Hi folks, I've got an older Kenwood HF rig, a G5RV and a General class license.  I don't yet have an antenna tuner.

Is there a band that I can play with using the above combination until I can afford a tuner?

Tman

What model of Kenwood do you have?

The G5RV needs a tuner.  In fact, it needs a tuner with a wide range.  Some Yaesu HF rigs with autotuners specifically say they can't tune one.

I don't and haven't ever liked this antenna.  It uses the vertical window line as a radiator on the bands which defeats the purpose of a dipole.  That also restricts how it's installed, as the ladder line needs to be vertical for "best" operation, and that also needs to be well away from anything metallic.  You'll also want to install it at least 1/4 wavelength above the ground for the lowest band you'll use.

My advice is to get an autotuner, a manual tuner, or construct/buy a multiband fan dipole or OCFD, in order of cost.  At this stage, the autotuner would be my recommendation because it's easy to damage an HF rig and it'll let you experiment with other antenna types.

It depends.

Here is a plot of my G5RV (red line) and my 160m OCF (orange line)



There are definitely some places where it would need a tuner, but everything from 40 up will probably not fold back the radio.

No 160m band at all (not supposed to be) and only the CW portion of 80m without a tuner.

Just sayin.

I think that you are thinking of some versions of an OCFD, or one of the loosely defined Windom variants, which use a portion of the feedline as a radiator.  

A G5RV or ZS6BKW is a balanced antenna when properly used with a current balun or a real choke (as opposed to a less-than-effective "ugly balun").  The window line is a matching section used to get as many bands as possible at or near a current maximun, and doesn't radiate.

The window line section is used as a matching section, not as a radiator.  It's balanced and not a radiator.

But correct in that the G5RV does need a tuner.

I am a big fan of OCFDs, but regardless of all the advertising hype, it needs a tuner.

A multiband or fan dipole can work a lot of bands, but it can do it better with a tuner.  My fan dipole has just three pairs of elements, 75 meters (tuned about 3.900 mhz), 40 meters (tuned about 7.180 mhz), and 20 meters (tuned about 14.200 mhz).  But I can also work, with a tuner, 60, 30, 17, 15, and 10 meters.  That's 8 bands, not just three.  I could have done the same with an OCFD and a lot less wire.

I can highly recommend the LDG auto tuners.  They tune fast and are very reliable.

I have a G5RV with mu Icom 7200. I use an IT100 tuner on it. I wouldn't use it without the tuner.

On the intended bands, yes, if installed at the correct height and all other things are equal.  But many people believe this antenna will work on any band, where in reality it's horrid on 30m and 17m in particular, and on which bands it actually does partly radiate using the matching window line section.  Unfortunately, when this antenna is hocked as an 80m-6m antenna, people end up with unrealistic expectations.  Even if it loads up on every band, it will not be as efficient as on its targeted bands and certainly won't guarantee the nice radiation pattern and efficiency one would expect out of a typical tuned dipole.



A $170-ish LDG autotuner is cheap insurance compared to cooking the finals on an HF rig prematurely, no matter if one is new to the hobby or a veteran.  This is especially so if OP isn't going to install the antenna at the proper height, with the legs as flat as possible, and the window line perpendicular to the ground away from all metal objects and free of ice which is often the case with these antennas in practical installations.