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Reviews For: Van Gorden G5RV Jr

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Van Gorden G5RV Jr
Reviews: 17MSRP: 34.95
Description:
40-10m Dipole
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.nevadaradio.co.uk/acatalog/antennas-vangorden.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00174.6
KC9CZJ Rating: 2004-02-08
Good product Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've had this antenna for about 1 year now.

Construction and installation were easy. It's mounted on my roof @ about 30" with the ends at about 20" (inverted V).

The antenna is mostly hidden from the street by the peak of the roof. None the less, I've had good success on 10, 17, 20 and 40 meters. I haven't spent any time on the other bands.

As designed, SWR is a little over 3.0 to 1 on all but 10 and 20 meters, but its well within operating range on all designed bands and works well with a wide ranging tuner (LDG AT-897).

Great multi-band antenna for limited space, little money, and relative stealth.

I've worked lots of Europe, South America, Canada, and Russia with 100 watts and my FT-897. Can't always break through a pile-up, but I don't expect to with this pea shooter system.

W0XXX Rating: 2003-12-05
It works Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm on non-military assignment in Baghdad, and I'm lucky enought to have a place to hang this antenna.

The gear: Kenwood TS-50, and MFJ tuner.

My intention is to get DXCC while I'm here on this assignment, no contesting (I have a 5 year license, YI9XXX).

I brought two of them out with me, I should have brought a normal length G5RV, in addition to the JR.

The idea was to have one down low (off the 4th floor balcony of my hotel room), slightly sloping, with lobes to the north and south, and the other up about 250 feet on top of the hotel.

I managed to hang the low wire first, and its about 35 feet above any obstruction. It tuned to all bands, and so far I have worked 56 countries on it, most on 10 meters including VK, JA and the USA. I was impressed. I hung the high wire lastnight, and it tunes a bit differently then the low wire does, so instand band, and antenna changes are not going to work really well. The lobes on the high wire are east and west, and while switching between antennas, I do hear a difference in how DX stations sound, but without the dramatic effect I was expecting.

In summary, you need to get these wires up, and in the clear for them to be happy, I'd love to run a bit of power into them to see what sort of pileup-busting abilites they have. It does what Intended it to do.
KB9OJS Rating: 2003-02-15
A good antenna for what it is made for Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just homebrewed one of these antennas on 2/13/02. To make the antenna, I used:

1.51 feet of 18 awg copperweld wire
2.WA1FFL Ladder-Loc
3.100 feet of Van Gorden 450 ohm ladder line.

It took me about three hours total to assemble and install the antenna. I currently have the antenna istalled as a vee with the center at 9 feet and the ends at 4 feet and 6 feet. Here are my results from the antenna.

75 meters(not designed for this band): was able to check into the Illinois Phone Net, I was very weak, but the antenna can tune to a good swr.

40 meters: 5X9 into Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Wisconsin and North Carolina with 100 watts durning the early afternoon.

20 meters: 5X9 into a Bulgarian Maritime Mobile off the coast of California.

17 meters: 5X8 into New York and 5X9 into New Jersey and Virginia.

15 meters: will not tune on that band.(reason for 4 out of 5)

Can't say much about 30, 12, and 10 meters because I have not talked to anybody there yet.(The antenna will tune on those bands.)

Also seems to work ok on 4 Mhz MARS Frequencies. This was why I put up this antenna. I get too much noise on a verical.

This antenna is great and I would buy the Van Gorden Kit if I didn't want to homebrew one.



VA3DVS Rating: 2002-11-02
Sweet! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Hi!
I will keep this short.
Bought it today for $40 Canadian @ RadioWorld(plug plug)
up in 1 hr, 10 feet in free space(to start),
North and South lobes.
50 Watts from my FT100=
5x5 into Easter Island,
5x5 into Northern Cooks Islands.
Nuff said! I am getting another one and going East and West with it!
73
Pete
K2XH Rating: 2002-07-25
good deal Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This little antenna works well, its inexpensive and seems to be made of quality materials. Its up 22ft and works well with my MFJ tuner.
KC5DFP Rating: 2002-03-21
Excellent Antenna Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Hello.

I have had my G5RV Jr. for about 6 months now. Construction of the kit took about 1 hour and another 1-2 hours to erect the antenna. One end of the antenna is in a tree, up about 30 feet, while the other end is at 25 feet on a fiberglass mast. I have the ladder line running down perpendicular to the antenna wires. To date the antenna has survived several storms with high winds. Also, I wanted a stealthy antenna and this antenna is just about invisible to passersby.

The antenna tuner in my Yaesu as well as the LDG AT-11MP will tune all bands 1.1:1~1.3:1…. 160 meters will not tune. Without a tuner the SWR varies from as low as 1.2:1 on 10 meters to well over 3:1 on the lower bands (probably due to the current antenna height). If you use this antenna you will need an antenna tuner, especially on the lower bands

As for performance, the antenna is awesome! I have worked numerous countries with very good signal reports. If I can hear them I can work them! The antenna is a very pleasant surprise in that it is my first horizontally polarized antenna and it is much quieter than any vertical I have had. The first time I turned on my radio with this antenna I thought something was wrong… until I tuned in a signal. In most situations the S-meter readings were on par with my other verticals and at times slightly better than the verticals (most likely due to the other stations being horizontally polarized too). On occasion it would be about ½ to 1 s-unit lower.

I highly recommend this antenna. If you are looking for a stealthy antenna or just a fun weekend project, at just under $30.00 it is an excellent antenna.

73s
Joe
KC5DFP
KB9WCT Rating: 2002-01-18
Lots of bang for the buck Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought the junior due to space considerations. It is about 25-30 feet off the ground. One leg is partly over the roof of my house. the other is over the lawn. The vertical section is about 8 feet from aluminum siding.

I have worked the world with a Yaesu FT-920 even though the Yeasu manual says the autotuner does not handle this type of antenna well. 40 meters tunes up well but 20 and 10 really tune well. 17 and 15 will not tune with the built in autotuner. Surprisingly 6 meters works well. I can bust about any pileup with less than 100 watts. Rarely do I have to call more than a few times. I worked Antarctica on 20, first call in a huge pileup. This antenna is nearly invisible from the street. I homebrewed a full size G5RV using 300 ohm twinlead and it cost nearly as much as the Van Gordon kit. This kit is of good quality and took about an hour to assemble and install. I recommend it to all my friends. It has started a G5RV revival around here.