thewrench002
Member
hello all. what do others use for a tuner? currently using a G5RV antenna
long wire tuner
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ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
A G5RV is not a long wire type of antenna....that's a beast of another kind of antenna. In any case...
For just listening, I doubt that a transmatch - the term 'antenna tuner' is so often mis-used - is going to get you very much. It certainly won't hurt anything to try it, though...Mike
For just listening, I doubt that a transmatch - the term 'antenna tuner' is so often mis-used - is going to get you very much. It certainly won't hurt anything to try it, though...Mike
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
For those that might have never heard of a G5RV, here is one description - a little technical but it gets the basic idea across...
You'll notice that it does mention using a transmatch, but that's really a need for transmitting, not receiving.
Mike
You'll notice that it does mention using a transmatch, but that's really a need for transmitting, not receiving.
Mike
A G5RV was designed as a 20M antenna with a little gain and it just happens to work ok on most bands from 80m through 10m and even 6m. Its just long enough to be effective on 80m but its drawback is the match on most bands is not so great and more than many radios with built in tuners can handle. If you have a long run of mediocre coax like RG-58 or RG-8X there can be significant loss due to the coax being operated under an extreme mismatch condition.
So if you really want to run a G5RV I suggest you throw it away and build or buy a ZS6BKW, which is a modern computer designed version or replacement for the G5RV. The ZS6BKW is a similar size and has a similar length of ladder line for matching but unlike the G5RV it has a great match on most bands from 40 through 10m and not that bad on 80m.
Since the ZS6BKW is around 94ft long you could use the 102ft of wire from a G5RV and just replace the 30 something ft of ladder line with the 40 something ft needed for the ZS6BKW. Both the G5RV and ZS6BKW require a good 1:1 choke balun at the junction of the coax and ladder line and not just some coiled coax but an effective wide band ferrite choke.
A G5RV and ZS6BKW are great for SW reception in general and I don't think a tuner will have any effect on overall reception. It will peak the signal AND noise at some frequencies, but the antenna is so big that even on its worst VSWR frequency the signal to noise ratio will still be way more than the noise floor of any radio you connect it to. A tuner will peak things but your ability to hear a weak signal in the noise should not change, so I don't think a tuner is necessary for receive only. Just plug it in to your SW radio and enjoy the big signals.
So if you really want to run a G5RV I suggest you throw it away and build or buy a ZS6BKW, which is a modern computer designed version or replacement for the G5RV. The ZS6BKW is a similar size and has a similar length of ladder line for matching but unlike the G5RV it has a great match on most bands from 40 through 10m and not that bad on 80m.
Since the ZS6BKW is around 94ft long you could use the 102ft of wire from a G5RV and just replace the 30 something ft of ladder line with the 40 something ft needed for the ZS6BKW. Both the G5RV and ZS6BKW require a good 1:1 choke balun at the junction of the coax and ladder line and not just some coiled coax but an effective wide band ferrite choke.
A G5RV and ZS6BKW are great for SW reception in general and I don't think a tuner will have any effect on overall reception. It will peak the signal AND noise at some frequencies, but the antenna is so big that even on its worst VSWR frequency the signal to noise ratio will still be way more than the noise floor of any radio you connect it to. A tuner will peak things but your ability to hear a weak signal in the noise should not change, so I don't think a tuner is necessary for receive only. Just plug it in to your SW radio and enjoy the big signals.
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