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Reviews For: Radio Works G5RV

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Radio Works G5RV
Reviews: 12MSRP: 59.95
Description:
80-10 meter wire antenna consisting of a 102-foot horizontal section and a vertical section comprised of 31 feet of ladder line and a balun/line isolator. Works all HF bands with an antenna tuner.
Product is not in production
More Info:
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00124
W1RLB Rating: 2012-04-27
Awesome antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought 1 of these at the Orlando hamfest about 98 or so.I had it up 2 locations,for 10 years.Survived the hurricanes of 2004.The trees did not,but the antenna was fine.Retired,came back to Maine in 09.The same ol antenna went back to the treetops,about 70 ft or so.Flat top configuration,with the feedline and balun hanging free.
This antenna has always tuned about everywhere,with internal tuners.I use 1000D radios,and it works very well.
Was gone over the weekend,and we had a pretty good windstorm,and about 3 in rain.Found my antenna on the ground,with the balun laying in a big puddle.The wire was fine,the support rope broke,as usual.
Decided to replace it.Ordered another one from Radio Works Mon morning.Delivered Wed morning,and in the air Thursday.Works well,of course.
I think the construction is very nice,heavyduty components,soldered and sealed well.Came with an excellant manual,and more than enougth coaxseal to seal the balun.
Thanks,for a great antenna,and great service.Done the way it should be. Bob W1RLB
KE5NYS Rating: 2010-09-26
GOOD PERFORMANCE WITH POOR LOCATION... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have the Radio Works G5RV Plus model, which included a Balun, and was ordered with the recommended 70 feet of RG-8X coax. It is mounted inside the attic of my one story home. which did not allow antenna wire to be exactly horizontally straight. Also, the antenna is only approx. 20 foot in mounted height off the ground, rather than recommended 35 feet or up. Plus, to make matters even worse I'm surrounded by tall pine trees. Even with all that against it, it performs very good in my opinion, and with higher gain than my alternate HF antenna, a Comet CHA-250B exterior pole mounted expensive vertical. Of course my Ten-Tec Omni 7 radio with auto-tuner also adds to the positive performance picture.
WA8EBM Rating: 2009-04-10
You get what you pay for Time Owned: more than 12 months.
A new ham friend said his G5RV was signal dead. Told him I would look at it. I cut apart the G5RV Plus Y1-5K Balun and was astounded to see what was inside. Nothing more than 7 one and an eighth inch long ferrite sleeves slipped on a foot long piece of Cushcraft white RG-58 coax. The coax has a solid #22 center conductor that had broken about 2 inches inside the cable. 5KW rating???? Just unbelievable. Am I the first person to ever open one up?
N4NZM Rating: 2009-04-04
Great antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have a Rado Works G5RV. It is well constructed. I have it hanging up about 45 feet, with the radiator hanging straight down and clear of any metal objects. It is almost straight on one side and slopes down about 40 degrees on the other. Operating barefoot on SSB from Central Virginia, I have worked Spain, Italy, Russia, Ireland, South America, Hawaii, and just about every state mostly on 20 and 15 meters. It works well on 40 and 80 as well. Like any G5RV you have to mount it high enough(at least 40 feet) to keep the radiator straight, and clear of conductive objects. It is a great multi-band antenna for me.
WJ1R Rating: 2006-04-04
Solid Construction Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this antenna for three years in the White Mountain National Forest. It is strung through a dense stand of balsam firs and is constructed from Radio Works' # 13 VariFlex insulated wire. The antenna has weathered countless blizzards and temps down to -30 f. This winter a 60 pound limb came down on the antenna and was hanging on it for two weeks until I had time to lower the antenna and remove it. There was no damage to the antenna. With the #13 VariFlex insulated wire, this is one tough antenna.
M0AFJ Rating: 2006-03-07
Robust and well constructed Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Really good replacement for my home brew G5RV which finally gave up the ghost!. Well made with flexiweave and the current balun keeps the RF out of the shack. 1.1:1 VSWR at 3.6MHz, around 1.8:1 on 20M. Its only a wire but it works as well as you would expect.
2E0JHA Rating: 2005-10-09
no good at my qth Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
with limited space i put up the antenna as an inverted v, it was far from resonance on 20m and had to cut around 5 feet off each leg and then could only get a an swr of 1.7ish. after playing around i solved the problem by actually shortening the coax that came from the ladder line into the house. iv had hardly any good contacts with this antenna. im moving soon it wont be going up again. it would probably of performed better as a flat top but space was limited so dont take this as a putdown of the antenna.
K8QT Rating: 2005-09-25
rock solid construction/performance Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I followed the advice of other posters and put the zip tie on the ladder line at the junction. This has been up for just over one year now. So it has one MidWest winter on it. This past winter was a bad one temp wise It was -14 degrees more days and nights than I care to remember with wind chills way way below that and "Not one problem" - It is a G5RV! RadioWorks builds it very well. They used very good High grade flexible Copper wire and a very high grade ladder line. The Balun is one of their newer designs. I sealed the coax connection just like the booklet recommended.

Recently the antenna was lowered and examined. All was A-OK (minus the copper shine on the wire!). Pulled it back up to position and it is ready for Winter number 2.

FYI- it is set up as a sloper with one end at 55 feet and the other at 30 feet facing towards Europe...... Performance wise - It is a G5RV! It is a time tested design and a real performer.

Here is one for you --- 2 watts on 75/80 SSB and the report was S-9 in Atlanta. Now that is one tough band - so don't tell anyone your QRP.... LOL

This G5RV is "Highly" recommended to any of you. Just remember this antenna is "built well" and is not a "light weight" antenna
KI9A Rating: 2005-09-24
great G5RV Time Owned: more than 12 months.
G5RV #1 from here has survived a bunch of storms over the past 5 years, it took half of the tree falling over to finally kill it! Best commercial G5RV on the market. If this thing comes apart easily, you might need to check how you are installing it! Pulling it tight with 3/8 kevlar line will pull a tank apart, so, be smart when you install it!

73-Chuck KI9A
KG6POG Rating: 2005-09-17
nothing special Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I had this antennas up for about 6 months before it came totally apart and making it useless.

I was never really that impressed with the performance either I had expected a little gain on 20 meters, but the 20 meter dipole beat it consistantly, The antenna seemed was a compramise on all bands that it covered. The WA2NAN G5RV is a better anttenna in my humble opinion. It's built more solidly and it actually seemed to hear and transmit a little better than the Radio Works version.

By the way the center conductor was supported and the antenna was at about 50 feet in a flat top configuration facing north north east with the feedline supported at the coax. The center conductor is what came apart causing me to replace it with the WA2NAN True Talk G5RV.

Maybe I was unlucky and got the bad one in the bunch, but I really wasn't that impressed with the construction from the beginning, and seeing that someone else had the same problem.....

Just my opinion and experiance, but I believe if your going to buy a G5RV it should be put together at least as well as you would build the antenna, and honestly if I had built it I would have made sure that the antenna woud not have come apart within a few months.