| K1SMA |
Rating:     |
2010-11-27 | |
| Good vertical for someone with little yard space! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I will start out by saying this antenna is NOT easy to put together, as has been said before. I bought mine used and the top yellow coax was pulled out and I had no idea what to do. We took a chance and figured it had to fold up inside, and it did. I also will say i had great swr's on it when i tested it 4 ft above ground, but when I raised it up to 10 foot, some of the swr on some channels went way up. Others were fine. We finally compensated and cut off the pipe to 8 foot, and now all swr's are below a 2 except 12 meters which is right at 2. 15,20 and 80 are barely above a 1.1. I do live in a MH park and was worried. After a couple calls to Chris at Gap, he told me it has to be twice the height of the structure you are near away to work correctly. Which mine is. I have little room for wires and ground radials, this works nice. I have already talked around US some, and have reached Italy, Spain and Brazil on it also with 100 watts. After I get an amp, I suspect I will get alot more people from other countries. I also bought a tilt mount from Gap and it is great also as this antenna is very heavy to try to maneuver up in the air. You will need more than one other person to raise it higher, and lower it back if something needs changed. If you need help, check out the Gap group on Yahoo groups, they are very helpful people, as was Chris at Gap. |
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| IZ1RZO |
Rating:      |
2010-11-05 | |
| IT WORKS |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
After all my tests finally the Titan works and the swr situation is the following:
-80m
>2,0 from 3.610 to 3.735
>best swr: 1.4 @ 3680
-40m
>2,0 from 7.067 to 7.360
>best: 1,4 @ 7.185
-20m
>2,0 from 12.200(!) to 14.600
>best: 1,4 entire band(!)
-17m
>2,0 from 17.900 to 18.310
>best:1,3 @ 18.175
-15m
>2,0 from 21.120 to 21.500
>best: 1,2 @ 21.310
-10m
>2,0 from 28.120 to 29.250
>best: 1,7 @ 28.650
About 30m and 12m, I'm not very interested, but the antenna works fine there too. 2 weeks ago I've been hearing VK's long-path from my Titan on 20m, a couple of stations on portable...for example. This antenna works, in my opinion. For sure a monobander beam give more DX chances, but it's fine antenna for a vertical.
Those who said it doesn't maybe done something wrong during the mounting or put the Titan in a bad place... The assembly instructions are clear, in my opinion. Just have to read slowly
and with patience. I did it even if english isn't my language, just have to assembly not being in a hurry. I'm enjoing mine!
Best 73, GD DX de IZ1RZO |
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| KG8JF |
Rating:    |
2010-11-05 | |
| Not totally pleased |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Does not work nearly as well as my Carolina Windom and a bunch cheaper
----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by KG8JF on 2009-09-26
I have just installed a new Titan DX at my qth. The main point I want to make is the the antenna performs exceedingly well as specified. I get almost 200kc of 2 to 1 bandwidth on 75 meters. The instructions leave something to be desired as far as building the counterpoise goes. I built mine as I thought it should be built then found out that there was no way to get it installed. I had to take it partially apart and then ressemble it after getting the spreaders installed on the antenna mast. There are a lot of European and South American dx stations coming in on 20 meters and I am getting my share. Keep up the good work GAP. |
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| KD8KEO |
Rating:      |
2010-11-04 | |
| Update |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| This is a update to the review I wrote on 9/23. Like many "Ham" operators, I wanted to tweak my Titan to improve performance. When I installed it the SWR readings were a little higher across the bands than advertised by GAP. Well, I took pictures of my antenna and sent them in a e-mail to GAP. Rich responded with some recommendations. So, I got some friends together and tilted the antenna down and made the recommended adjustments. Guess what...the SWR readings were out of site at 22.1 and greater. Went over the antenna again checking each step along the way with the manufactures installation instruction sheet. I checked the connections at the radio, at the antenna...nothing found wrong. Well, I took more pictures of the antenna and called Rich. Needless to say at this point I was frustrated and ready to junk the antenna. Rich worked with me over several hours to isolate the cause of the problem and resolve it. The problem was a short that was caused by a faulty connector at the line coming out of the antenna. Yes, I had checked the connection with a multimeter and it showed OK. Evidently, the center conductor broke when I tilted the antenna down for the original repairs. I can not say enough good things about Rich and his willingness to work with customers. He believe in the product and, to quote Rich, "as long as you are willing to give us a chance we will stay with you until we an get you squared away". I would recommend taking pictures if you have a problem and sending them to Rich or Chris. This allows them to visually look at your installation and then make a more informed recommendation. Now, my recommendation to Gap would be to update the instruction sheet that comes with the antenna. It might be helpful if they add actual installation photos on their web site. |
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| W6CD |
Rating:     |
2010-10-16 | |
| Works well |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have had the antenna up for about two years. Mounted on a 15' mast. The mast has a eve bracket at about 8' and I have three guy ropes on the antenna. After putting it up I have had no problems and have not had it down. It works well on all bands. With a good SWR on all bands.
The assenbly instructions as others have said leave much to be desired. If you search around the internet you will find additional info and close up pictures that can be a big help. Some of physical element mounting is a bit difficult to get mounted straight, but with a bit of working at it comes out ok. The instructions are the reason for the 4 rating.
