It is noticably quieter than a
1/4 vertical ............


Note...A red flag should always go up when noise is reduced
vs another antenna of the same basic type. :/
Worthless on 75m? If this is late at night when a vertical
"should " do well, I'd be concerned.
Myself, I've never been much of a fan of gap verticals.
But...I'll leave it at that.. I like regular ole full size verticals
in general. Only my mobile uses a stunted vertical.. :/
BTW..If the vertical is not a complete antenna, as in halfwave,
it needs a groundscreen no matter where on the radiator the
antenna is fed, if it's ground mounted. Even a half wave is
improved when ground mounted. Note that most BC stations
that run 1/2 waves, use 1/2 wave radial screens under them.
MK