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Reviews For: Van Gorden G5RV

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Van Gorden G5RV
Reviews: 38MSRP: 28.95
Description:
102 Foot Dipole, Covers 3.5-30 MHZ
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00384.4
AG4OW Rating: 2002-05-08
Great Low Dollar Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had a Van Gorden G5RV for a couple of months, and it works great overall. I have made contacts in UK, France,Latvia, North Africa, France and many others, mostly on 17 meters.I haven't seen anyone talk about 17 but it works great. Nice to hear a station calling CQ and say "Oscar Whiskey" and they come back Oscar Wiskey. I am experiencing a small problem though with telephone interference within my QTH on 40 meters. I run a Yaesu FT990 barefoot with MD-1 mike. I haven't checked it on other frequencies yet. But as I said in my opening this is in my opinion a great low cost antenna. I can't tune 12 meters with my internal tuner, if it would tune all WARC's I would give it a 5!
KC7EKK Rating: 2002-04-16
Big talker, CC&Rs don't Notice it. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am in a restricted neighborhood so I couldn’t mount the G5RV higher than the eve of my house (17 feet). The ends of the inverted V are at 6 feet and 12 feet. Using my TS-2000’s auto antenna tuner, I can tune every band (even 6 meters) except for 160 and 15 meters. On 40 meters it doesn’t tune either but if I tune up on 80 meters then switch to 40 and put the tuner in line, it tunes up just fine (SWR <2:1). I worked Russia, Japan, Australia and Hawaii my first day using it.
The twin-lead falls strait to the ground and most of it is piled up on the ground. The out of 100 feet of coax that came with the antenna I only needed 10 feet so I cut off the rest. Big mistake. I could no longer tune up on any band except 10, 80 and 6 meters (go figure). I put the extra coax back on via a PL-259 and coiled it up and it works fine now.
It’s a great antenna for the price. It cost me about the same as the raw materials would have run.

I had used another kind of G5RV that had no twin-lead; just a coax running off the middle. It tuned up well but didn't get out as well as this one.
With a little hind site, I may have bought the junior (51 feet instead of 102 feet). But talking on 80 meters is so much fun.


VK2AFL Rating: 2002-02-27
Great value antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've been running a Van Gorden G5RV since I was first licenced in 1999. I have it installed in inverted vee configuration, as my suburban block is very small. I have the centre at about 45' and the ends at about 25'. I have managed to work the world with it, it loves 20 metres down to 80 metres! I get great reports on 40 and 80. My installation doesn't like 15 metres in inverted vee configuration though, the auto-tuner in my Icom IC-746 can't bring it in to tune.

I have had to fix once. Where the balanced feeder connects to the legs of the dipole, the original installation had two cable ties holding the whole thing together. These cable ties caused the thin wire in the feedline to be stressed and pulled at a tight angle, resulting in the feedline snapping off after six months. It was simply fixed by re-soldering the feedline and doing away with the cable ties.

Other than that, it has survived wind storms that my other antennas haven't!

The reason I originally purchased it? We suffer a lack of decent ham radio stores here in Australia, and I simply couldn't find hard drawn copper wire anywhere at a reasonable price. I paid AUD$179.00 for this antenna which is cheaper than I could have done home brew!

de VK2AFL.
KC5DFP Rating: 2001-11-15
Excellent Antenna! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This review is for a G5RV JR Antenna: 7~30 Mhz, 52? Dipole.

I was having problems with my vertical antenna and decided to try the G5RV Jr. First off, the instructions are well written and contain a few pictures to ensure proper assembly. Assembly was very easy and straightforward. It took me about 20 minutes to build the antenna: 5 minutes to read the instructions a couple of times and 15 minutes for assembly.

Seeing I didn?t have a couple masts handy to properly mount the antenna, not to mention having only an hour of daylight left, I decided to mount it temporarily on my fence. I hammered in three nails, one for the center dog bone insulator and one each for the tip insulators. I mounted the antenna at the very top of my wood fence, about 6ft up. The installation on the G5RV Jr was about another 10-15 minutes.