I would recommend the antenna if it fits your need and requirements. |
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| N1CKQ |
Rating:      |
2010-10-14 | |
| Impressed by GAP Titan DX vertical. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have been using the Titan DX nearly 3 weeks from my Massachusetts location. It is hearing stations that my dipole and off center fed Windom either do not hear or not as well. At times, the Titan hears 3-6 S units better than the other antennas. Transmitting with the Titan, depending upon conditions as is the case with any antenna, can mean 2-4 S units better in comparison with my other antennas. What is surprising is that as little as 15 watts have allowed a contact with Italy. True signal was not S9 but I was heard clearly which is my object. With 25 or 40 watts signal reports have been anywhere from S6-8. At 100 watts, S9 to 20 over 9 reports are not uncommon.
The Titan is a long distance antenna. In addition to Italy, I have QSOed Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Guadeloupe, Cuba, British Columbia, Norway, Germany, Argentina and 11 states including California.
SWR on 10-40 meters across bands is below 1.7 and in some cases, flat. On 80 meters, SWR is 1.7 to 1.9 in my operating range.
Richard and Chris at GAP were superb with customer service regarding assembly and tuning. I admittedly “goofed” with some of the assembly. They both, via telephone and email, were very patient and understanding taking as long as they had to guide me so I could have the Titan performing effectively efficiently without a tuner.
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| KE0UF |
Rating:   |
2010-09-06 | |
| Poor Customer Service |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
After purchasing a Gap Titan Vertical Antenna and assembling it using the really bad instructions, I was very disappointed three days
later when it was damaged by wind. A new piece of tubing had to be ordered and was not covered under "warranty" according to the factory. Someone commented from GAP that maybe my neighbors had something to do with the damage? I live on a ranch in Montana and don't have any neighbors! It appears that the aluminum tubing is rather thin walled and certianly could have been thicker in the design area. Besides the under engineered design, at best it is an over complicated vertical with average performance. I would recommend purchasing a vertical antenna from another company. |
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| W4HLN |
Rating:      |
2010-08-08 | |
| Great! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have had the antenna up for 14 days now and worked the stations below...so far its working great at 5 feet off the ground.I just scan the bands when I get an hour here or there and look mainly for new ones....there has been 2 stations I couldnt contact so far and they were fairly close by...All stations were worked on 20 meters except the noted station below were worked on 40.
All contacts made running 100 watts.
DL2AA GERMANY
DA0HQ GERMANY
KP2/AA1BU VIRGIN ISLANDS
E7HQ HQ STATION BOSNIA
S50HQ HQ STATION SLOVENIA
TM0HQ HQ STATION FRANCE
KH6CC HILO AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
RT4F EUROPEAN RUSSIA
C6ATY BAHAMA'S
4O3A MONTENEGRO
YV2BYT VENEZUELA
RG4F EUROPEAN RUSSIA
LY600A LITHUANIA
UA7D EUROPEAN RUSSIA
HB9RDE SWITZERLAND
P43E ARUBA
J88CF ST VINCENT
8R1AK GUYANA
DK2OY GERMANY
EA3PT SPAIN
GJ6YB JERSEY
MW9C WALES
PI4DX NETHERLANDS
VP50V TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS
VE6AO CANADA
PY2XAT BRAZIL
IZ1IBG ITALY
HK3JJH COLUMBIA
ZF2JT CAYMAN ISLANDS
ZY2C BRAZIL
CO6LC CUBA
XE1KK MEXICO
EI6JK IRELAND
UP2L KAZAKHSTAN
9Y4D TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
DL1A GERMANY 40 METERS
4O3A MONTENEGRO...AGAIN 40 METERS
IQ2CJ ITALY 40 METERS
5B4AIF CYPRUS 40 METERS
SY9M CRETE
HI3FVA DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
VK7VE TASMANIA ( AUSTRALIA )
FO8RV FRENCH POLYNESIA
OK1CF CZECH REPUBLIC
4B1GZU MEXICO
ER4DX MOLDAVIA
J48LH GREECE
Ernie / W4HLN
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| KK8ZZ |
Rating:      |
2010-05-19 | |
| Very capable antenna! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I found this Titan as an estate "clean up and use" item... for $125... so I spent a weekend cleaning all the connections and replacing any leads that looked questionable... then put it up with the counterpoise about 5 foot off the ground.. the results have been quite surprising, with 40 meter contacts coming in very well, and the 75 meter "3905 CC net" guys REALLY interested in the new guy on freq! All in all, an excellent investment here for a very few dollars... I've compared it to the MA5B beam on the roof and it's usually a few s-units down, but not all the time.. often it seems to be the same signal strength.. based on this very limited experience, I'd say it was a great value for the $$ invested.. I'd guess if it were a little higher in the air, i would be an even higher rated antenna... Cheers... Bob KK8ZZ |
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| W3EFE |
Rating:     |
2010-05-01 | |
| Good Antenna, Poor Assembly Instructions |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Have Titan for over a year now. Assembly Instructions are poorly written. When completed called Titan regarding an assembly question and was told to ignore instructions and change spacings to different locations other then what was not on instruction sheet. Titan is elevated 10 feet off the ground and had to adsd two additional stubs via experimentation before swr was satisfactory. Also added 4 non conductive guys to each counterpoise to mast to support them during snow loadsas was recommended by previous reviewer. Resulting SWR excellent across all bands. Well worth the effort. Antenns performs much better then expected and no problems during winter snowstorms and high winds. 167 Countries worked in about a year with sporadic operation. Highly recommended Vertical once you get it up and working properly. Would purchase another. |
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