| KB6HRT |
Rating:  |
2016-09-07 | |
| Its the BEST when the band is in! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Been playing with these antennas for some time now, an if you are a reg chewer, it don't get much better than this antenna, day in and day out, Great signal to noise ratio, but if you turn up the volume you will hear the weak ones, notes with other antennas You will hear noise not signal when the band is in,at night on 40m can hear all around the world when the band is in, it stays up there in high winds and is built very strong, I use it with 100' of RG8X and it has alway worked great when tested against a dipole or a double Bazooka it holds it own on receive and then some its down 2 S units on transmit but having a better receive letting you want to listen longer, your hearing will last longer over time. My Amplifier easer make up the difference if it is needed. GREAT Antenna for 75-40-20 -17m. This has become my go to antenna over the past couple of years a 5+ for a guy like me that listens 98% of the time, The antenna will take my 1200w Amplifier if or when needed................kb6hrt
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Earlier 5-star review posted by KB6HRT on 2014-08-24
Used built an brought many G5RVs over my HAM career, testing antennas an coax / antenna combinations is what I like to do, this combination is a very good Multi band antenna system, when used with 100' of RG8X coax, and the apex close to 36' the uncorrected SWR on 3900 is 3.15 SWR on 7200 its 2.4 SWR on 14300 its 1.75 SWR on 18130 its 3.23 SWR on 21350 its 2.15 on 24950 its 1.5 SWR and on 28400 its 2.1 SWR after correction by my tuner the SWR is 1.2 or less. Even on 17m before correction it's very usable an the Signal to Noise Ration is excellent on receive, with or without correction if the band is in, or when the band is coming in or going out the receive is still quite expectable, the antenna is built well an has not given me any trouble since having it up an down many time while testing it against other dipole antennas...............kb6hrt |
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| VA7AA |
Rating: |
2016-07-22 | |
| A Compromise |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
...but as compromises go these antennas have always been found to be OK.
A few caveats: Get it up in the air, Get it up as high as possible, at least 40' or 50'. Keep the balanced feed-line portion of the antenna (the 300, 450 or 600ohm lead in) as straight and in the clear as possible. Use an antenna tuner.
Understand it's limitations and strengths and work with them.
On 80 and 40 meters it's mostly an NVIS cloud warmer, especially at 40' or below. It will work good out to 400 miles, great for local nets and rag chewing with your buddies. The pattern is mostly omni. Cloud warmers are good, great for local comms and local rag chew nets. They are bad for DX on the low bands. You will work very little.
On 20 and above it's a vertical with an inverted 1/4 wave pattern with a surprisingly good low angle of radiation..look at is as if the 'flat top' is now the ground plane to an end fed vertical that hangs below. The pattern is (somewhat) bi-directional but with a lot of low angle radiation. Take a horizontal view of a 1/4 wave vertical in a book and look at it's pattern, then turn the page upside down... That's a lot of what you see from a G5RV.. a lot of low angle vertically polarized radiation on 20 and above.
Is this antenna perfect ... heck no... mono-band beams reign supreme and always will. But a good compromise can be had in both the G5RV and the half square. The half square shares some of the G5RV characteristics in that it is now two 1/4 wave verticals fed in phase and fed upside down. Look at that upside down pattern, and then add 2.5db..
...now you can see why I use them a lot.
..de VA7AA
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| VE2TLH |
Rating:  |
2015-07-27 | |
| been screwed |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| One week after paying W8AMZ, still nothing shipped, two emails unanswered, now got to file a claim at paypal. Be advised, you're loosing your time with them |
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| KM4CQG |
Rating: |
2014-10-09 | |
| Very Impressive |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Purchased from W8AMZ off ebay 4 months use now.
Mounted on a Palm Tree 30 feet high ladder line looped at base of Palm tree due to a few extra feet. Low noise with good build quality numerous country's worked on 100 watts.
