| N2EHG |
Rating:      |
2014-12-02 | |
| great antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Had it for about 4yrs. Ground mounted. Always worked as it should. Have a few other antenna types, vertical, horizontal, some low mounted some higher up. All antennas on a switch box. For me, the Titan always performs great, you never now how propagation is going to effect you exactly at a given moment, so having the ability to switch different antennas helps, and sometimes defies what you think the propagation 'should be'. So I don't blame that on a antenna w/o a full analysis and even then, you never know. Overall I get the best performance more often then you would think from the Titan. I can jump nearly all the bands legal power w/o having to do anything. I'd like to get another and experiment with the 2nd one higher up, and phased. At the time and place this antenna is located I didn't have the ability to burry a large radial field it's ring is compact , and a turn key solution. |
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| AA8TA |
Rating:     |
2014-10-29 | |
| Good for a multi-band vertical |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I was thinking that I would rate this as between a 3 and 4. Considering that it is a multi-band, short vertical requiring no external radials, it performs well and I'll stick with a 4 for now.
Assembly: I took about 5 hours to assemble this and really took my time and re-read each step of the instructions so I would know exactly what I was supposed to doing with what part. Since I was planning to install this elevated, taking it down to re-do something would not be easy. If you have experience assembling things that come as many pieces in a box, this will not be much of a challenge. I could have gone faster, but I had all day and didn't want to screw anything up. The hoop counterpoise was assembled and attached after raising it in its final location. It was attached to a tip-over mast and the bottom of the antenna is about 16 feet above the ground.
Tuning: I have adjusted the counterpoise a few times to get a minimum SWR on the part of 40 meters that I wanted to use the most. The lower end of the CW part of 40 meters is over 3:1 and the top of 40 meters is around 2:1. I think that downspouts and rain gutters on my house are affecting the antenna; it is about 20 feet from the house.
It seems to be resonate a little too high on 75 meters; SWR at 4 MHz is about 1.5:1 and the 2:1 point is around 3.87 MHz. I would have to change the capacitor at the top of the assembly to lower the resonance which would mean removing the counterpoise and lowering the antenna; probably won't do that.
Initially, all of 17 meters was around 3:1. I talked to Chris at GAP and he advised attaching a short wire to the lower, 30" tuning rod. A 6" length of 6 AWG wire brought the SWR down to 1:1.
Performance: 75 meters is not great; I can hear much better than reach out. This isn't too surprising. The radiation pattern seems to be low so stations a couple of states away hear me better than closer-in stations.
40 meters is pretty good, again with a low radiation angle. I have had SSB contacts with Europe running barefoot but stations within a couple hundred miles are not so easy to work. Can be done, though. A few times I called CQ at reduced power and had difficulty copying stations replying. Thought that was curious.
Other bands perform pretty well, including 30 meters (digital, I'm not proficient on CW). I had a quick QSO as far as Australia on SSB on 10 meters and am looking forward to trying more DX as the upper bands open up.
Overall: previously I had an off-center dipole cut for 40 meters. That was definitely a cloud warmer but made me hundreds of contacts. I was hoping for more DX performance but if you're more interested in local contacts, you'll probably want a dipole besides the GAP. The GAP is noticeably more noisy although weaker stations tend to cut through the noise. It is most noticeable when no stations can be heard.
Despite what GAP says, there seems to be some mass high enough that wind loading might be a concern. Unless the Titan is ground-mounted, it seems guying is necessary. One thing I'm concerned about is how well the aluminum rods that support the counterpoise will hold up. I live in an area that gets ice and wet snow and I did insert 1/4" dowel rods into the tubes. In retrospect, I should have rigged mono-filament fishing line to support the rods, so we'll see how this does after this winter.
