Part of our Yaesu FTX-1: The Complete Guide.
Of everything in my antenna lineup, the Spooltenna Ultra is what ends up in the bag most often when the FTX-1 Field Head is the radio going out with me. Here’s why that pairing works and how I actually set it up.
Why this antenna fits this radio
The whole appeal of the Spooltenna Ultra is speed. Wire and matching network live wound on the spool itself, so deployment is basically unwind, hang, connect, no separate winding or unspooling of loose wire, and no counterpoise or ground system to fuss with. That matches the FTX-1 Field Head’s own pitch of a kit you can set up and tear down fast, so the two rarely feel like they’re fighting each other on setup time.
Deployment in the field
I usually run it as a sloper, one end high on a tree branch or a Porta Mast, spool and feed point low near the radio. Getting the far end up 20-25 feet if a tree allows it makes a real difference on the lower bands. If there’s nothing to throw a line over, even a lower, more horizontal run still gets you on the air, it just won’t perform quite as well on 40 and 80.
Tuning it in with the FTX-1
Once deployed, I hit the antenna tuner’s auto-tune function at low power on each band I plan to use, letting it find and store a match before I ever key up at full output. The Spooltenna’s built-in matching keeps most bands close enough that tuning is usually fast, a few seconds rather than a long hunt. When I’m running just the Field Head without the SPA-1, that tuning duty falls to the FC-80, and this antenna’s resonant, close-to-matched nature is exactly what that tuner is built to clean up.
What I’ve learned pairing them repeatedly
- Get the far end as high as the site allows, it matters more than perfect antenna theory on paper.
- Tune at low power first on every band before running full output.
- Keep the spool and feed point off the ground, even a couple feet of clearance helps noise and performance.
- Carry a backup length of paracord and a throw weight, deployment speed depends more on your throwing setup than the antenna itself.
It’s not a magic antenna, nothing is, but for grab-and-go HF work with the FTX-1, it’s earned its spot as the default rather than something I have to think about each time.