"Bill Brannick" wrote in message
...
I was wondering, aside from the obvious , what the trade-offs might be
between a moderately priced manual tuner (example: Palstar AT1KM) and
a auto tuner such as the LDG AT-100 Pro or the soon to be released
AT-200 Pro

I guess it is obvious that you have more control with the manual tuner
and are more likely to achieve a match with minimal inductance..(or
losses)

Not famliar enough with these auto tuners to know if that try to
replicate a low-loss match that you can genarally achieve with a
manual tuner or not.....

Would appreciate any helpful comments



Manual tuners tend to have a much wider range of conditions under which they
can achieve a match.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

Automatic vs. Manual Tuners
 

I was wondering, aside from the obvious , what the trade-offs might be
between a moderately priced manual tuner (example: Palstar AT1KM) and
a auto tuner such as the LDG AT-100 Pro or the soon to be released
AT-200 Pro

I guess it is obvious that you have more control with the manual tuner
and are more likely to achieve a match with minimal inductance..(or
losses)

Not famliar enough with these auto tuners to know if that try to
replicate a low-loss match that you can genarally achieve with a
manual tuner or not.....

Would appreciate any helpful comments

I had a variety of wire and "experimental" antennas fed to a remote switch
then down to the manual tuner in the shack. With the bands being what they
have been lately, I was doing a lot of band hopping which required a lot of
knob twiddling. I have since purchased an Icom AH-4 remote tuner (to go
with my IC718) and installed a 75 foot loop in the attic with the AH-4 at
the feed point. Using the cable that went to the antenna switch, I now just
press a button on the rig and the tuner has a better then 1.5:1 match in
less then 2 seconds. Much easier. Your mileage may vary........

Tom - AC9TS



"Bill Brannick" wrote in message
...
I was wondering, aside from the obvious , what the trade-offs might be
between a moderately priced manual tuner (example: Palstar AT1KM) and
a auto tuner such as the LDG AT-100 Pro or the soon to be released
AT-200 Pro

I guess it is obvious that you have more control with the manual tuner
and are more likely to achieve a match with minimal inductance..(or
losses)

Not famliar enough with these auto tuners to know if that try to
replicate a low-loss match that you can genarally achieve with a
manual tuner or not.....

Would appreciate any helpful comments

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 13:01:34 -0600, "TomS" wrote:

Did not see original post so adding on here.
I have a MFJ-993 auto tuner rated for 300 watts. The MFJ-994
autotuner is rated at 600 watts. If you compare them they are almost
identical. The 994 has slightly larger toroid inductors but the same
16 amp latching relays and cap ratings. The 993 has a few extras such
as small built in balun, LCD display, and dual antenna ports thus 1
extra relay, yet it is less expensive. I run my 993 into a 200 foot
flat top antenna fed with 50 feet ladder line to an external 4:1 balun
fed by 20 feet of 72 ohm co-ax from the tuner. It has a very wide
inductance and capacitance range so it tunes all bands 160 thru 10
meters extremely well. Thats an important feature to look at when
comparing tuners as some models have quite a limited range. Once a
full auto tune has been done on a particular frequency the next time
that frequency or one close to it is used it just snaps in the correct
relay settings in about 1/2 second for a match. It has many other
usefull features that I wont bore you with. The best part is it will
handle my 600 watt amp on SSB with no problem as I thought it would
after comparing it with the 994 but if you run a kilowatt or so its
not the one for you. Its wonderful when hopping around, no more
cranking and twiddling and QRMing the bands. And no it doesnt get hot
or even slightly warm so efficiency is well up there. My manual L
network tuner now sits in the corner. I dont suggest everyone over
power one as it may fail especially if you have a difficult load, but
it is conservatively rated and works well on my antenna.
Nigel VE3ELQ

"Bill Brannick" wrote in message
.. .
I was wondering, aside from the obvious , what the trade-offs might be
between a moderately priced manual tuner (example: Palstar AT1KM) and
a auto tuner such as the LDG AT-100 Pro or the soon to be released
AT-200 Pro

I guess it is obvious that you have more control with the manual tuner
and are more likely to achieve a match with minimal inductance..(or
losses)

Not famliar enough with these auto tuners to know if that try to
replicate a low-loss match that you can genarally achieve with a
manual tuner or not.....

Would appreciate any helpful comments