Anyone have experience with GAP Antennas? On paper they look almost too good
to be true, but I know that word of mouth can be more informative. All
comments welcomed.

west
AF4GC

west wrote:
Anyone have experience with GAP Antennas? On paper they look almost too good
to be true, but I know that word of mouth can be more informative. All
comments welcomed.

"If it sounds too good to be true it probably isn't . . "

Here's a load of "opinions" on the Gap line:

http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/13

west
AF4GC

w3rv

Have you considered the Hustler 4 or 5 or 6 BTV line?
I have added 12M and 17M to my 5-BTV and now have what I call a Hustler
7-BTV (10,12,15,17,20,40 and 80M)
Cost me $10 and about 2 hours time start to finish...

Details, photos, parts list etc here
1. http://www.ad5th.com/5-BTV-WARC.html
--

Charlie


"west" wrote in message
. ..
Anyone have experience with GAP Antennas? On paper they look almost too
good
to be true, but I know that word of mouth can be more informative. All
comments welcomed.

west
AF4GC

I bought a Gap Titan a few years ago because it is a vertical dipole.
It has been a satisfactory antenna. It is noticably quieter than a
1/4 vertical and there's no need for the ground screen neccessary to
make a 1/4 wave vertical work.

I have it mounted in my back yard on a pipe driven into the ground. It
is about three feet off the ground.

It's pretty much worthless on 75M and marginal on 40M. On 20M and up
it does OK. Depending on the time of year, it performs better than
the W5GI I have at 40 ft. I prefer it to any of the 1/4 wave
verticals I have used.

Steve, WA4ITA

On Sat, 17 Dec 2005 05:05:43 GMT, "west"
wrote:

Anyone have experience with GAP Antennas? On paper they look almost too good
to be true, but I know that word of mouth can be more informative. All
comments welcomed.

west
AF4GC

I picked up a used one last sprng, set it up about 3 ft off the ground in
the back yard...and took it back down within a couple of weeks.
Signals were way down compared to my 450 ohm ladder line fed 80 meter
doublet on all bands.
I remade the Titian into a 40 ft vertical dipole that I use on 40 thru 10
meters, fed with twin lead, and much better results.
"west" wrote in message
. ..
Anyone have experience with GAP Antennas? On paper they look almost too
good
to be true, but I know that word of mouth can be more informative. All
comments welcomed.

west
AF4GC

Denton wrote:
I picked up a used one last sprng, set it up about 3 ft off the ground in
the back yard...and took it back down within a couple of weeks.
Signals were way down compared to my 450 ohm ladder line fed 80 meter
doublet on all bands.

I had the same experience with a 1/4WL 40m vertical. Now I wish
I had run some A/B transmitting tests as well as the A/B
receiving tests which the vertical flunked mainly due to an
extremely high noise level. I'm thinking about putting the
vertical back up as a 1/4WL 30m vertical fed at the base with
an SGC-230 that I already have. Such an antenna should work
pretty well on 40m-10m, at least for transmitting.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

Hi Cecil....let us know if you do that. When I redid the back yard lawn, I
installed an extensive buried radial system for such experimentation. I have
all the aluminum tubing left over from the Titian's tuning stubbs to turn my
40 ft vertical dipole into something wth some capacity hats...to get it to
work on 80 thru 20 meters, if I desire.
"Cecil Moore" wrote in message
. net...
Denton wrote:
I picked up a used one last sprng, set it up about 3 ft off the ground in
the back yard...and took it back down within a couple of weeks.
Signals were way down compared to my 450 ohm ladder line fed 80 meter
doublet on all bands.

I had the same experience with a 1/4WL 40m vertical. Now I wish
I had run some A/B transmitting tests as well as the A/B
receiving tests which the vertical flunked mainly due to an
extremely high noise level. I'm thinking about putting the
vertical back up as a 1/4WL 30m vertical fed at the base with
an SGC-230 that I already have. Such an antenna should work
pretty well on 40m-10m, at least for transmitting.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

In article , "west"
wrote:

Anyone have experience with GAP Antennas? On paper they look almost too good
to be true, but I know that word of mouth can be more informative. All
comments welcomed.

West-

I've heard third-hand about one Ham Engineer who was having trouble
getting a Gap to perform to specs. After discussing it with the company,
he decided they misrepresent the antenna and is in the process of filing a
class-action suit against them. I couldn't find any information via
Google.

Fred

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

I would like to hear more about that suit. I bought a GAP Titan many
years ago after listening to the hype (lies) from the GAP booth at
Dayton. The only thing that was not a lie is the reasonable match it had
on all bands, but then so does a dummy load.
Mike


Fred McKenzie wrote:
In article , "west"
wrote:


Anyone have experience with GAP Antennas? On paper they look almost too good
to be true, but I know that word of mouth can be more informative. All
comments welcomed.


West-

I've heard third-hand about one Ham Engineer who was having trouble
getting a Gap to perform to specs. After discussing it with the company,
he decided they misrepresent the antenna and is in the process of filing a
class-action suit against them. I couldn't find any information via
Google.

Fred