Ed Fong, WB6IQN, designed this 2meter/440 dualband J-pole antenna made of 300 ohm twin-lead that fits inside this thin-walled PVC pipe. This is a true 1/2 wavelength performance at both VHF and UHF and with low SWR and was featured article in Feb 2003 issue of QST. He also has a 220 MHz version. Ed, a local ham and PhD in engineering, sells these antennas for about $30 buy-it-now on ebay, his seller ID is antennas_iqn. See listings here. Email for Ed is edsantennas at gmail dot com.
This is one of many websites discussing Ed's antennas, this is to specifically illustrate PVC field base deployment.
Because of its PVC construction, it can be outfitted with additional PVC common from hardware stores for a lowcost portable hand-assembled base antenna. Unlike magmounts, this antenna does not require a groundplane (J-pole has same properties as a dipole antenna).
In these photos are shown how it is setup and base elements can be connected together in a long pole for easy transport. Although not held high in the air, it is still an effective radiator (Ed has measurements to show these properties). Ed has noted antennas need to radiate and have low SWR, as compared to a dummy load with low SWR but not good radiator. Shown is a coax ready to attach to a dualband radio and ready to go.
Available on ebay:
Feedback is desired (suggestions, comments, errors, gripes, whatever) Michael Wright, mfwright @ batnet.com