Topband: GAP VERTICAL QUESTION

[Ashton Lee]

I don't know about the Gaps, but a 43' vertical fed through a 4:1 unun works very well for me on 40-10 meters on a remote hilltop. On 80 and 160 I simply top load it with a long wire. When not in use the wire can either be wrapped around the antenna, or in the summers, removed. Yes there is minor signal loss (some would argue more than minor) due to swr in the feed line, but the unun transformer greatly reduces that, and in return you get some gain on most bands vs a 1/4 wl vertical. I don't use the unun on 80 and 160, but one could with non-resonant top loading.

For low visibility at my home QTH in an antenna restricted neighborhood I use a 43' wire up a tree instead of a freestanding vertical… I also have a 23 foot wire which I use above 20 meters, and a longer inverted L for 160. Those three invisible antennas are imperfect but have managed to work almost every DX-pedition in the last 2 years. I believe that they can outperform any commercial vertical.

KQ0C




On Dec 11, 2012, at 5:47 PM, "Doug Renwick" <ve5ra at sasktel.net> wrote:

> The GAP Voyager is not much better than a dummy load on 160m.  On 80m and
> 40m it received fairly well compared to my other 80 and 40 antennas.
> 
> Doug
> 
> Original Message-----
> 
> 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.) 
> 
> 
> 
> Jim WA3MEJ 
> 
> 
> Long Live Seal Team VI 
> 
> http://www.qsl.net/wa3mej/index.htm 
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> 
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