Added a W8AMZ 1 to 1 Balun due to RF entering the shack from feed line problem fixed. |
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| KC3BER |
Rating: |
2014-07-28 | |
| My favorite antenna |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I've had a W8AMZ 102" G5RV for almost a year now. When I first got it, I was only able to get it up about 25 feet. It still worked pretty good even at this height. Now I have it up at about 40 feet for the past 6 or 7 months and I have to say, It's my favorite antenna. And I own a KIO hexbeam. The hexbeam is new and I'm still currently working out some bugs, and trying to raise it higher, but it just made me realize how good my W8AMZ G5RV actually was. I've worked 147 countries so far in the past year that I've been back into ham radio, and most of them have been worked using this G5RV and an IMAX 2000 vertical and all of them under 500 watts (most of them at 100 watts). My radio's internal tuner tunes it with no problem, except for some parts of 80 meters, but I have a palstar AT2K that makes it work wherever my radio's tuner doesn't. It's also really well made. It survived a serious ice storm we had here in south east Pennsylvania last winter and no problems at all. I'm no antenna expert by any means, but I thought I should write this to give this thing some credit. I love it. If you get one, try to get it as high as you can, at least 35-40 feet. I noticed a big difference when I got it up higher. |
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| W4LA |
Rating: |
2013-12-24 | |
| Great performance and fantastic quality! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I bought and put up the G5RV Double (160-6). The best built wire antenna I have ever seen. It performs extremely well. I have tested it with my Ftdx5000D from the bottom of 160 to the top of 6, and it loads perfectly (with the FTdx5000 internal tuner). I would recommend this antenna to anyone who has the height (at least 70 feet) and the horizontal space (at least 205 feet). I have mine at 70 feet. Thoroughly pleased. 73's, Todd, W4LA
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| VA7VRV |
Rating: |
2013-01-27 | |
| Most Bang for Your Buck! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| After reading many reviews, I decided to buy this antenna. WOW, I have made contacts all over USA and Canada! I have this G5RV in an inverted "V" at 30ft apex, using an LDG Z-100 Plus Tuner, tunes 80,40,20 Meters at 1:1-1:5 SWR. Very Happy with this Antenna! 73, Ron, VA7VRV. |
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| KF5MDY |
Rating: |
2012-06-14 | |
| Good Antenna |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| 40 countries so far via PSK and SSB - this thing works extremely well. The performance is great even in suboptimal situations, like on a fence, or sitting at about 10' off the ground. Tunes great 10-80 on my old 707 and 6-80 on my new 450 using nothing but a very old Versa Tuner II. Rugged, has made it through a very cold and windy winter so far. |
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| AI6J |
Rating: |
2011-11-30 | |
| Great-Lower Noise than Regular Dipoles |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have the W8AMZ G5RV up only abt 25 feet and it still works well- I even have the top 3 feet(center insulator and all) mounted in an attic before it exits to the outside world thru a screened vent!
The noise level/signal to noise ratio is better on 20-40-80 meters than w my regular Inv. V's,
which are up only abt 18 feet. I also have the antenna folded back about 10 feet on one of the elements (along a fence) and it seems to have no effect- tunes great on every band into a Dentron 3000. I've had it about 3 weeks and already worked tons of DX, and get great west coast reports on 40-80. Ruggedly built, this version of the antenna is a winner! Thanks Tom.
AL- AI6J |
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| AE6OP |
Rating: |
2011-11-29 | |
| The Best Double G5RV |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
After having a positive experience with my first double G5RV for six-seven years, the SWR started telling me it was time to replace it.
I went shopping around online and found W8AMZ's on Ebay and after finding how accessible and generous Tom was with his time, decided to try his for the replacement. He even gave me a nice discount.
Upon receipt, I was really impressed by how much more its quality and ruggedness was over the original one I installed years ago.
After restringing right back where the original one was (through a zillion oak branches) I was even more amazed at how well it performed over the original.
My IC-775DSP auto tuner has no problem tuning it anywhere except 20M. My Icom 775's auto tuner just doesn't like it on that band at all.
I talked to Tom about it and the only thing we could come up with is that due to my ladder feed line not being fully elevated, is probably why. Unfortunately, I could only get it up a little over half way.
Still, an incredible performer everywhere else. I routinely get 20/9 reports with only the Icom's 200W output. Several stations question if I'm running power.
So, nothwithstanding the 20M issue, I still have to give this antenna and it's maker W8AMZ a solid five. A solid 5 for the quality construction, a solid 5 for the customer service and a solid 5 for performance.
I can't imagine a better double G5RV out there. Or a nicer guy to buy it from.
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