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| Reviews Summary for W5GI Mystery Antenna |
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Reviews: 35
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Average rating: 4.5/5
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MSRP: $100
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Description: Design by John W5gi. This antenna is a collinear array and resembles a G5rv with lots of gain on 20m. Kit form is available from " The Wireman " and is very easy to build. Works on the low bands with a tuner and out performs a G5rv on 40, 80, and 160m. It has 6 lobes broadside, and gain is amazing. I also built a 17m version of this antenna, and compared to my hygain vertical, is as good or in some cases better. If you live in a restricted area and have a way to put up a wire antenna that is 100 ft in total length, and has 6db gain on 20m, this is the antenna for you. Please visit www.w5gi.com and look for the link to the " Mystery Antenna "
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More info: http://www.w5gi.com
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KK7AC
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 3, 2010 16:50
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Excellent on 20
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I built one of these antennas for my summer cabin in the mountains. I needed a single feed, multi-band antenna to use up there. I did not want anything to extravagant, it need to be simple and work on 75-10 with the auto tuner of my FT-1000D. I decided to give this one a try. I have talked to John a few times over the years on 17 meters mostly and read up on the antenna as well.
If I hear it on 20 meters, I can work it. Period. The signal reports I receive are fantastic. It must be kept in mind that I am at a wonderful location that has allowed me to put the antenna up in a flat top configuration at 85' or 25 meters; over a full wave length above the ground. I think this helps greatly.
It has survived 2 full winters so far in the White Mountains of Arizona at 8000' which receives gusty winds and large amounts of winter snowfall. It is (or I built it) very durable attached to parachute cord hung in the giant ponderosa's.
Proof that it works well -It brought me a FIRST place finish in the 2009 Arizona QSO Party, Low Power category, which provided me amazing runs on 20 meters and I attribute this to the antenna 100%.
I recommend it. Thanks John.
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WW3K
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 8, 2009 19:01
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Kinda like a DBL Bazooka, 3/2 Wave, & G5RV All-In-One
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Let me start off by saying that this antenna is NOT for everyone. A good place to start would be by checking out the excellent article analysis published by VK1OD about "Demystifying the Mystery Antenna". In VK1OD's article you will find some 50 ohm resonances which lie outside of the present amateur bands. Therefore, you WILL need a tuner for this antenna, should you decide to multi-band it.
I homebrewed a W5GI Mystery Antenna and obtained the following (installed as an inverted vee with apex at 30' and ends at 10', also, used 450 ohm 18 ga ladder line instead of 300 ohm for the stub match):
FREQUENCY MHZ SWR IMPEDANCE CAP.REACTANCE
1.660 2.6:1 46 ohm 2144 pF
3.476 2.5:1 39 ohm 1110 pF
7.725 1.3:1 54 ohm 369 pF
14.450 1.8:1 54 ohm 194 pF
19.600 1.3:1 47 ohm 165 pF
25.400 2.2:1 48 ohm 124 pF
31.350 1.6:1 57 ohm 79 pF
So, my results pretty much confirm what VK1OD says about the antenna. So, WHY did I rate it a 5 out of 5? BECAUSE IT WORKS LIKE GANGBUSTERS, ESPECIALLY ON 20 METERS! It's multi-lobe pattern really fills in the voids. Here's some reference comparisons of the W5GI on a couple of the bands against a couple of other antennas at my CT QTH:
7.164 MHz to USVI: W5GI +1 S-unit over 40M Inverted Vee (at 30'); +2 S-units over GAP Challenger DXVIII
15.000 MHz WWV: W5GI +2 S-units over GAP; +3 S-units over 20M Dipole (@20', but off the end of the dipole)
14.195 MHz to Kansas City, MO: +2 S-units over GAP; +3 S-units over dipole
14.195 MHz to Slovenia: SAME as GAP; +2 S-units over dipole
7.178 MHz to Mississippi: +2 S-units over GAP; -1 S-unit below Inv Vee
14.253 MHz to Omaha, NE: 4-5 S-units over GAP; (no comparison w/dipole as I was not copyable on it)
14.257 MHz to TX: +1 S-unit over BOTH GAP & dipole
14.290 MHz to OR: +2 S-units over GAP; +4 S-units over dipole
14.290 MHz to ID: +4 S-units over GAP; (not copyable on dipole)
75/80 Meters: Consistently within 1 S-unit (TX/RX) of a Double Bazooka inverted vee at similar height.
