Probably about 50 feet.
Tom Behler: KB8TYJ
----- Original Message -----
From: "George" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2012 8:48 PM
Subject: Re: G5RV Disappointment
> how much coax did you use?
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tom Behler" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2012 11:48 AM
> Subject: G5RV Disappointment
>
>
>> Hi, all.
>>
>> Well, I tried the G5RV out at the RV over the week-end, and alas, no joy.
>> I
>> have some theories about what the problem was, which I'll get to shortly.
>>
>> First, the good news: The camp site manager had absolutely no problem
>> with
>> my putting up the antenna, and in fact helped with our initial
>> installation.
>> So, at least I know I'm good to go if I want to try something else out
>> there.
>>
>> Since the guy was nice enough to help with the installation, I decided to
>> go
>> ahead with his initial suggestion of putting the center on top of his RV,
>> which is about 50 feet from ours, and much higher than ours. The legs of
>> the antenna then went across his roof on each side to adjacent trees. He
>> did wrap one part of one leg around the railing of his RV ladder to keep
>> things in place. The ladder line then came down from the center of the
>> antenna on about a 45 degree angle to the PL259feed point connection on
>> my
>> RV. I'd say the center of the antenna was up about 30 feet, with the
>> legs
>> up about 15 to 20 feet on adjacent trees.
>>
>> Overall, my SWR's must not have been good, because the only band I could
>> get
>> the TS480 auto-tuner to tune it on was 10 meters. Everything else gave
>> me
>> the SWR no-tune reading.
>>
>> As for what might have gone wrong, I eliminated a number of
>> possibilities:
>>
>> 1. I checked my feed line on the RV, and all other jumper connections,
>> for
>> electrical integrity, and they were fine. I then physically checked the
>> connections on the G5RV itself, and they looked fine. I had my XYL
>> confirm
>> this visually as well.
>>
>> As for what could have gone wrong, then, my theory is that perhaps the
>> roof
>> on the manager's RV was metal, or had metal in it, which served to
>> de-tune
>> the antenna. Wrapping one leg around the RV railing for a turn or two
>> also
>> might have thrown things off.
>>
>> Finally, I did one thing in the way of continuity checking that I want to
>> be
>> sure of with you G5RV experts out there. When you do a continuity check
>> of
>> the G5RV on the PL259 end, is it correct that you get electrical
>> continuity
>> across the coax connector? In other words, when I took my continuity
>> checker, put one lead on the center conductor, and the other on the outer
>> shield of the connector, I got continuity. I assume this indicates that
>> I
>> have an electrically complete antenna. Please correct me if I'm wrong on
>> this.
>>
>> All in all, it was a rather disappointing situation, but if we can get
>> out
>> to the RV next week-end, we'll try something else, perhaps in nearby
>> trees
>> if we can figure out a way to get the center up at a reasonable height.
>>
>> 73 from Tom Behler: KB8TYJ
>
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