In Part 3 of our series on prepping for ARRL Field Day 2026 (June-27-28), we’ll be looking at some of the Field Day antenna options available at DX Engineering, where you’ll find a long list of effective wire and vertical choices (way too many to shout out here) that make excellent options for logging more QSOs during all your outdoor activations.
Let’s begin our portable antenna search with words of wisdom from OnAllBands contributor and portable operating expert Thomas, K4SWL:
“Whether you’re a seasoned ham or buying your first antenna, choosing the right one is more about how you operate as an individual and less about the antenna’s capabilities.”
There are several considerations to make when selecting a Field Day antenna for you or your club, including portability, coverage, footprint, ease of installation and tear-down, tuning, power level, suitability for your operating site, and your budget. If you’re not sure what best suits your needs, be sure to consult with the active operators at DX Engineering, who have decades of experience employing antennas of all types on Field Day.
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K4SWL listed questions to ask yourself about how you intend to operate and highlighted the three antenna options (below) in his article, “Choosing a Portable Vertical Antenna that Matches Your Needs.”
“This antenna deploys in about five minutes and works great for portable activities such as POTA.” James, DX Engineering Customer
Interested? Check out this stellar review of the MC-750 by DX Engineering’s Michael, KI8R.
Find other Chelegance portable antennas at DX Engineering, including:
- JPC-12 Portable HF Vertical Antenna (40-6M)
- JPC-7 Portable HF Dipole Antenna (40-6M)
- MC-599 Portable Rigid V Rotatable Dipole (40-6M)
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The second option highlighted by K4SWL is the Chameleon CHA MPAS 160-6M Lite Modular Portable Antenna:
“I was looking for a good system to take hiking for POTA and SOTA activations, and this one answered my needs: compact, highly portable, robust construction, and flexible configuration…Overall, a great system that I look forward to using extensively this year.” Jonathan, DX Engineering Customer
Here are a few other portable options from Chameleon:
- Basic Limited Edition HF Antennas
- WARC-D Dipole Antennas (30/17/12M)
- F-LOOP 3.0 Total Portable HF Loop Antenna (3.5-29.7 MHz)
- LEFS-8010 End-Fed Half-Wave Sloper (80-10M)
- LEFS-4010 End-Fed-Half-Wave Sloper (40-10M)
- OCF-40 Off-Center Fed Dipole (40/20/10/6M; with tuner 60/30/17/15/12M)
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K4SWL also showcased the REZ 80-10M Ranger 80 Portable Antenna System, now available in an upgraded Version II model. All REZ Antenna Systems products are available exclusively through DX Engineering.
Read an excellent review of the Ranger 80 from Mark, K8MSH, here.
The Ranger 80 is just one of several options from REZ Antenna Systems. Here are a few more:
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- Chelegance MC-750 carrying case (Image/Thomas, K4SWL)
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- (Image/Thomas, K4SWL)
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- (Image/Chameleon)
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