Automatic Tuner Question

[depark]

I was wondering if anyone could tell me if the LDG 200Pro antenna tuner was any good. I am going to be connecting it to an ICOM 746Pro radio and a Chameleon dipole antenna. With using the LDG 200Pro should I also have an SWR meter as well? If so can someone recommend a meter that does not cost too much but works well? Any suggestions or advice would be wonderful. Thanks in advance.

 

[Radio1]

LDG 200 Pro Tuner Thoughts

I use the 200 Pro with a G5RV and a FT 950. It has been in use since April and it has worked well. You might want to look up some reviews on it on eham. It got a 4.8 out of 5 overall average review. 73 Mike KF6KXG

 

[AudioShockwav]

Darryl, The 200 Pro has a LED meter built into the front of it that reads power and SWR, no need for an external meter. You are good to go right out of the box.
I use one on a Yaesu FT 897D, works great, it will "learn" the frequency's you use often and remember the settings. The first time on a new freq or new band it will rattle away untill it finds a good match, then it will store it in the memory, and the next time you go back it will click a couple of times and you are there.
I love mine for camping/portable use with the Yaesu.

73
Jeff

 

[depark]

I have read the reviews on eham, I just wanted to know what users on this forum thought about it. Thanks. How accurate is the SWR meter on the 200pro?

 

[depark]

One more question. Has anyone used the MFJ-993B IntelliTuner Automatic Tuner? It is in the same price range as the LDG 200pro. I am just wondering if it might be a good choice as well? Which is a better unit? They both have similar reviews on eham. Thanks.

 

[Robb]

One more question. Has anyone used the MFJ-993B IntelliTuner Automatic Tuner? It is in the same price range as the LDG 200pro. I am just wondering if it might be a good choice as well? Which is a better unit? They both have similar reviews on eham. Thanks.

I have the MFJ-993B Intellituner. Can't compare it to the LDG because I never had one. Bought the MFJ because of the features. Digital meters for power avg/pep, and the fact that it also has a analog meter too.

From MFJ:

"...World’s First dual power level 300/150 Watts SSB/CW Tuner --

Select 300 Watt SSB/CW power level and match 6-1600 Ohm antennas Or . . . select 150 Watt SSB/CW power level and match extra wide-range 6-3200 Ohms!..."

This allows for the ability for it to work with some fairly poor matches.
More:
MFJ Enterprises Inc.

 

[W1MSG]

I have the 600 Pro and love it. I had to go with the 600 because of the Amp. I run my AL-811 through it at 500 to 600 watts with no problems. The led meters are more exact that the Daiwa meter I have thats for sure..

 

[W4KVW]

LDG

I own an LDG AT-1000 & have owned TWO LDG AT-7000's & they all worked PERFECT with ZERO issues.GREAT tuners for the money.

SIX-SHOOTER

 

[N0NB]

After determining that the internal tuner on my recently sold FT-920 was going to take more to fix than it was worth, I went with the LDG AT200Pro and have been quite happy with its performance. It's quite configurable and will work with any radio that can output enough RF for it to sense which, to me, makes it a better value than the rig specific tuners LDG also offers.

As the LDG tuners claim a much broader tuning range than many internal tuners (late model Yaseu tuners will only match up to 3:1!), they give the operator more leeway when playing with different antennas. I highly recommend one.

 

[Beetle]

The led meters are more exact that the Daiwa meter I have thats for sure..

Not sure what "exact" means, but an LED display is not necessarily any more accurate than an analog meter. If the calibration adjustments aren't done properly, a digital display can be a whole lot LESS accurate than an analog. Might be a lot more precise, to be sure, but precision and accuracy are not the same thing.

 

[W5LZ]

And just for grins...
The internal tuners of all brand were never designed for matching 'large' impedance mismatches, just 'smaller' ones. The antennas matched by them have to be at least 'close' for them to work. That's just very handy in a lot of situations, and I like those internal tuners.
I also like playing with antennas that aren't 'ball-park' close to 'right'. That means that I have an external tuner too, with quite a bit more abilities than the internal one. It definitely doesn't perform 'miracles' though! (I'm still looking to that one! )
Internal or external, both types of tuners do serve a useful purpose. Just keep your expectations 'Realistic'. (Pun intended.)
- 'Doc

 

[W4KVW]

Internal tuners

I know the INTERNAL TUNERS are NOT suppose to tune REALLY HIGH "SWR" but I can tune my M2 6M5X on 10-20 meters with the internal tuner in EITHER my ICOM 756 PROII or ICOM 746 PRO.It does NOT bust any pileups on those bands but it does allow for a few contacts!

SIX-SHOOTER

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Not sure what "exact" means, but an LED display is not necessarily any more accurate than an analog meter. If the calibration adjustments aren't done properly, a digital display can be a whole lot LESS accurate than an analog. Might be a lot more precise, to be sure, but precision and accuracy are not the same thing.

I keep telling people this all the time about digital versus analog multimeters or any meter in general. Digital meters can have better resolution, ie reading 13.875 volts but an analog meter may say 13.9 volts. However the accuracy may not be any better than the analog meter as far as percentage of error.It all depends on the calibration.

 

[N0NB]

Once upon a time some of the internal tuners were quite good. For example, the tuner in my FT-890 will tune just about anything while the tuner in the FT-920 I had was essentially junk. What happened? Did Yaesu forget how to build a tuner? I doubt it. Rather, I suspect they did market surveys (okay, focus groups ) and found that hams were mostly using the tuners to match the band edges on 40m dipoles and such and thus designed their "tuners" to be little more than antenna trimmers.

Enter LDG who recognized that a market segment was now being left open by the manufacturers and have come up with a line of automatic tuners with much more tuning range and flexibility than the manufacturers have dared to offer. For example the AT200Pro claims an impedance range of 6-1000 ohms on HF and about 3:1 on 6m. At least Elecraft's internal tuner for the K3 claims a range of up to 10:1 @ 100 Watts and 20:1 at 10 W.