Titan Dx and the Gap antenna for 11 meters.

[Godfather]

Anyone use any of these antennas on 11 meters???
I was thinking of buying the Enforcer and heard good things about them.
Price is high, but I live in Vermont and have quite a few mountains around me.
My email is lisisksa@msn.com...


Thanks


Henry

 

[W5LZ]

Henry,
No multi-band antenna is going to perform as well as an antenna made for a single band. There may not be a large difference in performance, but there will almost always be some, typically not in favor of the multi-bander. Simply because that multi-band antenna has to accommodate some compromises for those other bands of use.
If for some reason you can't have a couple of acres of single band antennas (and who can?) then a multi-band antenna can certainly be a good investment. That also assumes that you will be using those other bands, of course. Otherwise, why even wonder about them, right?
It's just a fact that any antenna utilizing inductance, a coil, to make up for a lack of length, is going to be less efficient than an antenna that doesn't use a coil or inductance for loading. Nothing magical about that, just plain old physics. Just like the reasons for using a multi-band antenna, sometimes a 'shortened', loaded antenna is more practical than a 'full sized' one. There are way of lessening those losses. But, that doesn't change the fact that those loaded antennas are a compromise, and will always be less efficient than the bigger antennas.
Keeping all that in mind, which one of those antennas you're thinking about will yield the best results for you? there's a lot of 'wiggle room' with that question, and I doubt if anyone not living in your area can say for sure which would be 'best'. (Characteristics of ground/dirt in your area etc, which will make some pretty big differences in general.)
A really good performing vertical antenna takes more work than most people would believe to get working 'right'. It won't be 'plug-n-play' by any means. Typically means more metal 'under' that antenna than in the antenna it's self.
Does it sound like I'm not exactly a fan of any of the antennas you mentioned? Well, I'm not. I don't consider any of them to be very good. 'Adequate' maybe, but not good. And that's just personal opinion, so take it for what it's worth (not much).
Good luck!
- 'Doc

 

[SR385]

I could swear I replied to this on another forum.

I own a Titan, in a nutshell, a Maco 5/8 or some other purpose built vertical for 10/11m up high on a roof would outperform it.

A Titan is really made to be ground mounted for low angle DX only contacts. For local on 10m it's miserable at 6 feet off the ground...as I would expect.

40m and up it works well for distant contacts, 80m it's a dummy load compared to simpler antennas. Higher bands, it performs best at the greatest distances due to the takeoff angle advantage.

I wouldn't buy another one unless I had space constraints that required it. I can make my own antenna that would outperform it for a lot less since I have the space to put one up. I bought mine before I knew any better. They are well made though and if you take your time with assembly, they will do what they are supposed to.

All it is, is a linear loaded vertical dipole. No magic and no magical gain from that. It's less efficient than a plain wire dipole for each band would be.

 

[unit_399]

that's just personal opinion, so take it for what it's worth (not much).
Good luck!
- 'Doc

WOW!!! Doc... that was a great post. I'm not a fan of multiband antennas for EXACTLY the reasons you stated.

- 399

 

[KingCobra_CDX882]

A Titan DX is a great antenna
( if you use it as it was designed for)

A mono band antenna nearly always destroys a multiband antenna

Then as was mentioned the Titan DX is designed to be ground mounted...
I do ok with the Titan DX but i do not use it on 11 meters..

Also as mentioned already a 5/8 wave will out perform it and usally allows you to mount it up high

For 11 meters i use the good ole Interceptor I-10K
I doubt there is a better 5/8 wave 11 meter groundplane out there

Oh and you do realize the Titan DX is a very big antenna indeed

 

[Robb]

I'd agree with KingCobra, and just add a little to it...

An antenna -like the IMAX2000- will cover pretty much all of 10-11-12 meters. Some say even 15-17-20 meters. but it certainly does 10-11-12 thing for sure - and WELL. Many claim that it works all bands between 10-20; but that just isn't so. It may work; but it isn't really resonant on anything except 10-11-12 meters. Lotsa noise, and acts more like a dummy load on 15 thru 20 meters. Three bands from any antenna is all one should really ask for and expect - IMO.

Any antenna that claims to do it it all is still going to be more resonant at only a few points. Even the dipoles using a tuner have great limitations, db gain is pretty small, is generally horizontally used for DX, and has a lot of nit-picky setup requirements. Height above ground (VERY expensive towers - if necessary), angle of propagation, and any large metal objects nearby will affect them. Paying $100~ for a 10-160 meter G5RV and then paying for $450 of Andrew/Heliax just ot get some gain on a few bands is just plain expensive. For the amount of potential money spent -in my book- doesn't justify the return. Better off with a triband yagi w/antenna rotor - but at l e a s t you can see r e a l gain numbers. Most practical solution that I've seen so far. Anywhere from 7/10db can be had from most yagis, and is certainly ahead of the rest of other designs.

If you expect the Titan DX to do 15-17-20-40 meters; you may be disappointed. It's best gain is really 20 and 40 meters, although it can do others. Just not very well. At best, it can muster 3-4db on 20 meters, and then flattens out on 40 meters to -2db. So long as you keep with the instructions and install it as specified, it's OK. It is also vertically polarized, which is better for DX. But if locals are using horizontally polarized antennas; signals will be weaker in recieve/transmit when using a vertical antenna. Nature of the beast - the difference between horizontal and vertical polarization will have that effect.

Many Hams use multiple antennas so that they pick/choose the antenna with the best resonant frequency for which they want to operate. Trade-offs and compromises are inherent to any radio bandwidth. Anybody telling you that the antenna they are selling you gets huge amounts of gain on every band, turn around and run in the other direction at full speed.
Just two cents...
Performance Test Results:

Gain of GAP Tital DX compared to monoband reference antenna:
*** 80 meter results will be forthcoming.


Band: 10m 15m 20m 40m 80m

Titan DX, Average -11.0 -7.8 0 -7.6 n/a
Relative Gain, dB

Reference Ant 4.89 4.68 4.54 4.62 n/a
Gain, dBi

Reference Ant 10 10 10 10 n/a
Launch Angle, deg.

http://www.qsl.net/aa3rl/titan.html

 

[radioreddz]

Titan DX is excellent on 20 & 40 meters. i tried using it on 10 & 11 meters but performance is really lack luster. but one antenna i did find to rival the Titan Dx on 20 meters was the Imax 2000 a great performer talked into Europe and Africa at will. but on 11 meters you will far better off with the Enforcer or one of the other top of the line antennas made for 11 meters. in fact many of the ones made for 11 meters work great in the 10 meter band too.