After connecting a 100 ft. length of RG-8X coax (the thin coax) to the 17 feet of feeder line, which is provided with the kit, I was just about ready for testing. Before I went back to my shack, I gave the antenna and all connections a quick once over.

Upon turning on my radio, my first test was to see if my Mark V?s internal tuner can tune the dipole over the 7~30 Mhz spectrum. Will in short? YES! All bands were quickly tuned to a very acceptable SWR. Most bands yielded a 1.2:1 ~ 1.5:1, but on 20 meters I have a perfect 1:1! No deflection on my meter whatsoever. Remember, this antenna is only 6 feet up off the ground!

For the listening test, I compared the G5RV Jr to my MFJ-1796. On a couple bands the
s-meter readings were slightly less on the dipole compared to the vertical (1 s-unit on the average), but the antenna definitely hears much better than the vertical. I was able to hear weak stations on the dipole that I couldn?t hear at all on the vertical! Amazing?. Now I know what I have been missing! The stronger signals had a more solid, punchier signal over the vertical. Not to mention there was a significant reduction in the noise: most likely due to being horizontal, but much appreciated (I believe this is why I am able to hear the weaker stations)! On other bands the signals on the dipole had a higher s-meter reading and exhibited the same ?better hearing? over the vertical.

My first contact was the Bahamas! I had no problem breaking the pileup, although I was running 200 watts, but then again on 20 meters most are running a lot more! I received a solid 5/9+5!

Overall, the antenna exceeded my expectations! It performs very well on all of its intended bands and provides very satisfying performance. As a matter of fact, based on the few days of working with the antenna, while it being mounted on my fence, I am now taking my sweet time in designing a system to get the G5RV Jr. up higher. It performs very well where it is, but I know it will perform even better once elevated. The way I look at it is this is definitely the best $27.50 I have spent on this hobby!

I highly recommend this antenna!
W8BYH Rating: 2001-11-05
Great Antenna! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Gotta' be one of the best antenna values out there! Mine hangs about 40' in a tree configured as an inverted V. Hooked up to a tuner, it covers 10 - 80 meters. With 100w or less out, I've worked Hawaii to Poland, Argentina to Canada, all on different bands (I'm in Atlanta)!
Best $50 I've spend on ham gear in a long time. Only one complaint: Van Gorden should eliminate the 'mini' RG8 as part of the antenna (70' comes already mated to the balun). Just put a female connector on the balun and let the user feed it with whatever he/she wants. Regardless - it's a good antenna and money well spent.
KB1GZK Rating: 2001-09-14
nice cheap antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm impressed at how well it works. I've worked a lot of DX on 20--itgets out really well, even without a big amp. I use it with an IC-746, and the rig's internal tuner is suffient on all bands except 30 and 15 meters. (On those bands, an MFJ tuner does the trip). And I've even made some contacts on 6 (with a tuner).

One minor gripe--the ads say that the antenna handles full legal power. Maybe the wire does, but I don't see any way the RG-8/x could handle 1500 watts, particularly at the SWRs that I've measured on the line. I don't have an amp, so this isn't a real problem. But I'm curious if anyone's had experience with this.
W2EJG Rating: 2001-09-14
Great all-bander Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have used a number of the VanGorden G5RV antennae for about 15 years, in two locations...
With a small tuner it covers 80/10m
Have worked much DX and now closing in on Honor Roll. If you have the room, put it up. If you don't have the room, bend it and put it up......
KF4KSE Rating: 2001-09-14
surprised Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was really surprised at how well this antenna works. It is put up as a Inverted V with the apex
at about 40'. The tuner inside my Yaesu FT-900
tunes all of the hf bands 80 through 10 meters and really brings the antenna alive. The signal reports have all been good local and DX, I'm just waiting to see if the neighbors complain....