 1 (150 ohms) on all bands ( and the internal tuner in my radio will tune it for all bands the antenna is speced out for )
the G5RV is not a really good antenna for all bands,works fairly well on 80,40,20 and 10 meters but the other bands it takes a pretty good outboard tuner to make it work and then it wont work very well.....
Another one to look at is the delta loop,I know a few folks that run that antenna and they really like it,and it usually will be a bit quieter on the receive ( lower background noise )
Take the time to do your homework on the wire antenna and find one that will work for your application and have some fun with them...in alot of cases you can build your own with under $30 in parts and some old bailing wire...or even barbed wire might work
As you've probably gathered, the G5RV isn't exactly the 'cure all' of antennas. It does work well on 20 meters for which it was originally designed, but only 'works' on other bands because it is harmonically related. That was never the original intention for that antenna. A tuner is required for reliable use on those harmonically related bands, and for the WARC bands, forget it.
If you have the room to put up a G5RV then you probably have the room for something like a 'fan dipole', which really does 'work' better on it's design bands. All multiband antennas are compromises in some way, there's no getting around that. It doesn't have to be a large compromise, but there's always a reduction of performance on at least one or two of the bands it's supposed to cover. I have to think that having an antenna that will at least 'go' to some none designed for band has to be better than not having an antenna that 'works' on that band, so they are certainly an option (something is better than nothing, right?).
- 'Doc
If you have the room to put up a G5RV then you probably have the room for something like a 'fan dipole', which really does 'work' better on it's design bands. All multiband antennas are compromises in some way, there's no getting around that. It doesn't have to be a large compromise, but there's always a reduction of performance on at least one or two of the bands it's supposed to cover. I have to think that having an antenna that will at least 'go' to some none designed for band has to be better than not having an antenna that 'works' on that band, so they are certainly an option (something is better than nothing, right?).
- 'Doc
I have an off center fed dipole that performs very well on all bands from 80-6 meters.
I use a tuner for WARC bands and it tunes less than 2.0 SWR on them and I do not need the tuner on the other bands. It got me many contacts.
AP
I use a tuner for WARC bands and it tunes less than 2.0 SWR on them and I do not need the tuner on the other bands. It got me many contacts.
AP
Having found myself in the same situation while awaiting a complete antenna system and tower rebuild i opted for a single 80m doublet fed with 450 ohm ladder line to an auto tuner located where the feedline enters the house and coax cable from there to the shack.this has worked great for me. I have used such antennas in the past with ladder line straight to the shack and a manual tuner with great results as well. It is installed in inverted VEE fashion.