30 Meters: Picks up a lot of noise, but it 'models' to be extremely lossy on this band. I didn't even try to transmit, nor do I have a 30 meter antenna at present for comparison.
10/12/15/17 Mtrs: I'll let you know when the sunspots come back, but (and empirical data shows) that it should outperform a 1/2 wave inverted vee doublet at similar height.
2/6/60 Meters: No activity heard to attempt contact however, it presents a good 50 ohm load at 51.400 MHz.
LIKES: Internal & external autotuners seem to like this antenna, and it will load virtually EVERYWHERE within the amateur bands. It must be presenting a Hi-Q or something, as the bandwidth between having to retune the thing are somewhat sharp (especially for a Double Bazooka user on 80 meters like me!).
Once tuned, it doesn't have any sort of RFI or transmission line standing waves usually encountered on 15 meters such as are common with G5RV antennas.
Side lobes aren't as 'sharp' as an EDZ. Also, not only is an EDZ physically longer, I had a serious balun problem (it got water in it) with a home-brewed EDZ which makes me want to try to stay away from baluns wherever possible (Double Bazooka's, Half Squares, & the W5GI Mystery Antennas (multi-band version) don't require any balun).
It only requires ONE high support (if configured as an inverted vee.)
Mounting it as an inverted vee doesn't appear to mess with the pattern or the current balance of the antenna, unlike the G5RV or EDZ. (A 'purist' will tell you that G5RV's and EDZ's must be FLAT TOPS.)
DISLIKES: The HYPE associated with this antenna is somewhat over-rated. Unless you want to spend a lot of time adjusting your tuning stub, you really WILL need a tuner if you want to multi-band this thing.
It also doesn't offer the gain of a Half Square. (But, then again, a Half Square requires TWO supports, but is only about 1/3 the physical length.)
I have NOT found this antenna to be any 'quieter' on any band so far. Time will tell.
Finally, I'd like to see MORE ppl experiment with this unique and highly innovative design. I'd be highly interested in learning YOUR results!
Vy 73,
Dom - WW3K
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VK3LBT
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 8, 2009 03:19
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Excellent Performer
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I stumbled across this antenna whilst surfing the net for an antenna project. I currently use a G5RV and an EDZ for 40m, the G5 being a reasonably good all rounder I was after something a bit more efficient with hopefully a little bit of gain. I have just completed today ( 8. Aug. 2009 ) the Mystery Antenna by converting a spare G5, and the results were very surprising :-
Comparisons were run with antennas at same height and physical configuration.
80m - quicker tune up on auto tuner and manual roller inductor atu, received sigs better by at least 2 to 3s points.
40m - VK6 which is about 3000 kms from my qth was 3 s points better than the G5 in a comparison.
20, 15, 10 - although these bands were very quite by switching between the two antennas there was a noticable difference in weak sigs with the Mystery Antenna came well ahead of the G5.
The only inclusion I have made has to be to insert an RF coaxial choke, 18 turns of RG58 on a 2 inch OD section of PVC tube.
Overall - quicker tune up, lower floor noise, clearly better received and sent signal reports.
With most multi - band antennas there is always a compromise and I am sure that the Mystery Antenna will have one, but from my early observations it has not displayed any yet ! I fully recommend this antenna for those who want to do a bit of experimenting and homebrewing for a few hours, and be pleasantly surprised on what this antenna can achieve.
Future plans are to build from scratch this antenna with heavy duty multi-strand copper wire, RG58 and heavy duty 450 ohm feeder as a permanent fixture.
Cheers Barry VK3LBT / VK3MIB
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VU2TTP
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 1, 2009 03:09
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A simple multi-band solution
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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The "Mystery" in the name of this antenna was what attracted me to take a closer look at it. I have been a long term die hard fan of dipole antenna and when the situation warranted me to put up a dipole for 80m, I was really in a spot because I could not accomodate the required 135 ft length no matter what I tried, given the shape and size of the QTH. The multiband capability really looked like a bonus. After a couple of emails to John the whole thing was clear in my mind and the Antenna was up on a saturday. Unlike my fellow hams from the US, we are'nt so lucky in India, we do not get ready made 450 or 300 Ohms ladder lines, the only option was to home brew it. 70 ft length of 14 AWG wire and 30 no.s of 2 inch Nylon spacers and cable ties resulted in a very sturdy ladder line, though I spent 2 plus hours making it. At the bottom of the ladder line I have a homebrew aircore coax balun made out of RG58 plus an additional 30ft of the same coax connecting to the rig in the shack. It has been a very nice antenna on all the bands except 12m and 10m bands. Not that the antenna performs poorly on these bands, but the propagation has been very poor in the last 8 months on the higher hf bands.
