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Antennas

My antennas consist of:

A GAP Titan DX on 80m through 10m, mounted about 10 ft above ground. I've found this antenna works pretty well, especially considering it's small size. It is a vertical and therefore has a low angle of radiation. It works better for long distance work. For close in work, I've found my relatively low horizontal loop generally works better. As far as the noise pickup that verticals are "famous" for, it depends on the noise. Sometimes, I have a higher noise floor on the vertical, sometimes on the horizontal loop. There are many variables in judging how an antenna works, such as distance, propagation, local and remote noise, etc. Overall, I've found I use the vertical on HF about 75% of the time, and the loop the other 25% of the time.  The GAP Titan is particular about where it is.  As shown in the picture below, it is mounted on a pipe at the edge of my deck, not far from the house.  Moving the antenna only 2 feet up or down from where it is shown makes a big difference on SWR on various bands.  I've even found that spinning the antenna 90° one way or the other affects some bands.  Right where I have it works as advertised.  Your mileage may vary.

One of my favorite comments I ran across while researching the antenna before buying it was AC0FA's review on eHam: "When the sun rises in the morning and hits the antenna It looks like a Chrome Plated Eiffel Tower Wrapped in Yellow ribbons". If you're into antennas, it's a beautiful thing when the sun is rising or setting.

The antenna works:

• Reasonably well on 80
• VERY well on 40
• VERY well on 20
• Well on 30, 17, 15, 12, and 10
• Note it will also load on 6m with the internal tuner on my 746Pro, although I haven't had a chance to see how well it actually works on that band.

On 2m & 70cm, I run short circular polarized yagis on AZ & EL rotors (works for satellites as well as terrestrial). Also on the tower is a 10m dipole that I use for our local 10m evening net, and the feedpoint for a 250ft loop that averages about 20 feet above the ground. The loop is fed with 450Ω window line all the way to the tuner in the shack.