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