IC-718 & Manual Antenna Tuners

[Daniel]

I was reading some reviews and someone said that the IC-718 was only
designed to work with auto tuners and that manual tuners won't work
with it.

Is this correct. Does anyone know for sure.

Thanks

 

[Justme]

Wrong
Every transciever can be used with an manual tuner.
Start with low power to find the settings for the tuner for the band of choice, then after getting an match, set to higher power and if need be check setting of the tuner...

 

[Daniel]

Thanks, right, I bet he was trying to use the manual tuner and had the
rig set for one of the auto settings.

Thanks again.

 

[Beetle]

Yeah, if the rig has a built-in tuner, turn it off and just use the manual tuner. It'll work just fine.

 

[RogerTango]

I was reading some reviews and someone said that the IC-718 was only
designed to work with auto tuners and that manual tuners won't work
with it.

Is this correct. Does anyone know for sure.

Thanks

It can easily be used with a manual tuner. Set the CW settings to straight key, wire in a switch to emulate the shorting bar on an old CW key (like the J-38), set your power for about 10w output, tune up while sending CW tone. Return to full power when minimum SWR is found. Ideally, 1.5:1 is acceptable, some systems you can get below that... something in the order of 2.5:1, is too high IMHO.

Good luck-
RT

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Any radio from a basic homebrew rig to a $$$$$$ military or commercial rig will work with a manual tuner.The radio does not know the differance.The operator has to turn the tuner knobs himself instead of the tuner doing it automatically.

 

[SR385]

One of the best pieces of gear I bought so far has been my manual tuner. It is simple to use one, make stickers for cheat sheets one per band and it's even faster to get tuned up. It will tune most anything.

People went on and on about how hard it was to use manual tuners and tune a tube amp, neither is true. I'm glad I bucked the advice.

My only regret was not buying a true full legal limit tuner, they really only work well with about half what the claimed rating is. So if you see 1200W rated, it will start having trouble at around 800W SSB or so. 3kW means full legal limit really.

$650 may seem crazy for a solid tuner...but you will buy it once and you'll be glad you did eventually.

 

[W5LZ]

Dang!
I knew I should'a got on here last night. I could have said all of the above and saved everybody else the trouble. Rats!
- 'Doc


(Hows that for a nice combination of humility, self depreciation, and bragging?)
And to maintain my image of 'Cheap', take a look at the 'used' market. I'm afraid that $650 thingy is a bit 'steep' for me, and my old 'Dentron' would fit in that price almost 4 times (3, anyway). The ratings for almost (<--optional word) all tuners is expressed in 'Pep', bigger numbers you know.

 

[SR385]

Yeah the old Dentrons are nice and the Johnson Match Box as well. Tough part is finding them without oxidation on the parts.

I like my Palstar AT1KM fine, well built, just have an eye on an AT4K or similar now.

Nothing like finding the limits of a tuner with an amp...I felt like Tesla over here for a second.

 

[W5LZ]

'Felt like Tesla'.... that mean sparks all over the place and hair standing on end?? Been there, unfortunately. Try 1500w into a tuner then into the wrong antenna. @#$ thing certainly tried to tune it, but the knobs sort of melted off in the process. Wouldn't recommend that at all. I can do really stupid things when I'm not thinking, or in a hurry, you know?
'MFJ' makes a few very nice tuners, believe it or not! Standard precautions are required, as in shake the thing and see if it rattles. Don't get too enthusiastic with it till you are sure it's right.
Just a few thingys to keep in mind.
Ceramic formed coils are better than ones built of plastic. Heat doesn't affect ceramic as quickly as plastic.
Higher voltages (results of high SWR) usually mean larger components. Expect a big size for a 'healthy' tuner. Higher voltage rated capacitors are not small. In general, bigger is better.
NO tuner will 'stretch' from 'daylight to dark' unless you throw an unbelievable amount of money at it!
Whatever amount of power you expect to run, double that amount and you have the 'smallest' tuner that will probably handle it. Doesn't matter if you never use that amount, bigger is better in that regard.
(That Dentron tuner I have makes for a very nice thingy to set all my equipment on top of. HF, VHF/UHF, meters, the whole smear.)
Even if you design it yourself, there will always be some qwerk about any tuner that you wish were a little bit different. No biggy, just so that you are aware of it.
ALL of the @#$ things have limits! Doesn't matter who makes it, what they say it will do. Just means more fun 'fixing' the antenna.
And one biggy that is seldom mentioned, the average losses using a tuner (correctly!) will be less than the average losses with a mistuned antenna, jockeying with feed line length so that you don't have to use a tuner, etc, etc. You don't have to accept that fact, but it is a fact. Whatever turns you on.
And lastly, no matter which tuner you have, the next one, and the one you had before the last one, will almost always have been 'better'. Especially if you can't find that one you had before...

- 'Doc