In an article on portable vertical antennas someone mentioned that a
Portable Laundry Reel,
readily available at most camping goods stores, made an excellent windup
counterpoise. It will easily
hold about 80ft of 18 insulated wire, which when measured and marked can
easily be reeled out
to a desired length, and later quickly reeled up again. They are
manufactured by Coghlans and
very reasonably priced (I paid $3.98 CDN). The reel opens easily (it twists
apart). The unreeled
portion does not seem to affect the RF length. To me, it seems like a very
handy item to
have for my apartment antennas.which require counterpoises.

Like the Yo-Yo antenna, it could easily be used as a random wire, or two
could make a
neat compact dipole.

Time will tell -- but it sounds like a great idea to me.

Irv VE6BP