Mike:
This is a home brew G5RV, that does not contain a balun.
And, I'm now thinking like you: I may just have to totally replace the
PL259 pig tail, and see if that makes a difference.
Finally, there will be no more wrapping a leg of the antenna around any
porch railing. It was one of those situations where I knew better, but the
manager was trying to be nice and helpful. Obviously, not a good decision
on my part, although my biggest problem probably still is the apparent short
across the PL259.
73 from Tom Behler: KB8TYJ
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Duke, K5XU" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2012 4:51 PM
Subject: About Tom's G5RV
> One of my thoughts has already been covered pretty well. wrapping a
> leg of any antenna around anything, be it metal or otherwise, is a big
> no-no. When you do that, you are unbalancing, and thus un-tuning the
> antenna. If whatever it is wrapped around is an insulator, even one or
> two turns will mean that you have added a loading coil to that side of
> the antenna, thereby changing the effective length of that leg.
>
> So, get that coil out of there.
>
> Now, as for the shorted condition, does your G5RV contain a balun? I
> think you said earlier that it does not. If that is the case, then the
> suspect is the point where the ladder line is connected to the coax
> pigtail. The only way to fix that is to cut that pigtail off, and
> install a new one, or attach the feedline directly at that point,
> eliminating the pigtail altogether.
>
> If, however, it does include a factory supplied balun, you need to
> determine the type of balun. The problem is that certain baluns, such
> as the traditional W2AU type baluns, will indeed show a DC short
> across the coax. This short does not affect RF, but I have observed
> more than one person pull their hair out thinking they had a problem
> when they in fact did not.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Mike Duke, K5XU
> American Council of Blind Radio Amateurs
>
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