How to Hang Ladder Line (
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- Опубликовано: 18 сен 2024
- Tim , KJ4ZJ, wants to know if Ladder Line can be hung at an angle without affecting performance.
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There was an article in QST (Aug. 2018) about placing window line in foam pipe insulators to shield it from the effects of the ground and metal. It works surprising well. 73, W7DOC
Hello all.. Doublet for the win!
Many thanks for producing these videos. I find them very educational and helpful.
I've got one of those ZF...G5RV's up in an inverted V format. MY only hiccup is that when I put the on the top of the tower for "future" projects it didn't include a stand-off of some insulating type material. So to keep the 31ft of ladder line from hanging right next one of the tower legs. I tied some dac-cord to the ladder line about 1/2 way up and pulled it away from the tower. Seems to work fine. Tunes 75m pretty easily
W9DLP
Hi Dave,
I have the ZS6BKW and the wire length is 90' 3" and the ladder line is 40' 1.5" terminated into a 1:1 balun for coax connection. The ladder line must not lay on the ground. You are correct ladder line should hang straight down. Have not used it yet. Stay safe. 73 WJ3U
I have the same antenna. The ladder line comes straight down to a point maybe 15 ft above the ground and then curves off never being close to the ground. At the balun where the coax is attached, it isn't very high at that point maybe 8 feet or so. SWR is pretty stable. I can use 40 without a tuner on the frequencies of interest. Height off the ground at the feed point is very important.
I know the EFHW is easier to put up, but my ZS6BKW outperforms my old end fed by a long shot. I had a lot of trouble with common mode current coming back down the coax, causing ground fault circuit breakers to buzz, and lots of 60 cycle hum on the receiver. I really wish the end fed performed better as the XYL thinks the ladder line makes the back yard look terrible!
Thanks Dave
I only had really good luck with the G5RV when camping and could get the thing about 30 foot in the air. My home qth was a real compromise with the antenna trying to route the twin lead. You got to get that twin lead matching section straight away from the dipole type elements.
I have experience with doing this, but for different reasons. At a 30 degree angle at only 30 ft I was able to get okay propagation. When I moved past 40 degrees I could hear everyone, but no one could hear me. SSB, ft8, or psk none worked. My tuner even had problems with it. I do believe that properly erected the antenna will let one talk the world. 73 KD8KPT
Being somewhat of a subject expert on the ZS6BKW aka GOGSF, the 450 ohm window (not ladder line which is 300 ohms) is quite forgiving. I’ve been using one for several years as an inverted U sloper only 20’ up and with the window line doglegged underneath a patio cover. I have it terminated into a dual core 1:1 choke balun and about 25’ of LMR 240 to a LDG autotuner. In the free space model it is theoretically resonant on 40, 20, 17, 12, and 10 meters and can be operated without an external tuner. I also tuned the wire elements shortening them by about 20” on each side. I have a less than 2:1 SWR on almost all bands except 10 meters. All the loss takes place in the coax which is minimal due to the relatively short length. Some operators use a 4:1 voltage balun to get a better match, but I’m more interested in controlling common mode current. I’ve made contacts using 100 watts all over the continental USA and have worked numerous countries in Europe, Japan, and Australia. The only caveats is the window line must not lay on the ground or be in contact with metal like steel roofs or even soffit vents. Keep your coax as short as possible and use a good manual or autotuner and it will serve you well. There is a tremendous amount of misinformation about the ZS6BKW, so do your homework and take some time to learn about wire antennas. There are several good books, articles, and RUclips videos on the ZS6 and other variants of the G5RV.
KC5RJL
Houston, Texas
I bought the zs6bkw and they say a minimum of 70 feet of coax to properly match the antenna.
Dave a g5rv was designed to be a very good 20 meter antenna not a multi band all though it will work but rather poorly. The reason some almost worship the doublet antenna is if you look at the radiation pattern an 80 meter doublet on 20 meters has terrific lobes of gain and if you point one of those lobes where you wish to talk you will have great success. There is nothing more encouraging to a new ham then success. If you look at the same pattern on a 160 meter doublet you get the same success on 40 meters and higher frequency. Give it a look on the internet.
Instead of briging the ladderline to the ground, I put up some paracord and spiralled the ladder line down,as I couldnt get the required height, at the centre point, so it was much shorter! The ZS6BKW, is an improvemant on the G5RV. It has a much lower SWR on most bands, and was computer designed. This facility was not available, when the G5RV was designed!....... M0iiZ.
I just built one. Can the horizontal wires touch tree limbs?
@@jameyevans29 My long wire antenna runs through two crabapple trees with the limbs supporting the wire. I put some of that pipe insulation stuff around the wire where they sit on the limbs so as to keep the bark from rubbing my wire. Works like a dream.
@@MrTommy001 ok 👍. Sometimes you just can’t help it. Thanks for the reply!
Just what I did. That paracord works wonders. I knotted the cord through holes I made in the solid part of the ladderline and made each knot about a meter apart. I can get anywhere in the world on 100W in decent conditions and the whole antenna is strung above a metal roof.
David, what about this: running the ladder line and angling it (at say about 45 degrees) from the center feed point outward so that it stays in the center of the antenna (at that 45 degrees or so) and does not angle to either side of the dipole?
Yes, that would likely work.
The ZS6BKW antenna I bought is fine, but the instructions that came with it said that the center point should be at least 40 feet high, and let the ladder line hang straight down and not touch the ground.
Can the 2 horizontal wires on a g5rv for example, touch tree limbs? Thank you!
I'm no expert, but I've got my 135' endfedz long wire running through two crabapple trees using the limbs for support - and it is working fine. The only thing I did was put some of that foam pipe wrap 'pathdoc' mentioned above to prevent the rough bark from rubbing my wire. Hope that helps.
Dave, I just purchshed from myantenna 7510 for $260. 8010 start at $200.00 so he can buy alot more co-ex and a G5RV than 8010
Never seen point of g5rv...ladder line all the way!!
Mad Carew. I guess the point of the G5RV is you won't have to do as much tuning? But yea, I agree with you. Just throw up the longest dipole (or inverted V) you can and get it as high as you can, feed it with ladder line and use a tuner (a real tuner). Should be able to tune it for any band that it is at least a half wavelength on.
What if you slope the ladder line down perpendicular to the main axis of the elements. He never specified. Seem like making it “sideways” might give it a touch of directionality but not mess up the tuning.
It's all an experiment but I think the important part is to have the feed line at a right angle to the elements as much as possible.
inverted v legs at 35 feet
Dave look at amateur radio supplies zs6bkw g5rv zs80 height should be around 40 feet I have one works great but its more like 50 feet here at my qth 80 meter not so good 73
At my QTH I really can't get anything higher than 20 feet.
What is ZED? Do you mean Zulu?
The letter z in English sounds like b or c or d or e etc. Many hams use Zed to mean Z.
Zed is used by the Brits, Aussies and New Zealanders. And me.