Background
The GardenBeam was born out of the DXpedition efforts of Tomi, HA7RY, and George, AA7JV. We have become well known to put big signals on all bands from difficult locations, such as Chesterfield Reef, Mellish Reef and Willis Islets, despite our modest set up.
It was during their TX3A DXpedition to Chesterfield Reefs that we first started experimenting with vertical beam antennas.
This work was continued at C6AGU in the Bahamas, where we constructed a floating parasitic vertical array for the 2011 ARRL DX CW contest.
This antenna worked so well that we immediately started to think about creating a ground mounted version. The QTH of AA7JV, although located on the water's edge, is seriously space limited, so it was here that the first prototype of the GB was built.
AA7JV's GardenBeam prototype has worked exceptionally well form a height of 2 meters (6 feet)! He was able to work on 20 meters from Florida into Europe with 1 watt on a regular basis. Some of that good performance was due to the proximity to the salt-water. Still, comparison tests with identically located verticals quickly showed a 4 to 6 dB improvement. The GardenBeam was working and we decided to make it available to other amateurs who are hampered by space and height restrictions.