On 80m, we have a 15 min ragchew net everyday on 3600kcs at 1430 UTC. The reports from all the stations have been very good, The best part was that all these stations were so impressed by the performance, at least 5 stations are using this antenna in South India. The list includes vu2TS, vu2DX, vu2KSJ, vu2GHB and myself. In conclusion, I say, it was one of the very interesting and easy to construct Antenna projects I had ever undertaken with such an exciting experience using it in the end. Some wise man from India told the world in the early part of the 20th century, " An ounce of practice is better than a Ton of Talks". I get reminded of those words whenever I recollect the delightful construction experience.
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JPOWELL
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 1, 2009 19:58
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WOW
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I just put this antenna up using it as a inverted V with the apex at 34 feet and each leg 4 feet off the ground. it was real easy to make so I was using my kenwood ts-440s 100 watts and my first contact was on 40 meter and he was in BERLIN holy crap I love this antenna!!!! It is a must for everyone to try.
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NZ4O
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 25, 2009 14:10
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Good Antenna
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Recently I purchased a W5GI mystery antenna from K4TR antennas at http://kk4tr.tripod.com/index-10.html. The K4TR version is constructed much better than the version from the Wireman.
The multiband antenna performance is better than my old G5RV and works really good on 20 meters.
73 & GUD DX,
Thomas F. Giella, NZ4O
Lakeland, FL, USA
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N2YHN
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 15, 2008 08:25
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strong performer
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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i recently got the kit version and put it up in an inverted v config up about 60 feet ,i am able to tune pretty much between 10-80 either with the rigs tuner or an outboard palstar , i run an ft-1000mp and fl-7000 putting out about 500-600 watts , i am able to work anything i hear with mostly 5/9-5/9+ reports with marginal band conditions, i haven' t had the chance to see how it will bust a pileup as of yet (have not heard any good dx -peds lately),cant wait to get till band conditions improve. nevertheless i can not say enough about the performance of this antenna, it kicks butt!
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WU8O
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 27, 2008 08:20
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Low noise? Understatement!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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This is a must try antenna. I put one up last week and can't get over how low my noise is. A friend 6 miles south of me has a G5RV at 50ft. One night we tuned to 14.225 together. He had an S3-S4 noise level and heard no stations. I had less than 1/2 S-unit noise and could fully understand 2 stations talking to each other!
ONE BIG TIP. Add 1/4 wave length of 75 ohm coax to bottom of ladder line for matching on 20M. You will get nearly 1:1 swr on 20m and all other bands will tune much easier. I used RJ-11. Be sure to allow for velocity factor. You will probably need to trim the ladder line also to get the low swr into center of 20m band.
I also realized any coax can be used instead of RG-8X as long as it has a solid center conductor for strength. I used 1/4 inch flexable hardline.
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WB0UZW
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 20, 2008 18:15
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Very Good Antenna
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I replaced a G5RV with John's Mystery Antenna. I bought the kit. Took a couple hours to assemble and put up. First thing I noticed is how the noise level dropped a couple db and signals were stronger. Next was how easy it is to tune. I have loaded it on 160 with a Palstar AT-Auto but it's touchy on 160 with this little amount of wire. So it's not for 160 and doesn't claim to be. 80 through 6 are great!
It works great. The G5RV will stay on the shelf. I'm going to build a super loop and compare the two. Should be fun.
Enjoy.
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WA2AC
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Rating: 2/5
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Jun 19, 2008 20:50
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MYSTERY
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The only mystery in this antenna is how you get people to believe that it is any better than a g5rv.I love the gain figures given they dont tell you when there is gain in a wire non rotatable antenna there are nulls which make it extremely directional as you increase in frequency.Over hyped to those who dont know better . Put up a center fed zep and do as well or better
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