[skuep]’s Mobile-Whip is a compact, active receive-only antenna that is optimized for operation from a single lithium-ion battery or USB power. This makes it very handy for use on portable equipment, as shown in the images here.
What’s an active antenna do? Its main purpose is to provide useful reception with an antenna size much smaller than would normally be called for. It’s pretty handy to be able to have one that’s completely self-contained, and able to easily fit on a mobile radio or scanner.
The Mobile-Whip is based on the Mini-Whip active antenna by [PA0RDT], but with some important changes. One is that it has a narrower frequency range, but it’s also one piece, much smaller, can be powered by a single lithium-ion cell, and it integrates a charger.
It’s still in early development (and there’s no enclosure designed yet), but if you’d like to try it out for yourself the schematics and KiCad files are available. There are also instructions for ordering everything from a PCB manufacturer, which is about as easy as it gets.
[skuep] seems to have a knack for designing PCBs that attach directly to portable equipment, like the Ham Radio All-in-one cable (AIOC) which makes interfacing to a computer ridiculously easy.
