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Reviews For: GAP Titan

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : GAP Titan
Reviews: 192MSRP: titandx
Description:
Covers 10m 12m 15m 17m 20m 30m 40m and 100 KHz on 80m, & WARC
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.gapantenna.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
33.71924.4
AF4HL Rating: 2017-09-22
Impressive Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My last antenna was a random wire up 60' which I loved until it came down, and my yard is such that I really can't put up a new one until February (when the leaves are gone). In the meantime, I thought I'd go back to a vertical. I choose the Titan DX mainly based on the reviews on this board. It's location is far from ideal - trees on 3 sides and near a metal building.

Some observations:

1. I had no problems at all following the directions.

2. I installed the antenna on a 10' pole and choose to use guys, seeing as I live in a hurricane zone. With Hurricane Irma, I had wind gusts over 65 mph and the antenna wasn't affected at all.

3. I wasn't expecting much at all on 80 meters, but was pleasantly surprized when I was able to break through a pileup and work DX 1,500 miles away running 100 watts.

4. It seems to perform very well on 40 meters. I was able to work New Zealand from the US East Coast, again running 100 watts.

5. I've gotten good signal reports on all bands. Also, the antenna doesn't seem to be any noisier than my wire antenna.

I've only had the antenna for a month, but so far I have to say that it's exceeded my expectations.
N3OW Rating: 2017-04-11
Great antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Well over 100 countries on this antenna it fits my small back yard and allows me to enjoy the hobby and make some good dx contacts.
Mine has been up since 2002 and I have had no issues with it at all i would strongly recommend this antenna
W2JAZ Rating: 2017-04-10
Update to previous Post Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
First let me say mea culpa regarding my earlier post about tuning problems. While 40 still isn't performing quite like it should, I think with further adjustments to the counterpoise it will. The problems with 20 and 17 were due to pilot error - I connected the 2 jumpers on those bands to the wrong place! Those bands resonate perfectly now! My fault, my mistake and mea culpa. I do think that for the cost the antenna the manual should be improved at least with a few photoss. Too much text without visual reinforcement and that's how I sorted out my problem - photos from a fellow ham who saw my QTH.com post. So please discount my previous post and consider this one. Be very very careful when you assemble it as it is very easy to make a mistake as I did. My rating may go up again once I've used it for a time, but I did want to erase my earlier comments.
NS5F Rating: 2016-06-22
Best vertical I've ever owned in 45+ years of hamming Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Titan is an excellent antenna and is great for hams who can't do a beam or full length dipoles. I've had mine for 15 years or more and never had any issue. Since I live on top of a ridge with limited trees I have mine guyed and recommend guying for most installations. Performance is exceptional and the low take-off angle really brings in the DX.
KF5Y Rating: 2016-02-03
Noisey Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Owned Gap Challenger for several years and worked pretty darn good but did not cover all bands. After reviews on this site and the GAP web sire (All 5's) I purchased the Titan. Antenna is a 3 in my book compared to the Challenger. Seems a lot noisier than the Challenger but the SWR's are less than 2:1 as claimed. All bands show a 1:1 somewhere but not necessarily where I want it (skipping 80M of course).

Just a note: Appear GAP only publishes 5 stars on their web site as their main marketing tool. I left a similar review on their web site which was never published.
KJ4KBC Rating: 2015-11-30
Very good results! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had my Titan for three years and it has worked well on all bands designed for except 80 meters. I think it's a bit shot and the matching stubs and the capacitor just cant get it long enough. SWR 1.5 or less everywhere and it seems to have no issue's at legal limit. Contacts have been from Australia, Europe, Africa, South America. The only thing of issue is the wind. Even on an 8' mast it needs to be guyed just slightly above the middle or it can and will bend. I would buy another if mine failed. A true set and forget antenna. 73's

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Earlier 5-star review posted by KJ4KBC on 2013-06-24

I've had my Gap Titan about a year. Assembly was easy and upon checking SWR was close to what was advertised. Mine is mounted about 15 feet on an aluminum mast which is guyed at the antenna base and guyed again above the Gap. I didn't use it much at first as I had an AV-640 by HY-Gain which was working well. After loosing two matchboxes on the Hy-Gain I was forced to use the "Gap" while my other antenna was dead. It was a Pleasant surprise that has led me to taking down the AV-640 for good. No matchbox to fool with makes the Gap much more reliable in my opinion as I use the same power with it as I did the other. Based on propagation I sometimes need legal limit in a pile up while working DX but most of the time 1-200 watts will get the signal through. The gap works well close in also. I use a wire for 80 Meters so the gaps usefulness there is not an issue. SWR is low enough to not use a tuner with a tube amp(1.1-2.3)but with my Transistor No tune Amps 7-12-10 meters need one in some area's as the no tune Amp likes 1.5 SWR or less. It will also show an SWR of 2 or less on 6 meters which was a surprise. I worked San Antonio on an opening yesterday with 200 watts and got a 10 over 9 report! It's not a Beam nor a Monobander but does a great job. The only issue I've had was the Swr's started moving around some and I found the issue to be my shoddy connection to the shack on my initial install. I broke the rule and "taped my connection" to the Gap with electrical tape to keep out water! As I should have known water migrated into the connection and as the day heated up it would cause my SWR to change. I removed the tape, dried and siliconed the connection and presto! Back to Normal. I would recomment the TiTan to anyone whom needs a Multiband Vertical. Just be patient on assembly and guy it in two place's and it should last as long as your Coax! 73's
2W0YBZ Rating: 2015-05-27
Very good Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This antenna does what GAP says it does. It tunes up fine on all bands with a swr read of lower than 1:5.
For example:

On 80m the band 3.500 swr is 1:5 however as you go higher for example higher than 3:690 the radio warns of high SWR. So this band is not great.

