Part of our Getting On The Air: Modes, Operations, and Making Contacts guide.
I get some version of this question constantly: which of my three portable-friendly HF radios should someone actually buy for POTA. I own all three, I use all three in the field, and the honest answer is that they’re not really competing for the same job. Here’s how they actually stack up.
The Comparison at a Glance
| Category | FT-891 | FTX-1 Field | Xiegu G90 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Band Coverage | 160m-6m | 160m-10m, plus 6m, 2m, and 70cm | 160m-10m (0.5-30 MHz) |
| Max Power (portable/battery) | Up to 100W, limited by battery capacity | 6W standalone on the clip-on SBR-52LI battery (5W QRP mode) | Up to 20W on a 13.8V battery pack |
| Max Power (external 13.8V supply) | 100W | 10W on external 13.8V supply (100W requires the SPA-1 amp, Optima only) | 20W |
| Antenna Tuner | None built in; external tuner required | None built in on Field Head; optional FC-80 clip-on tuner (10W, HF/6m) | Built-in automatic tuner, no external box needed |
| Antenna Sweep/Analyzer Function | Not available | Not available | Built-in SWR sweep across the band for visual tuning |
| Portable Power Options | External LiFePO4 battery box | Portable battery pack (LiFePO4) or Yaesu clip-on SBR-52LI battery | Small LiFePO4 pack |
| Digital Mode Interface | Digirig DR-891 | Built-in digital interface, no Digirig needed | Digirig |
The Tuner Situation Is the Real Differentiator
This is where the three radios genuinely diverge. The G90 has its automatic tuner built into the radio itself, so there’s nothing extra to pack, mount, or cable up. The FTX-1 Field can add the FC-80, a compact tuner made specifically to clip onto the back of the Field Head, which keeps the whole rig small even with a tuner attached. The FT-891 is the odd one out here: I run mine with an MFJ-939, which is a fully separate, fairly large external box that has to be packed, set on the ground or a table, and cabled in. It works great, but it’s a completely different packing decision than the other two radios.
Power Options for the FTX-1 Specifically
Worth calling out on its own: the FTX-1 Field gives you two real options for portable power. You can run it off a standard portable battery pack the same way you’d power any other field radio, or you can attach the Yaesu SBR-52LI clip-on battery directly to the back of the Field Head for a genuinely self-contained unit with no external cabling at all. That clip-on option is unique to the FTX-1 in this comparison and it’s a big part of why the Field Head feels like a different category of portable radio than the other two.
The G90’s Sweep Function Is an Underrated Advantage
Beyond just having a built-in tuner, the G90 can run an SWR sweep across the band and show you a visual read of where your antenna is actually resonant, rather than just tuning to a single frequency and reporting a number. Neither the FT-891 nor the FTX-1 Field offers anything like this. For dialing in a new wire antenna or checking how an antenna is behaving across an entire band before you start operating, that sweep view is genuinely useful and it’s a feature I miss when I’m running either of the other two radios.
So Which One Should You Actually Bring
If I’m walking any real distance to a POTA site and want the smallest possible footprint with zero external boxes and the flexibility of any antenna configuration, the G90 wins on simplicity: built-in tuner, built-in sweep, one bag. If I want VHF/UHF capability alongside HF, or I want the option to scale up to a full 100W base station later using the same core radio, the FTX-1 Field is the more flexible long-term choice, especially with the FC-80 keeping it compact. If I’m setting up at a vehicle-accessible site where packing a separate tuner box isn’t a burden and I want full 100W output, the FT-891 with the MFJ-939 is hard to beat for signal strength. None of these are wrong choices. They’re just answering different questions about how far you’re walking and how much power you actually need.
For the longer story of how I actually landed on running all three of these at different points, including the AnyTone 578 and FT-857D stops along the way and what each stage actually cost, see My POTA Radio History: Five Radios, One Lesson About Carrying Less.