One of our favorite parts of Dayton Hamvention® is touching base with the innovators whose inspirations add to our enjoyment of the world’s greatest hobby. OnAllBands was excited to spend time with some of these folks this May in Xenia, including Rob Bowser, KO4HUI, founder of Spooltenna.
KO4HUI graciously took a few moments to share with us his history in the hobby and details of the Cary, North Carolina, company’s spool-style antennas that have become favorites among portable operating enthusiasts.
We understand that you’re originally from DX Engineering’s neck of the woods.
“DX Engineering was in my old backyard. I’m originally from Northeast Ohio. I landed in Akron to go to college. I did undergrad and grad school at the University of Akron in electrical engineering. So that’s kind of my home turf over there.
“I went to business school at Case Western in Cleveland and lived in Copley, Ohio, up until about 2012 when we moved to North Carolina. But Akron and the surrounding area hold a very close place in my heart. My wife and I still have family there.”
Could you tell us a little bit about your background in amateur radio?
“I got into ham radio right out of college. At my first job out of school, there were a bunch of guys there who were hams. They were very knowledgeable and helpful— like instant Elmers, not only in my career, but they started telling me about this thing called ham radio.
“I like to build and just tinker. I got on the air with my Technician class back in ’94. Back then I just used two meters. This is the classic ham radio story: Family came along, license expired, and then there was my career.
“During the pandemic—by that point my kids were going to college—I thought I should probably get back into it. I went back and retested for Technician and General in the same sitting and got the license back.
“I started doing a little bit of Parks on the Air®, and, man, it was so cool just being out in the park. But I was fighting the wire every time. I’d say to my wife, ‘I got 90 minutes, okay? I’m going to be back in an hour and a half. I’m going to run to the park.’ Then I’m spending 40 minutes untangling and tangling the wire, and it’s like, the clock’s ticking here, man.
“I wanted to get on the air, so I designed a spool to hold the wire. Then I got thinking, why don’t I put the UNUN, the matching transformer, inside the barrel of the spool? Have it all in one. Then I can spool it out quickly.
“The whole secret behind the design, if there’s one word—it’s radius. It’s the radius of that spool that you’re wrapping that wire around. If you’re going to wrap a wire across a flat surface, it’s a very small radius. And that puts a lot of kinks in that wire. And when you lay the wire on top of each other with kinks, that’s where the tangling starts.
“So, it’s all about keeping that wire around a larger radius. And that’s kind of the origin story of the Spooltenna.”
Can you talk about POTA and what that’s done for ham radio?
“I was really inspired by the folks on YouTube, Thomas Witherspoon and The Southern Ham. Just to watch those guys go out, set up a portable station, and have that much fun and not have to have a big tower at the house and fight the HOA. That’s what really intrigued me to get into this. I love being outdoors. I love being in the park, and if I can combine two hobbies into one, that’s a natural fit.
“I think I did half a dozen POTA operations before I started designing Spooltenna. I’d call myself 90% builder, 10% operator. I just love to build.”
Could you talk about the two models that you have and what makes them different?
“The original Parks model, it’s designed to drive up to a park and hike to a picnic table or to a rest stop. It’s really designed for ease of use, to get on the air quickly, with no tangles and easy rewinding.
“What we had in mind all along was: What if you’re going to do Summits on the Air or you’re going to backpack? I do a little bit of AT, Appalachian Trail, hiking as another one of my hobbies. And whenever I bring gear for AT hiking, every ounce matters. Because you start adding up your sleeping bag, your pack, and all that.
So, I got looking at the original parts, 12 and a half ounces, almost five inches in diameter. That’s going to take a fair amount of space in your pack. It’s not bulky necessarily, but it’s not as small as it could be. And if you peek inside the finger holes, there’s a lot of dead space in there.
“If you’ve got larger hands, the Parks Spooltenna is easy to handle. You can handle it with gloves on. But I thought: What if I optimized it for size? I give up a little bit on usability. If you’ve got bigger hands or gloves, it’ll be a little harder to handle, but there’s no dead space in the design. So, the Ultra model has got the same exact transformer, and I’m getting some volume and economy of scale with the parts.
“I put in 26-gauge wire (the Parks model uses 20-gauge). It’s Poly-STEALTH—the same as other antennas on the m…
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- Rob Bowser, KO4HUI, at the Spooltenna booth at Dayton Hamvention® 2026. DX Engineering is proud to be a global retail partner of Spooltenna. (Image/DX Engineering)
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- Spooltenna ULTRA-4010 End-Fed Half-Wave Portable Wire Antenna (left) and Parks-EFHW4010 (right) (Image/DX Engineering)
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- Spooltenna High-Visibility Antenna Wire (Image/Spooltenna)
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