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 G7FEK antenna. 
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Post G7FEK antenna.
Having moved house in the last year, not to mention a new born in the house to add to the madness, i have been quite gainfully occupied with nappies and renovation, and havent had any time to get on the radio, so ive effectively been QRT.

In the next month or so im converting my garage into a man cave shack and am looking at getting set up again.

Anyway, i have been looking at the G7FEK antenna, and reading the various reviews.

The bands i like are 80m to 12m excluding 30m.

Do any of you on here use this antenna, what do you think of it, and how does it perform against a G5RV or similar.

It will be in free space, and will be at 30ft high in centre(i know the ladder line is 24ft, i'll run the counterpoises down 6ft in parallel until they split each way)

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http://www.qrz.com/db/MI0HEZ


Thu Dec 15, 2016 10:21 pm
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 G7FEK antenna. 
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Hi Greg

Yes I use one, well it is modified a bit as cannot get it to the full recommended 24 feet but details of miy version is on my QRZ page.
It works well and I have no problem on 80 meters which is nice as couldn't use that band in the past and I added the 20 meter wire which helps also. I use a 20 meter and a 10 meter counterpoise and a 1 meter earth rod. I did have a half size G5RV up and in my opinion the 'FEK' antenna is better.

I'd say go for it and tweak it to suit and it should perform well.


Thu Dec 15, 2016 10:29 pm
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 G7FEK antenna. 
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Thanks for that Den,

For the 20m wire, did you take it direct from the feed point at the twin lead and suspend it away from the centre. What length was the 20m wire?

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Fri Dec 16, 2016 10:28 am
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 G7FEK antenna. 
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MI0HEZ wrote:
Thanks for that Den,

For the 20m wire, did you take it direct from the feed point at the twin lead and suspend it away from the centre. What length was the 20m wire?


Yes did it as the instructions. I cut my wire at 16 and a half feet and is suspended by fishing line on the short element side about 4 feet away from the center connector at the top so nearly vertical but it works.

I will try and get a photo up for you.


Fri Dec 16, 2016 10:50 am
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 G7FEK antenna. 
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OK here is how mine is. As you can see goes right down to the ground. Not waterproofed anything yet as still tinkering but happy with it so far. I will get it up to 24 feet when I get a suitable fibre glass pole to hold up the center.

Image
Image
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Fri Dec 16, 2016 1:03 pm
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 G7FEK antenna. 
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I had one up for a year and it worked very well on 80m, 40m and 15m and I added the 20m wire which did the trick on that band.. mine was mounted very much like M0YDC's in the pics above but with the full 24ft vertical section and fed against a handful of buried radials that were already under the grass from a previous vertical experiment... it was possible to prune the 40m portion of the aerial for a nice low swr (about 1.2) over about 100kc of bandwidth, in my case 7.100-7.200 and 15m and 20m were also usable without a tuner... the swr on 80m after pruning was about 1.7 at its resonant spot which in my case was 3.770 so I did tweak that with a manual antenna tuner to flatten it a bit more when I was working on 80... all in all if you have a small garden the G7FEK is a nice handy multiband aerial that costs virtually nothing to put together and works surprisingly well


Fri Dec 16, 2016 3:52 pm
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 G7FEK antenna. 
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I have been looking to get on 80m and this antenna came up a few times.
I was actually thinking of using aluminium tube for the short end supported by a fibre glass mast so i can also get the ladder line down at the same point, if i do decide to build this like i say i'll post my results.

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Fri Dec 16, 2016 6:25 pm
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 G7FEK antenna. 
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g7pan wrote:
I have been looking to get on 80m and this antenna came up a few times.
I was actually thinking of using aluminium tube for the short end supported by a fibre glass mast so i can also get the ladder line down at the same point, if i do decide to build this like i say i'll post my results.

Yes please do. :thumbsup:


Fri Dec 16, 2016 6:35 pm
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I use a version of a fek. I have the 40m section completely vertical, works better than other verticals I have had on 40 and 80. Did add the bit for 20 but this didn't work as well as the inverted v I had up for 20 so never bothered much with it. 15m works OK without ATU also. Would say it out performs a g5 hands down.


Fri Dec 16, 2016 7:02 pm
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Hmmmm weird antenna I see the counterpoise again hmmm :lol:


Fri Dec 16, 2016 7:51 pm
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 G7FEK antenna. 
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M0VMT wrote:
Hmmmm weird antenna I see the counterpoise again hmmm :lol:

Useful when limited for space though Mark. First time I have been able to use 80 meters properly.


Fri Dec 16, 2016 10:35 pm
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Cheers for that Den, very informative. I think i'll be going down that route.

I wonder could i do the same on the long side and also add a 17m section. The joys. I'll post my results when i get round to it.

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Fri Dec 16, 2016 10:49 pm
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I built one to try, the intention was to use it portable.

It performed well, but not as well as an inverted L, and it is more difficult to support than the inverted L.

Probably going to take it apart for the wire (kevlar, bit expensive to lay in a box unused)

I followed the advice that a wider spacing than ladder line would be best, I used 30mm, can't say if it was any better, as I did not compare ladder line

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Sat Dec 17, 2016 7:46 am
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 G7FEK antenna. 
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MI0HEZ wrote:
Cheers for that Den, very informative. I think i'll be going down that route.

I wonder could i do the same on the long side and also add a 17m section. The joys. I'll post my results when i get round to it.


I hope you give it a go Greg and be interesting to see your results. I am always looking to improve my antenna situation in my small garden.


Sat Dec 17, 2016 11:15 am
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