he Titan is in the air. My intent was to mount the antenna to a currently installed chimney mount. Unfortunately, the chimney mount was in a state of disrepair from several years of weather exposure. The antenna was placed on a 15 foot pole which placed the base of the antenna about 4 feet above the roof line. A guy kit was secured from gap and a set of 3 guys were installed. The wind survival of the antenna appears to be pretty good but time will tell. The antenna is extremely top heavy so I would certainly recommend a guy kit for all but the most shielded of installations.
For my antenna, I did not utilize the 40/10 meter "hoop". Instead, I fashioned 2 wires of length equal to what would have made up the 10 and 40 meter portions of the hoop. The SWR on all bands but 30M is respectable. I still have some experimentation to do to improve the 30M SWR. I have not tried this antenna beyond SWR testing on 80 meters. On 80 I have this antenna tuned for the extreme low end of the band and I get good VSWR on the lower 50KHz of the band. It was a bit lower than I wanted but I can live with it.
I spoke with the Gap folks this past weekend in Dayton. They suggested that I increase the amount of overlap between the longest lower tuning rod and the rod that it is connected to. This is supposedly the portion that resonates both the 20 and 30 meter sections. I will see what I can do. It is not a priority as this antenna is intended to be a multiplier antenna in an SO2R contest setup and 30 m is not going to be used.
First impressions of the antenna are positive. I have made various contacts on 10 through 40 using the antenna both state side and DX. How does it compare to a Steppir..... not even in the same league!!! Compared to my dipole, the antenna hears about as well for the most part. I will continue to experiment and may report back in future blogs.
OK back to the modeling. As I pointed out earlier, I spoke with the folks from Gap with respect to modeling as well. They attempted to simulate the antenna with Eznec as well and were equally in successful. It was explained that the close spaced rods just make this antenna impossible to simulate even with NEC4. As it stands, I will end my attempts as it seems futile. I will enjoy the antenna as it is.
Until next time,
73
Ron
WM9Q
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