Antenna's require a good ground plane in order to work properly. The 3 piece gap cover is made from fiberglass and does not provide a ground plane. I lined the insides of the first two sections of a gap cover with foil tape. The individual pieces of foil tape on the front section are joined by a strand of wire which runs down the center of the front section. The center section tape is run lengh wise and grounds itself to the front section. I haven't tested this with a swr meter but it seems to work fine.