[Antennas] Gap Titan?

[Philip Atchley]

Hi,

Before I ask my questions let me do some "Site explanations".

At this QTH there are 5 antennas.  They are. . .

1.  Alpha Delta DX-B 60 foot long coil loaded sloper for 160, 80, 40 & 30M.
2.  Half sized G5RV Inverted Vee on the same mast as the high end of the
sloper.  (The overall BEST antenna here for 40 & 20M).
3.  Hustler 6BTV vertical for 75, 40, 30, 20, 15 & 10M, roof mounted over
about 1200 Sq/ft of sheet metal roof and awning).
4.  Inverted Vee for 15M,
5.  7 Inch Active E field probe for everything below 530KC, 18ft above the
roof.

Now, here is the real estate available to me.  Lawn and yard, nearly totally
nonexistent (mobile home park).  ANY ground mounted verticals etc will be
TOTALLY surrounded by mobile homes.  So, to be in the clear, ALL antennas MUST
be mounted over the sheet metal roof of a 14x65 mobile home with aluminum
awnings on both sides.

Though SWR's are good, the Hustler, mounted about the middle of the mobile
home (grounded to all that sheetmetal) pretty much s--ks performance wise, at
least till you get to 15M and above.  On 10M it's pretty good.  I think that
on the lower bands it may be getting a lot of noise from a ground loop through
the sheet metal roof or something.  Not much I can do about that, it has to
have that ground.

The Half sized G5RV Inverted Vee is quite good on 40 and 20M, even though it's
apex is perhaps approximately 24 feet or so above the roof and has a little
steeper angle than would be optimum.

The 15M Inverted Vee with an Apex about 18 Feet above the roof on a separate
mast (also supporting the LF E field probe) works about as expected, quite
well, being oriented NE/SW.

My question is this.  This fall or so I am considering replacing the Hustler
6BTV with a Gap Titan for 80-10M.  It would probably be in exactly the same
location the Hustler now is, in roughly the center of the mobile home.  Since
that mast has been cut to just a foot or two above roof level it wouldn't have
much height above the roof.  BUT, it doesn't require a ground plane to operate
either.

QUESTION:  What are the general opinions of this antenna?  I have a ham friend
who calls it the "-rap Titan" and says his is only so-so, and is ground
mounted in the clear.  But I keep thinking that it can't do any worse on the
lower bands than the 6BTV does!

The alternative that I'm considering is to pull down the sloper and the 1/2
sized G5RV and mount a Gap Titan on that mast, at perhaps 8 feet above the
roof.  In that location it would ONLY have sheet metal under it on the South
Side, and would have space between it and the roof, the rest being in the
clear.  IF I did that I'd probably also put dedicated Inverted Vee's for 20,
15 & 10M on the mast presently holding the 15M inverted Vee.

The ONLY problem I see there is that I totally lose my 160M capability (which
I only occasionally use) and my 80/75 Meter operation would depend entirely on
the Gap Titan.

73 de Phil,  KO6BB
991 Different NDB's heard to date.
SWL QSL GALLERY: http://photobucket.com/albums/y123/KO6BB/
THE BEACONEER'S LAIR:    http://www.geocities.com/ko6bb/
Merced, Central California, 37.3N  120.48W  CM97sh