MFJ Hamstick / Lakeview Hamstick
$····
| Frequency | 1.8-54 MHz (monoband per stick, 75m-6m) |
| Bands | 75m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, 10m, 6m |
| Modes | SSB, CW, AM, FM, digital |
| Weight | 340 g (12 oz) - 340 g standard version; 567 g high-power version (per stick) |
| Connector | 3/8-24 thread |
| Year | 1990 |
| feedpoint | 3/8-24 thread |
An inexpensive HF antenna that works: a monoband loaded mobile whip for under $30, available for every HF band including 30m. Two Hamsticks back-to-back on a dipole adapter (the MFJ-2100 'Octopus') make a portable HF dipole for POTA/SOTA/Field Day. It handles 250W PEP (600W for high-power versions), is ~7 ft extended and 4 ft collapsed, and the 3/8-24 thread screws into any standard mobile mount.
Each Hamstick covers one band only; changing bands means changing sticks. The loading coil is lossy. Bandwidth is narrow on the lower bands. The fiberglass whip section can crack. Build quality reflects the price. The tuning tip is fiddly. MFJ's 2024 shutdown ended its HamTenna production; other makers' sticks continue.
A budget monoband HF mobile whip. Few operators brag about Hamsticks, but most have used one. Two Hamsticks on a dipole adapter, on a camera tripod, is one of the most common POTA setups around.
A Hamstick is the archetypal cheap single-band HF mobile antenna, a fiberglass rod with a wire helically wound along its length to electrically lengthen a short whip into a resonant antenna for one band. The name began as a brand but has become a generic term for this whole style of inexpensive monoband mobile whip. You buy one stick per band (a 20-meter Hamstick, a 40-meter Hamstick, and so on) and swap them, or mount several on a spider.
Their appeal is simplicity and price: for very little money you get a workable HF mobile or portable antenna. The trade-offs are equally clear. As a heavily shortened, loaded antenna it is a compromise on efficiency, especially on the lower bands; its bandwidth is narrow, so it needs tuning for different parts of a band; and like all mobile verticals it relies on a solid ground plane and good RF grounding. Mounted on a ground spike or magnetic base it also makes a serviceable lightweight portable antenna.
It is a current, widely sold generic design. For multi-band flexibility from one antenna, a motorized Tarheel screwdriver is the step up, and the Buddipole is a modular portable alternative.