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Reviews For: Radiowavz G5RV Lite

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Radiowavz G5RV Lite
Reviews: 23MSRP: 41.00
Description:
80-10 meter shortened G5RV using coils
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.radiowavz.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00233
KB2UBH Rating: 2018-03-01
Save your money Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Bought this because of small restrictions. Can not get it to tune up with the built in tuner on my FT1200. Have not tried external tuner yet because the receive is 2 s units lower then the end fed I put up.
WB4TJH Rating: 2017-02-14
Works well; but use choke. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I use this antenna at 40 feet apex, fed with 100 feet of LMR 400. i HAVE TWO SNAP ON FERRITES AT THE COAX/TWINLEAD JUNCTION AND IT IS A QUIET AND VERY EFFECTIVE ANTENNA.
KC2O Rating: 2014-09-28
Good Antenna to get on all HF bands Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been a ham for many years; since 1980. I mostly have used a multi band vertical over these years. Recently I relocated to Long Island and my home has numerous oak trees.

I purchased this antenna and installed as flat top, about 25 - 30 ft in the air (between 2 large trees). I fed with 50' of RG8X coax, formed and RF choke at the connection and buried the coax to the ham shack.

I currently do not have an RF ground.

The antenna works very well! Low noise on receive (much better than a vertical) and I have made contacts throughout the world with 100 watts on SSB and 10W on PSK31.

The quality of the antenna wire is good, insulators are nothing special but do the job.
N6SBN Rating: 2012-03-29
RFI problems Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
SWR is reasonable when using an AT. However, the RF will come up the Coax and contaminate your radios, Signalink, DSL UVERSE and stereo speakers.

You will need to add chokes to the Coax and be sure your station ground is above average. An Okay shortened Dipole if you can overcome the RF.
N5NLR Rating: 2012-01-27
g5rv burnt Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased the g5rv from a local ham store as alternative for 80 mts.due to the limit space ( and the H.O.A.) it work somewhat fine, not until I hooked up my amplifier, sparks start coming out of both ends and melted the insulators of the antenna was told it was a full limit and and it only holds about 200w not the 800w I was trying to use, I guess it will work fine if you are going to use qrp if you have limited space buy it but if you are going to run high power make sure you won't burnt the house or the neighbors....73's
K1ALL Rating: 2011-07-12
Good Multiband Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My first G5RV Lite was up for three years before ice storms brought down the trees that supported it. The second one is still going strong after two years. Tunes up on 10-80 with a LDG YT-100 and I regularly work most of the USA and into Europe and South America on 100 watts. It's in dense trees at about 25 feet (but on a steep hill). An inexpensive, easy to rig, and reliable antenna. Construction is less than robust, but mine have withstood several New England winters, so I can't complain.

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Earlier 4-star review posted by K1ALL on 2009-04-17

I have been using this antenna for 2 years and am very satisfied. It is installed horizontally between trees at 25 ft and tunes up well on most bands. I have QSO's at 100W with the far western US (from New England) and Europe on 20M and regularly work Carribean, SW USA, and Canada. On 75M, I can tune to 1:1 with a manual tuner and work most states at night. The antenna has been up for two years through a couple of New England winters with no problems. No complaints for a very economical antenna.
KG4RUL Rating: 2011-06-22
Small but Works Well Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This antenna is part of my go-kit and will be used again this year for Field Day. When space is limited, this is a very good solution!
K7LA Rating: 2011-06-22
Acceptable For Space Limited Operations Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My suburban tract home has a small lot and will not support a full size wire antenna. As a compromise I installed this G5RV Lite as an inverted vee at 50 feet from a push-up pole. This antenna has been in the air since April 2010.

The antenna out of the package tunes up on 20M and 100 kHz of the 80M band using my rig's internal tuner. The addition of an outboard tuner (really, a must) will give you all bands except 160M. I was pleased with its performance on 80M during the 2010 California QSO Party working Northern CA counties from my QTH near Anaheim. In an emergency, this would be an effective field deployment antenna for your grab-and-go kit.

I have no problems DXing or working NA coast-to-coast on 20M, and during big contests like CQWW and WPX I have worked stations from Europe to South America usually on the first call. The G5RV Lite is also a quiet receiving antenna with good sensitivity.

If you are a single band operator, you would probably be better served by making a dipole for that purpose. However if you want multi-band options at little cost, this will work for you. Please note there are better antennas out there, but be prepared to pay up.

The antenna rating is based on acceptable performance, average (but not exceptional) build quality, zero manufacturer documentation for this model and no reply to my Emails (try the telephone instead). For the value, I would rate 3.5 if that were available.
WA4LIR Rating: 2011-06-22
Good buy for the money Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
MY 480SAT tuned the G5RVLite on 80,15, and 10m. I had to buy a KT-100 tuner to make it work on 20 and 40m. Great Results now on 20m, with strong signal reports from western and eastern Europe. I spoke personally with the company via phone and they were responsive. They do need better instructions. Do yourself a favor and use with a tuner.
N2CSA Rating: 2011-04-09
Reasonable performance Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
My club bought a G5RV Lite. After reading reviews here I had reservation about the wisdom of the purchase. We've used it on several occasions with 24' collapsible fiberglass poles at field type events. I have been pleasantly surprised. It performs reasonably well 80 through 10. I would recommend it to anyone who needs a limited space antenna or for field operations.