G5RV

[Jerry]

Ok, so this is a regular old topic, which comes around once every couple of years.
For the most part, my story is simple.
I went to a hamfest - Butler, with the intentions of coming home with either a receiver or a Transceiver and a antenna.
After walking to and fro, I came across a vendor that was selling new antenna's, home built, but of the same design as the G5RV - which I doubt if there is any difference, other then the fact that some people puts a little more thought and effort into making theirs then others.

It was wrapped smartly in a plastic bag and was of the 106? foot design.

So I brought it home and it sat unused in a drawer for about 6 months.
I had the bright idea to build a complex Jib Boom to hold the center of the antenna 10 feet away from the side of the house, which I built out of 1 1/2 CPVC pipe.

So when the day came to put it all together, I already had thoughts as to how I wanted to put mine together and where the ends would go.
A real no brainer when it is attached to the side of the house and you want it out straight.
I put one end towards the east and the other end towards the west and I was content that it was as close to the property line as possible.
Actually had to negotiate with the neighbor over putting a pipe in the ground in his backyard.

So, in order to maintain the structural integrity of the antenna, I did not want to modify it in any way.
I ran the ladder line through the shack window and used a small piece of RG 8X to connect it to the radio.

Turned the radio on and set it to antenna number 2 and tried to tune it up.
It worked wonderfully on 20 meters and listened on 10 and even 15, but was absolutely no good for 40 meters.

Being an educated person, I know I got into many fights on other internet sites with people who swore that their G5RV antenna was the best thing since sliced bread.
So I had some old MFJ 949 tuners laying around, and they wouldn't tune it either.
Went to the MFJ web page and it says in large print - not to use their tuner with a G5RV on 40 meters because it would cause damage to the transmatch.

So my question to you is - why do so many people - who are uneducated think that the G5RV antenna is so great when it will not do anything higher then 40 meters and it really only works on 20 meters and below?