As others have said, if you have the space for wires, elevating a dipole would probably give better performance, especially on 80/75 meters. If you could do radials, an inverted L might be a pretty good option as well. But, if you're limited in space, the GAP Titan is a respectable performer. |
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| M6LDZ |
Rating:      |
2014-10-14 | |
| Brilliant DX even QRP |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Having been on the air for a day now I thank ML&S in the UK for reccommending the Gap Titan to me. Even running 10w (which is all i am allowed) i have contacts straight away into the US, Canada and Argentina. Allright that is probably returning to stations with higher gain beams, but when they are pushing 1Kw you know something is right with the Titan.
Mine is mounted on the side of my wooden shed 12ft up to the counterpoise, which oversails the roof a bit. We have trees on two sides close to the antenna but still it works great.
After such a wait to get the license the Gap has made it worth the wait. |
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| N1KTS |
Rating:    |
2014-06-23 | |
| Taking it appart |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I had this Antenna up for a couple of months and I must say it worked well.I am moving so I had to take it down and getting it apart is bad news...I wished I never bought it..Self tapping screws into thin steel isn't a good idear..I am a frame tech in a body shop and seeing the way this antenna is built I would not buy another gap product..It worked great and if one is not planning on bring it down then I guess it would be ok...They could of done a better job for the buck..It has to be tied down well cause the piping is kinda thin...As far as the swr the antenna was on point..No tuner needed unless one is going out of band...I ended up bending it in half and tossing it into the metal pile at work... |
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| KD4INV |
Rating:      |
2014-06-08 | |
| Works as advertised |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
My experience with the GAP Titan started when tried to use a G5RV Jr and almost quit the hobby. Later I tried a TitanDX built to spec and mounted 6 ft. above ground for the sound tecnical reason that I could use my riding mower and uninvited guests could walk under it. The antenna met or exceeded all specs using and internal ATU. It was used with 8 different transceivers with the same results. It was very usable on all bands and fantastic on those good propagation days.
We were forced to move to a new location and being shoort of funds I puchased a GAP Mono 20 which was ground mounted surrounded by trees and the house. It was fantastic on 20 and pllenty of good bleed on close bands again using an internal ATU.
When funds allowed I purchased an other TitanDX anf replaced the Mono 20 at thhe same location and ground mounted per instructions in the hand out. Now all bands opened up to me with fabulous DX. The only change was to paint the antenna with green annd brown paint to ease the impact on the neighbors since this is a semi-DR community.
So there you have it. I don't understand the complaints and criticisms found on the web. Call be lucky If you will but paint me happy with me GAP products. Remember, they are verticals. |
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| WA3SIMI |
Rating:    |
2014-06-07 | |
| Great on 20m - 10m, not 40 nor 80 |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Vertical are a different from horizontal dipoles in ways I didn't realize at first.
Best for limited space. If you have room for a dipole, use that instead.
Unfortunately, limited space means more obstacles that can detune your vertical.
I'm giving it three stars because it doesn't work well on 40 and is useless on 80. It's 20 db lower than dipole on 40m.
It works great on 20, 17, 12, and 10 meters.
I don't use it on 40 or 80 anymore.
I tried it mounted at heights from 18' to 10' in 3' increments. It actually works best at 10' for 15-10m. Also, the receive is quieter at 10' than 18', and also quieter than 40' high dipole. Signals compared between dipole and Titan show same strength but lower noise on vertical, making them more readable.
DX stations hear me better on the vertical.
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| KJ7MX |
Rating:     |
2014-05-14 | |
| A bit touchy but works great! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've had this antenna up for two years in Washington State. The only two downfalls I've experienced are that yes, it is susceptible to coupling, and for some reason the swr at my location varies with the humidity (goes up in the winter when it's raining). I haven't put much effort into the swr/humidity issue, but I have a feeling it's probably moisture in the coax connectors.
I have it mounted 3' off the ground, too close to the house (about 15' away, and about 30' to my south I have an 80' high tree line. Even with those factors it seems to perform pretty well. I can usually work through pile-ups with a little patience including some of the big ones like the recent VK9MT dxpedition. I run 500 watts out through my S-Line and a 30L-1.
