The G5RV and Windom show up constantly in older antenna books and forum threads, and newer hams often wonder if they’re still worth building now that EFHWs and modern multi-band verticals exist. Both designs work, but both come from an era with different assumptions about what gear you had on hand.
How the G5RV actually works
The G5RV, designed by Louis Varney, G5RV, in the 1940s, is a center-fed dipole with a specific length (typically 102 feet for the full-size version) connected to a section of open-wire ladder line that transforms the wildly varying feed impedance across multiple bands into something a tuner can handle. It’s genuinely a multi-band compromise: the antenna isn’t resonant on most of the bands it covers, and it relies entirely on your tuner and the ladder line section to make each band usable.
The Windom’s asymmetric feed
The Windom takes a different approach, feeding a horizontal dipole off-center rather than at the middle, which happens to produce a usable impedance on several harmonically related bands without needing the ladder line section the G5RV depends on. Modern Windom variants typically use a 4:1 balun at the off-center feed point and coax feedline the rest of the way, which is simpler to deploy than the G5RV’s twin-lead requirement.
Do they still make sense today
Both antennas still work exactly as well as they did decades ago, the physics hasn’t changed. What has changed is the alternatives: a modern EFHW with a good 49:1 transformer covers similar multi-band territory with a simpler single-wire, single-support installation and no ladder line to manage. I’d only reach for a G5RV or Windom today if you specifically want the classic design, already have the ladder line and space for it, or are drawn to the history behind them. For a straightforward multi-band wire antenna in 2026, an EFHW is the easier build.
Related reading: Full-Size Wire Loop Antennas · Trap Dipoles and Verticals · Fan Dipoles