Portable 100w Auto-tuner

Equipment Antennas
81
  1. Checked that
  2. The leads are the same ones I use for the manual tuner - and with the same antenna
  3. SWR I assume is correct as it compares to the swr metre on my radio (Ten Tec Argosy) when I tune up it goes well off tune too.
  4. I’m not entirely sure what you mean by the feel of the tune button but from the videos on-line it appears its just a press &hold button, not one that clicks ‘on’ and stays on like some switch.

But thanks Andy.

82

It sounds like the “tune now” button is not operating correctly if swr is staying the same value. The rest of the processor is apparently working if the display is ok and swr is correctly calculated. So the most likely thing is that the Tune button is either not connected correctly or is faulty. Try a calibrated screwdriver across the terminals for the tune switch.

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83

Heard in and outs are labelled wrong on some of these. Better still dump it and make a resonant antenna!!!

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84

I bought one of the more recent fully assembled ATU-100s at about 3 times the cost of the Russian kit. The software is better than the original kit I built and a 4 way mini joystick is used for control. You can choose QRP or QRO power levels via the joystick. A rechargeable battery is built in but is accessible enough to be able to be replaced.

I compared it with an LDG Z100 and an Icon AH705 by connecting to an 18 ft vertical with two ground wires. Tests were with 10 W initially at 3.532 MHz.

The AH705 tuned to about 1 1:1. The other two would not provide a match.

Same antenna, 7.010 MHz

AH705. 1.1:1
LDG Z100 1.2:1
ATU-100. 1.3:1

The LDG had been my gold standard. This ATU-100 shows it may be a close second in performance and as it cost half the $$ to my front door.looks like a serious contender for SOTA, Parks, HEMA, etc it’s is smaller than the other two. It’s a lot lighter than the AH705.

It’s now paired with a Xiegu X1M or FT817 as a lightweight station.

YMMV.

73
Ron
VK3AFW

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