My first antenna, still in use, on moving to CO is a GAP Titan,
advertised to load up 80 thru 10 including WARC bands. The Titan is a
bit shorter than Voyager, 28 feet or something like it. The advertising
is correct, it loads up 180 thru 10.
But wait. Is it effective on all those bands? No.
On 80 its a dummy load. On 40 it works extremely well after I added a
one foot extension to the bottom wire that encircles the antenna. In
some cases it is the equal of my shorty HyGain 40 at 70 ft - which
probably says more about the HyGain than the GAP. For the rest its
better on the traditional bands than the WARC bands. It worked a lot of
DX for me for the couple years it was my only antenna.
Carrying my experience to the few feet taller Voyager, and from what
I've been told by Voyager users, the ant will meet its spec which is to
load up on the low bands. Expectation wise I'd expect it to be like the
Titan. It loads up but is otherwise a dummy load. Maybe with a batch of
radials it could be made to work as well as any other extremely short
vertical or GP.
Not to say there's anything wrong with GAP. My brother had up an R7
which he rated about like the GAP on bands both cover. Those multiband
halfwave short verticals work but you get what you pay for.
73 Art K6XT~~
Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.
ARRL, GMCC, CW OPS, NAQCC
ARRL TA
On 12/12/2012 10:00 AM, topband-request@contesting.com wrote:
With the prospect of downsizing and moving into senior housing in the future
I am starting to look at vertical antennas that will allow me to continue
this wonderful hobby.? I have heard "some" good things about the GAP series
of antennas but the company says they do not need radials on most of them
and that worries me.? Over the years I have become very skeptical about
claims and the other BS put out by most companies ( maybe it is a function
of age I dunno) so I wonder if these antennas really work.? The two antennas
that I am interested are the Voyager DX for 160/80/40? and the Eagle DX for
the rest of the bands.
So my question is.... does anyone have actual experience with these antennas
(especially the voyager) as compared to other antennas for a specific
frequency.? Now guys .. I know you cant really compare a 6 element beam to a
vertical of this kind but I am talking about a comparison that is
realistic.. like how does it hear, tune, match & get out compared to
something like another vertical or a dipole up some reasonable distance.
I sure hope this has not opend another can of worms.. some how I seem to do
that .. private emails are ok..especially it the topic gets out of hand and
we get a large volume of comments (Tree please dont shoot me before
Christmas my wife will miss me.)
_______________________________________________
Topband reflector - topband@contesting.com
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