Hi, all.

Well, I hope I'm among friends here, because I have what probably is a very 
elementary question about a G5RV HF antenna.

I currently have a 102-foot G5RV antenna here at the home qth.  The center 
of the antenna is at the top of a 35-foot tower which contains my KLM 
tri-bander and a 6-meter vertical that is mounted on a "stand off" from the 
tower.

I originally had the antenna so that the ladder-line vertically came down 
the tower from the centerpoint, and then was connected to a coax feedline 
that went into the shack.

Earlier this Fall, someone suggested that my ladder line shouldn't be so 
close to the tower and vertical like that, and suggested that it be much 
further away from the tower.  So, he took the ladder line and basically made 
it run horizontally from the tower over to an anchor point on the house.

Being that I was so busy with professional stuff this Fall semester, I never 
really tried the antenna, but now I'm noticing that, even though it seems to 
do well on 20 meters (SWR no more than 2.0 to 1 across the entire band), it 
won't tune at all on 40 or 80 meters.  The sWR's are either at least 8 to 1, 
or so high that my Remy Simared talking SWR meter won't even give a reading.

I'll have my XYL do a visual on the antenna as soon as possible, but, 
barring any obvious mechanical problem with the antenna, could someone 
suggest what the problem might be?

Is the horizontal configuration of the ladder line what likely is throwing 
things off so much here?

I know this is probably a very elementary question, but it concerns me since 
my G5RV was always one of my best HF antennas, especially for 40 meters.

73 from Tom Behler:  KB8TYJ