SWR, when conditions are dry, runs under 1.5:1 on most all bands. When I bought the antenna at Dayton in 2012, Chris told me that though they don't advertise it, it will also load on 2 meters. So yeah, of course I had to try it and sure enough it loads up! Sometimes I'll connect my IC-7000 & sit & listen in on the local repeaters when I'm doing other things in the shack. I can key up local repeaters with it, but have no idea how it compares to other antennas designed for vhf.
I've heard others say this is a noisy antenna, but then from my experience that's kind of typical for any vertical. I'm thinking about a hex beam as an alternate.
Overall I'm pleased with the Titan. It can be quirky when getting the swr dialed in, and yes, as others have mentioned, the manual is difficult to follow. I had a few "do overs" putting it together but total time spent was about 4 hours. |
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| W4ETR |
Rating:      |
2014-03-15 | |
| Awesome!!! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| All the good stuff has been covered by previous reviews, so I'll just say that if you are considering buying one of these don't hesitate. Follow the instructions, to the letter, and you will be as happy with this great antenna as I am! |
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| W4RAA |
Rating:      |
2014-03-01 | |
| Great Antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Purchased the GAP Titan DX as I wanted a vertical with no radials. Before you even attempt to assembly this antenna read the assembly instructions several times to ensure that you understand it. I layed the Titan DX out on 2 saw horses and a table in my gargage and assembled it in 3.5 hours. I took my time and went over each piece that I assembled to make sure I did it correctly. I mounted the Titan DX on a pole bracketed to the backside of my house at a height of 10.5 feet. The counter poise was 3 feet above my pool screen room. I had a narrow bandwidth on 75/80 meters at first so I called GAP and talked to Chris, he advised me to raise the antenna to at least 5 feet above the pool screen room. I did so and that solved the problem. I installed 3 guy lines to support the antenna in high winds that occur here in Florida when we get storms. After the installation was completed I ran SWR test on all bands and was pleasantly surprised with the results. I had 1.5 - 2.1 on 75/80 meters with having a useable bandwidth of 200Khz and the SWR in that portion being 1.1. 40 meters is 1.1 - 1.9
30 meters is 1.1, 20 meters is 1.1, 17 meters is 1.1 - 1.3, 15 meters is 1.1 - 1.7, 12 meters is 1.7 - 2.1, 10 meters is 1.1. There was a contest going on so I decided to see what the Titan DX could do. With 100 watts I worked Japan Guam, Hawaii, Alaska, Morocco no problems. I used the Amplifier and my output was 600 watts and had no problems busting the pile ups. I am totally pleased with this antenna. It is constructed is high quality materials and should you need to contact GAP with any question Richard or Chris will gladly assist you. |
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| AI4HO |
Rating:      |
2014-02-23 | |
| A work horse of an antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
The one and only..GAP Titan, had mine until July 2008, and would probably still have it up today, if not for the fact that July 2008 is when my tower went up. My Titan was in the way of getting the tower to its base, and then it would have been about 8'-10' from the tower. So,it was with heavy heart I sold my Titan to a gentleman from Coco, Fl. If I had had any other place to put my Titan I probably would have kept it, but I didn't, so, sold it was.
The Titan in my opinion is the workhorse antenna of Gap Antenna Products line. Covers parts of 75/80, there is a capacitor on the very top of the antenna you can change to suit your taste. high end or low end, some where in between. You get about 50-75 kc either side of the capacitor. I have the one on my GAP Challenger at 3.8KHz. Gives me some decent coverage on 75 meter phone.
You move on up 40-10 meters covers it all, with low SWR to boot. I can honestly say, the entire time I had my Titan I never saw an SWR above 1.5:1. Of course I would pull the antenna down yearly, go over everything, make sure all the connections were cleaned of any oxidation, and everything was right and tight on the antenna. Then, back up it would go, a fresh wrapping of electrical tape where needed, and it was back on the air for another year.
If I had a place where I could plant a Titan...you bet I would have one, and be using the hell out of it..just like I do my Challenger, but that...is a different review.
73 de Mark
AI4HO |
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