For many hams, portable operating starts simply: a wire in a tree, a folding chair, and the lure of making memorable contacts from a favorite spot. For Walt Hudson, K4OGO — better known to many as “Salty Walt” from YouTube’s Coastal Waves & Wires — that spirit of the outdoors has always been the point.

Now Walt is back with a second collection of antenna projects, Salty Walt’s Next Level Portable Antenna Sketchbook, expanding on the easygoing, field-tested style that made his first book a favorite among radio amateurs.

Where Salty Walt's Portable Antenna Sketchbook focused on beachside builds and creative wire antennas, the new volume ventures into even more concepts while keeping the designs approachable. Readers will still find practical, deployable antennas designed for parks, beaches, and backyard operating, but this time Walt explores ideas like phased arrays, beam-forming, and higher-gain directional arrays — all presented in his familiar notebook-sketch style.

“Designing, building, improving, and learning about antennas never ends — it evolves,” says Walt. “This book is meant to take antenna building to the NEXT LEVEL.”

The 17 projects range from relatively simple builds, such as a three-element vertical Yagi-Uda and half-square antenna, to more sophisticated designs including portable rhombics, bobtail curtains, and co-phased vertical arrays.

Throughout the book, Walt keeps the emphasis on learning-by-doing, with the same entertaining teaching style and relaxed voice that fans have come to expect. “I referred to my first book as the Jimmy Buffett of antenna books,” Walt says. “Well, this is the second album, where the songs are only getting better.”

Alongside the antenna projects, Walt shares radios from his personal collection, and operating tips to help amateurs get the most from their stations, whether running QRP or operating at 100 watts. The book also explores military-inspired antenna systems and streamlined wire antenna designs that can be deployed with minimal equipment. The result feels less like a technical manual and more like riding along on another operating adventure.

Salty Walt’s Next Level Portable Antenna Sketchbook is published by ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio®. For builders looking for a quick weekend project to start out, ARRL offers an End-Fed Half-Wave Antenna Kit as an accessible introduction to portable wire antennas. To order by phone call 1-888-277-5289 (toll-free in the US), Monday through Thursday, 8 AM to 7 PM, and Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM Eastern Time. Outside the US, call (860) 594-0200.

ARRL will host Salty Walt at the 2026 Dayton Hamvention®, May 15 – 17. Walt will lead a portable antenna forum on Friday, and sign books throughout the weekend.