| AJ6XW |
Rating:  |
2024-04-06 | |
| By far, the worst antenna I have ever encountered! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I studied very hard and obtained my amateur radio license not too long ago. I was so incredibly happy and expected to be able to hear and speak with stations all over the world! Little did I know what terrible disappointment awaited me...
I purchased a new Yaesu FT DX-10 and an Alinco power supply, climbed three trees and installed the newly purchased and greatly revered G5RV antenna [the 52 ft. junior version] about 20 ft. up.
No matter how hard I tried, I could only obtain partial antenna resonance on 20 meters with my new G5RV Junior. Most of 40 was totally off limits due to super high SWR and forget about 10 meters, it was impossible to tune in. After struggling several months, I decided to build a tri-band fan dipole based upon the US Army and Stanford University designs and recommendations. Even though this fan dipole was cut for 20, 40 and 80 meters, it also became resonant on 10 meters once I placed it up in the trees.
The G5RV Junior cost me $80, the fan dipole cost me less than $30. So, it didn't require a PhD in antenna modeling to come to the correct conclusion: a $30 dipole antenna beautifully resonant on 10, 20, 40 and 80, OR, a G5RV Junior barely usable on 20 meters.
I completed my G5RV Junior antenna nightmare/adventure by cutting it up in very, very, very tiny pieces and threw it in the garbage can, hoping to never hear those dreaded letters and number [G5RV Jr.] again.
All the king's horses and all the king's men will never be able to put my G5RV together again!
Today, I am living happily ever after with a half wave end-fed antenna mounted in the same trees that is resonant on 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 30, 40, 60 and 80 meters.
I am thankful my G5RV Jr. fairy tale has a good ending! |
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| KC4FYG |
Rating:  |
2020-10-30 | |
| Pretty good for a hidden antenna due to HOA |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I've been on the search for a better antenna due to HOA covenants...after reading reviews here, I think I'm doing pretty good in comparison. I fired the shack back up in April once the COVID blues set in; since then, I'm at WAS in 40 and 20; within less than 10 states left in 30, 17, 10, and 6 (yes, I used this for most of my summer 6M contacts); at 95 entities across all bands towards the WXCC (from ATL - as far east as Reunion island in the Indian Ocean; as far west as Indonesia). All continents except Antarctica, all on 100 watts barefoot. I was able to hide this in my side yard at about 25 feet (so no attic stories), and after reading other's reviews online I think I'm doing pretty good. Just ordered an Alpha Delta DX-EE, so will update once I have enough data to compare the two. I have had two G5RV Jrs so far (a tropical storm tore one in half) - one was a Radiowavz, one a MFJ. The MFJ doesn't hold a candle to the RW. YMMV. |
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| KQ4KK |
Rating: |
2018-11-17 | |
| You cannot fool Mother Nature |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Like a famous Ham said- "Any antenna is better than no antenna."
GOOGLE G5RV and look at the raw SWR plots. If you are lucky, you might even beat those numbers, but probably not. An antenna tuner is required, and many will not cover all the bands because of inherent high basic SWR on that band.
https://www.w8ji.com/g5rv_facts.htm |
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| K8NAK |
Rating: |
2018-11-17 | |
| Only 40/20/17/10 usable |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| With the peak of my G5RV Jr. quasi-inverted V (145 degrees) at 24 feet, a feed line of 80 ft., and the matching segment hanging freely, only 40m, 20m, 17m and 10m are usable (17m with SWR of 7.6 requires an external tuner). SWR of 15m is 22, 12m is >25 and 6m is also >25. Will try to get it higher to see if it helps, but so far it's not what I hoped for. Making good contacts on 40 and 20, but I bought a multiband antenna hoping I could use it on all the advertised bands. Not so much. |
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| VK2VC |
Rating: |
2018-05-24 | |
| Could be better |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I never really had any success with with this antenna. I used this antenna with an LDG ATU and FT857. I first used this setup in the Cook Island and had 1 contact with ZL. I could hear many NA stations but they could not hear me. It wasn't until I got home and installed it that I found that antenna swr was way out and LDG auto ATU was doing its best to make things work. Further inspection found an open circuit at the connector. I found it impossible to re-solder the light weight copper strands of the feed line to the connector. It now sits in the semi junk pile until I feel the need to get it going again with some decent ladder line. The rest of the antenna looks ok.
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| K8WTF |
Rating: |
2013-11-08 | |
| Pretty good little antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I met some of the proprietors of Radio Wavz a few years ago at Dayton. They were a very friendly bunch and suggested the G5RV Jr for my small lot.
Configuration: Performance: I have mine up roughly 28' in the air - best I can do on my small lot. The ladder line is supposed to go straight down, but again, not possible in my configuration. The ladder line instead comes down at about 70-80 degrees to the antenna, and I have about 8-12' of the ladder line somewhat looped. I did remove the SO-239 connector and put a 1:1 current balun to act as an RF choke. I feel that this has improved performance, but I can't substantiate that with any hard evidence.
