Salty Walt's Portable Antenna Sketchbook
15 Portable Antennas, Beautifully Rendered!
Join Salty Walt, K4OGO, of the Coastal Waves & Wires YouTube channel, where all the action happens — right on the beach! Ham radio adventure awaits with these 15 portable antenna designs. Walt begins with the basics of setting up a quarter- or half-wave vertical, and then draws readers into more experimental designs like his own Coastal 20 or an end-fed vertical made with a Slinky®. Each sketch, reproduced from Walt’s own design notebook, provides wire lengths and practical attachment information, along with illustrative feed, balun, and unun options.
In addition to his sketches, Walt offers portable construction and operating tips, and just enough about counterpoise wires and ground to get you making contacts in no time. This isn’t a heavy-duty treatise on maximally efficient antennas, it’s a book for the “true amateur,” the ham who gets out by the waves with a radio to see what they can make happen. Like Walt says, “This isn’t the Mozart of antenna books, it’s the Jimmy Buffett.”
No seaside excursion would be complete without a visit to the local clam shack or oyster bar. Walt pairs each antenna with a dining spot you can try whether you’re on Waimea Bay in Kauai, deep in the Big Easy’s French Quarter, or on the long Atlantic stretch of Nags Head, North Carolina. Walt guides you to the best chowders, fish tacos, crab legs, and more, all while building antennas, making contacts, and soaking up some coastal rays.