However on:

40m the swr reads better than 1:1

30 meters 1:7

20 meters 1:1

17 meters 1:1

15 meters 1:2

12 meters 1:1

10 meters 1:1

This is without an atu, in fact GAP advise not to use an atu.

The assembly instructions are very poor, and I would have liked more detailed drawings, but on the whole it was simple enough to put together. The build quality seems fine and sturdy enough.

I chose this antenna over others as the problem I have is where I live, here in sunny wales in the UK and on the side of a mountain I do not have much room to lay out ground radials. in fact this would be impossible for me as most of my garden is decking. I personally would advise to guy this antenna. Another problem I have is the very high winds we get here in sunny Wales so guying it is a must. The ability of the antenna is great and I have had some contacts nearly six thousand miles away, not bad for a station that at present is limited to 50w power.

I give five for the antenna as it does exactly what it is supposed to. It does not need ground radials and I have mounted it on a six foot pole attached to the garden fence. The antenna is sited not a great distance from the house, I have solar panels on the roof. However this does not seem to affect the antenna and its usage.

I looked at many other manufacturers and researching their products before choosing the Titan. I have owned the antenna for just a few weeks so it is still early days and I am still testing it. However I am very pleased with the results so far.
DK5EW Rating: 2015-03-11
working good - mechanical constuction is a disaster Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I own this antenna now for 2 years. My GAP is mounted on a mast at a hight ~6m. The antenna is easy to install. The GAP is electrically working fine and the SWR on all supported bands is good as predicted.

The other side of the GAP is the poor mechanical construction of the antenna. All aluminium tubes are not made out of heavy material all is very thin. My GAP is supported by some ropes agains winds but it didn't helped much the antenna gots crooked and oblique by the winds.

Also the isolated mounting solution of the antenna to the mast is not very clever. It is too thin and should be more heavily.

If you live in a windy area or up in the mountains like me do not buy this antenna it will not last very long until you have a demage.

I'm really dissapointed with what you get for the money.
WD5ACP Rating: 2014-12-31
Very good - though not much mojo on 80 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had a Gap Titan DX in service for over 2 years - ground mounted in a country location. It's worked very well on the upper HF bands, and okay on 40 meters. Compared to a 40 meter dipole at ~40', the dipole performed ~3db better - though I guess depends on the direction of the signal... on 80 meters however, the vertical did not perform very well at all. Mostly a dummy load on a stick with an easy ~10 difference between it and a 80 dipole. I think I made 1 80 meter contact on the vertical!

That said, I've worked the world with the Gap Titan DX on 30 meters and higher with a Kenwood TS590 at 100 watts. The antenna is very rugged. It is well designed with good SWR bandwith (though it may require a little tuning). Awesome that it does not require any radials!

Recommended for 30 meters and higher and 40 if you have to. Don't expect much at all on 80.

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Earlier 4-star review posted by WD5ACP on 2014-06-20

I've had a Titan DX vertical in my quiet rural location for 2 years, and finally put up a full size 80/60/40 dipole for comparison (fan dipole in broad inverted V with apex at ~40' and ends at ~25').

Pretty much what I expected - The Titan DX is fair on 40 meters but the dipole is consistently about 3 db better on most signals TX and RX, On 80 the Vertical is pretty much a dummy load on a stick! At least a 10 db difference between it and the dipole. Never could get decent performance on 80.

Above 40 I don't have another antenna for direct comparisons, but I've been very pleased with the vertical on the upper bands - works well enough for me to get to most stations I can hear will 100 watts.

The antenna is very well constructed and I love not having to deal with radials! The resonance is pretty much good over the entire bands except 80 (no loss there).

Recommended for 40 MTRs and above only.
W7JMW Rating: 2014-12-19
Very impressed so far Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have owned the GAP Titan for three months now. I bought to work DX since it has a low TOA. I have an inverted Vee OCF dipole but that TOA is around 35 degrees. I live in a rural area with virtually no noise in Washington state. I put the GAP up seven feet on a steel mast which is in a PVC tube in concrete in the ground (as per the assembly manual, this gives me an easy way to pull the antenna out of the ground if needed). My first contact in late September was Slovakia on 20 meters and we both reported 59 signals. Since then I have worked DX and domestic stations with great reports. I was told by a gent in Alaska that I was clearer than local 2 meter repeaters and I have no problem being heard in pileups with 200 watts or less. As for receive, I have virtually no noise on most bands but, as I said, I am in a rural area. My inverted Vee OFC dipole is much noisier than the GAP. The SWR measurements I have made with an AA-1000 are below 2:1 on all bands and most are below 1.5:1. Further, I get over 150 kHz bandwidth in the upper portion of 80 meters. I don't understand the low marks some folks have given this antenna, I find it a real winner and recommend it highly to anyone wanting or needing a vertical.