The ARRL’s Portable Antenna Classics is a typical ARRL antenna book. That is to say, it’s a collection of QST articles, the oldest dating back to the September 1980 (“The Shooter – A 3-Band Portable Antenna” by E.W. “Twisty” Ljonquist, W4WDK/W1CQS). Fortunately, antenna physics hasn’t changed in the last 35 years, so this article is as relevant today as it was in 1980.
Overall, this book reprints 25 HF antenna articles, six VHF and UHF antenna articles, and seven articles on masts and supports. A lot of these articles I remember reading when they were first published, such as “The NJQRP Squirt” by Joe Everhart, N2CX. I was interested in this antenna because it’s only 68-ft. long, but can be tuned on 80m. I never did get around to building this antenna, and now have a homebrew version of the 80m “Cobra” antenna hanging in my backyard.
Another example is “The Miracle Whip: A Multiband QRP Antenna” by Robert Victor, VA2ERY (July 2001). This antenna was actually commercially available for a while, and the URL for the company’s website—www.miracleantenna.com—appears in the article. Unfortunately, the company seems to be out of business. Going to that URL brings up a site that reviews sewing machines.
Some of the antennas are what you might call “novelty” antennas. These include the articles “Build an HF Walking Stick Antenna” by Robert Capon, WA3ULH (December 1994) and “A Paint Pole Antenna” by Anthony J. Salvate, N1TKS (August 1995). While you might get these antennas to work, I’m not sure how useful they’d be for serious portable operations.
In general, though, the articles in the book are pretty good, and even if you don’t make the antennas exactly as described, they will certainly give you some ideas for your own design. For example, “A Simple HF-Portable Antenna” by Phil Salas, AD5X shows how to build a simple, lightweight dipole that can be configured for use on multiple bands. Another article that I liked was “A Portable 2-Element Triband Yagi” by Markus Hansen, VE7CA (November 2001).
Another idea that this book gave me was to publish my own book on portable antennas. One of the shortcomings of this book, imho, is that it doesn’t mention any commercial products at all. Nor does it discuss antennas that can be used with the internal antenna tuners now commonly found in QRP rigs. So, look for KB6NU Goes Portable or KB6NU on Portable Antennas sometime in the future.
Graham G3ZOD says
Hi Dan.
Robert Victor went Silent Key in 2012, ref:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/miraclewhip/conversations/topics/2743
“Robert Victor Sep 25, 2012
I saw on the MW website that he passed away. I’m sorry to hear this.
Bob KF6LKK”
73 de Graham G3ZOD FISTS #8385
Dave New, N8SBE says
MFJ sold the “Miracle” antenna (it may still be available). Most folks’ impressions of it was “It’s a miracle if it works.”
Dave New, N8SBE says
Books that dwell on currently available commercial products turn into “survey” books. As one of my electrical engineering professors once said, “If you want a survey course, you can go to Alverson Draughon” (business school). And no, we didn’t get a survey course. :-)
Books (and courses) like that have a very short shelf life, and no real value. I quit buying stuff like that some time ago. Unfortunately, ARRL seems to be tending more towards that in some of their recent titles.
It ends up looking like thinly-veiled advertising (which it really is). It’s too bad the author and/or publisher didn’t collect money from the manufacturers featured.
Dan KB6NU says
I mostly agree with you on covering commercial products, EXCEPT, perhaps for antennas. Antennas can have a very long product lifetime. Hy-Gain verticals, for example, have been in production for longer than I’ve been a ham. As for portable antennas, the Buddipole has been around for a long time, and I expect that it will be around for a lot longer. Besides, the section on commercial antennas is only going to be a small part of the book.