I'm mounting an Outbacker Perth just above a long gutter and downspout.
The gutter/downspout is the ground side of this antenna. This
combination will be fed with 300 ohm twinlead.

The ground side of this has me confused. My question is this. Does the
ground jack on the Outbacker need to be connected for it to work properly?

Why does the Outbacker even have a ground jack? A hamstick antenna
doesn't have a ground jack.

If I was using a hamstick then one side of the 300 ohm twinlead would go
to the antenna, the other side to the gutter/downspout. Simple.

If the Oubacker ground jack needs to be connected then should it go in
series or parallel to the gutter/downspout? Or does it even matter?

In other words, should the feedline first go to the Outbacker ground
jack, then on to the gutter? Or could I split the ground at some point
near the antenna, run one wire to the Outbacker and the other to the
gutter/downspout?

Thanks for your help.

Bruce AF8F