My travel antenna

An ongoing question on various online forums is "What is a good antenna for airline travel?"

Compact, inexpensive, easy to set up and effective - these are non-negotiable requirements for me:

17-foot (5m) whip -  offers a full 1/4-wavelength on any band, 10-20 meters. Collapses down to 19 inches (48cm). It has a 10mm thread so an adapter will be needed for the mount listed below. MFJ (sk) and other sources offer a similar whip (shown in photo) with a 3/8x24 thread but this version collapses only to 25 inches. I'd rather have the shorter whip even though it requires an adapter.

10mm to 3/8x24 adapter -  buy two because they're easy to lose ;-)

Hustler MBM - This is a magnetic mount for the combo above and it includes 16 feet of RG-58 terminated in a PL-259 connector. When it's convenient, I like to use radials with a vertical antenna, even though the car (to which it's attached) offers an "okay" RF ground. To accommodate radials at the base of the antenna, I've drilled a hole through the mount and attached a bolt with a wingnut. Two radials attach to this point. 

Radials - I recommend using a suitable length of ribbon cable, split into two 5-conductor sections. The main (huge!) advantage of ribbon cable is that, due to its width compared to single-conductor radials, it is highly tangle-resistant.

All of the above fits easily into my suitcase, which itself is small. From Iceland, I easily worked 4 continents with this antenna mounted to the roof of my rental car. And that's with 10 watts. From various POTA activations around the US, I never seem to have a problem working European callers.

Best of all, no trees or other supports are needed and the total cost is less than $150. 

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