We have a new antenna for amateur High Frequency (shortwave) communication: granite base, fiberglass pole, radial line ground plane, thick red copper wire, 50 foot black coax feedline.
At 16ft tall, the antenna is most efficient on the 20m band (14MHz). Other bands are also usable, including 40m and 17m. The radial lines provide a solid ground plane, so Earth grounding is not essential; coax feedline shield connected to ground plane, center pin to antenna.
Transmission performance is sufficient for strong transatlantic SSB voice contacts with low input power levels (20W or less). Further, PSK reporter has consistiently shown our signal is copiable across the US and Europe with the new antenna.
Thanks to Martin for helping install the new vertical antenna.
Text, photo credit, and antenna design and construction by mirage335.