Durability: I've had it in the air as my sole HF antenna for about 2 years now in northeast Ohio. It has survived strong winds, rain, ice, everything the snow belt can throw at it. I did take it down briefly a few weeks ago to inspect. The insulation is a little rough in a few spots, but the ladder line, coils, and insulators are all in great shape. It will last many more years I'm sure.
Performance: This antenna is a great performer for me on 20 meters. It definitely seems to be the sweet spot, at least in my less-than-optimum configuration. In fact, I get a less than 2:1 SWR if I bypass my tuner. I've also had very good luck on 15 and 10 meters when those bands have been open. It is a little tough to get tuned on the higher bands, but I can get a nearly flat SWR without much trouble. 40 meters tunes but does not perform very well for me. Although not recommended, I have used this antenna on 80 meters and made a number of stateside contacts.
Overall: If you are on a small lot, this is a great choice for an antenna - particularly at this price. |
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| NZ5L |
Rating: |
2013-08-14 | |
| Versatile |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
If you are able to get one end of this up to 40' it can be deployed as a sloper, with fairly good omnidirectional performance. It runs neck and neck with my full size G5 at 30' on 40 and 20, but due its lower angle of radiation occasionally hears DX that the lower inv vee misses. On 17 and above, the full size G5 is a clear winner, because it is high enough to have a low angle of radiation. However, the long one has some marked lobes, and any antenna that exhibits gain also exhibits nulls. Thus, it is nice to have the option of switching to a more omnidirectional pattern antenna. The SWR on 40 and 20 is 2:1 or less, and 3:1 on most others - very usable with an ordinary tuner. It even tunes on 80 (175' of coax, untuned SWR 7:1) and makes a good "bird dog" antenna on that band, although here the full size G5 comes into its own.
Build quality is very good, should be trouble free if all coax connections are weatherproofed.
For limited space yards, this would be hard to beat, and for any antenna farm can add some good capabilities at a reasonable price. |
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| DU1ZZ |
Rating: |
2013-04-30 | |
| Would buy again in a heartbeat |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
After getting tired of my homebrew flat-top 40m dipole which gave me so-so performance on both 40 and 15 meters, I decided to jump into the G5RV bandwagon. I don't have the real estate as I'm located in a crowded city in Manila so the Jr. version seemed to be the logical choice.
So I went to the roof and installed a pulley on my 20ft 3/4" steel pipe, winched it up (30ft total) and put the sides on an approximately 90 degree angle. The feed line was running down the length of the steel pipe along with the RG8 coax.
IT WAS HORRIBLE! I couldn't hear anything and it performed worse than my homebrew dipole. I must have done something wrong.
I failed to notice that the G5RV must be fanned out to an angle of more than 120 degrees and that the 300 ohm feedline is also radiating RF. I fixed the ends and pulled it way up to around 120 degrees, attached some rope to the coax to pull the feedline to the side (around 45 degrees vertically) and that is when the antenna started to shine.
In just the first week alone I have 1:1 SWR on 40, 20 and 15 through an MFJ-949E. Running barefoot on SSB on a Kenwood TS-570D, I was able to work Poland, Italy, Russia, Finland and South Africa with good signal reports. My prized contact of all, the continental US (8000mi) using only 5W on 20m using voice!
Aside from getting one on the air quick, I think the G5RV Jr. is one the best bang for the buck antennas there is. I would gladly purchase a second one for portable or emergency use even though the price here in the Philippines is a bit high ($72) due to shipping costs.
I would have to agree with one of the reviews where he explained that the choice of the plastic insulators over the dog bone type ones were thought of well and not just for them to save money.
So buy it and get to work DX stations for next to nothing! Radiowavz sure has come up with a winner! |
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| N5SA |
Rating: |
2012-02-19 | |
| Great Antenna for Price |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I have had this antenna for 3 months and it is the first antenna and the only antenna I have for my TS-140S. I am running it into an AT-230 Tuner and it will tune 1:1 - 2:1 on 80m through 10 meters except 15 meters. Can not get SWR to tune less than 5:1 on 15 meters. However it will get 1:5 on the upper phone portion of 80 meters and it is not advertised to work on 80. I have worked 24 countries in 2 weeks with great signal reports with the best being 4,865 miles to belgium with a 57 report. No complaints with the antenna at all. Only use 100 watts and configured as an inverted "V" with the center 28'. Overall great antenna for price |
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| WB6BIL |
Rating: |
2011-11-24 | |
| WB6BIL |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I bought the jr. to use as a protable. It is up about 20 foot at the center. The center and legs are attach to Ponderosa pines in N Arizona. The legs are up at 15 foot. The 20 meter band is setting at around 2:1. The other bands are 1:1 to 1:1.5. The first day up worked a station in Russia on 15 meters and NJ on 17 meters. For the size and price from HRO it makes a great back up antenna. It has been up less then a week and have good reports. It beats not getting on the air. |
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