The Shakespeare Big stick was the first antenna I bought for my first base station back in 1974 with 50' of RG8U wire. I had it mounted on 21' of 1" galvanized water pipe which I shimmied it up thru the limbs of a big old tree to clear the top of the tree and poly guy roped it in the tree. This was on top of a big hill. Running my first Royce mobile radio as a base one night I talked barefoot to a station 25 miles away. I had no ground plane kit and it performed well for what it was in the hands of a poorboy. It would be interesting to see and hear it's performance with a Ground Plane Kit and a good amp. Keep us posted!