/g/Antenna-Tuners

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Antenna Tuners For Sale

KenW8EK@... (Ken, W8EK) — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 14:58:56 -0700

Antenna Tuners For Sale:

.

Nye Viking MB V-A High Power Antenna Tuner
For Sale:

The rugged Nye Viking MB-V-A 3 KW HF
antenna tuner features a silver
plated variable inductor with a vernier
dial, 7,000 volt variable capacitor and 15,000
volt switch selected capacitors. The frequency
range is 1.8 to 30 MHz continuously. Dual
metering provides for hands free SWR monitoring.
The backlit dual meters show SWR and power
continuously. You get push button antenna
switching from the front panel.

Outputs are provided for two coaxial cables,
one single wire and one balanced line.

The extra heavy gauge aluminum cabinet provides
effective shielding. This tuner is a real brute;
they rate it at 3000 watts, and I believe it.

Cosmetically, this one looks close to new. Both
the SWR meter and power meter work, including
the lamps. It uses a 9 volt battery. It will
tune most any thing. Everything is 100%!

Buy this great unit with paper work for $400.

.

Dentron "Super Tuner Plus" For Sale:

The Dentron Super Tuner Plus is a heavy duty
antenna tuner covering the HF bands from
160 thru 10 meters. It is extremely rugged.

The manual says it will handle 1000 Watts CW
and 1200 Watts PEP SSB.

The "Plus" indicates that it has a built in
output meter on it.

The built in balun is very large. Much larger
than the baluns in the MFJ tuners.

This one works fine; it is built like a tank!
Cosmetically, it looks great.

Buy it with paper work for $145.

.

Vectronics VC-300 DLP Antenna Tuner For Sale:

The VC-300 DLP lets you tune any antenna from
1.8 to 30 MHz, including MARS and WARC bands.

It has a 4:1 balun for balanced line antennas,
and handles up to 300 Watts SSB PEP, 200 Watts
continuous (150 Watts on 1.8 MHz).

The VC-300DLP backlit Cross-Needle Meter display
shows SWR, forward and reflected power simultaneously.
It reads both peak and average power on 30/300 Watt
scales. Meter lamp has front panel switch and
requires 13 V DC.

The VC-300DLP antenna switch lets you select two
coax fed antennas, random wire/balanced line or
built-in dummy load for use through your tuner
or direct to your transceiver. Bypass position
bypasses your tuner but keeps your SWR Power
meter in line.

A dummy load is built in.

This tuner is much more rugged than most of the
MFJ tuners.

This one works 100% as it should, and looks very
close to new. Buy it with paper work for $120.

.

MFJ 949B Antenna Tuner For Sale:

The MFJ-949B is designed to match virtually
any transmitter to almost any antenna. A 4:1
balun is built in.

An antenna selector switch provides
versatile antenna selection. A 50 ohm dummy
load is built in. The MFJ-949B will handle up
to 300 watts from 160 through 10 meters. You
can read SWR, forward power and reflected
power from the meter.

To read forward transmitter RF output power,
simply turn the meter FUNCTION switch to 30 or
300 on FWD. To read reflected power simply turn
the FUNCTION switch to 30 or 300 on REF.

The ANTENNA SEL. switch allows selecting two
coax antennas either direct or thru the tuner,
a balanced line antenna or wire antenna or a
built in 50 ohm dummy load. The 50 ohm dummy
load is rated at 200 watts.

This one looks great, and functions 100% as it
should.

Buy it with paper work for $100.

.

I also have many other accessories available such as many
different types of microphones, HTs, VHF and UHF rigs, HF
and VHF/UHF antennas, connectors, miscellaneous accessories,
etc.
Just too many to list here. Please e-mail your requests.

.
Prices do not include shipping from Florida.

Thanks.

73,
Ken, W8EK

Ken Simpson
E-mail to W8EK@... or W8EK@...
Voice Phone (352) 732-8400

.

Antenna Tuners For Sale

KenW8EK@... (Ken, W8EK) — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 11:35:45 -0700

Re: ONLINE LOOK at HIGHER-END MATCHING UNITS

tyssen@... (Tyssen Becker) — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 10:36:12 -0800

Comments on problems with the Ameritron ATR-30 - MFJ.

https://kc4vfp.com/atr30_antenna_tuner_problems.html

Re: ONLINE LOOK at HIGHER-END MATCHING UNITS

davearea51a@... (W0LEV) — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 14:19:43 -0800

Yep. That's likely very similar to the roller inductor I use with my home brew differential matching network. And, yes, the included inductor, roller or switched and tapped, is most times the downfall of many/most commercial matching networks.

The inductors, not to mention the claimed "broadband balun" to 200-ohms. And why 200-ohms? To match a 200-ohm XMSN line? Absolutely and technically WRONG!!! In reality, these are nothing but a transformer and do not serve very well as a transition a from common mode matching network to a differential mode transmission lines - common marketing claim.

Amateurs need to learn what's inside that "magic" and "mysterious" antenna system matching network and hold the suppliers accountable for bad and improper marketing claims (and engineering designs - the engineers SHOULD know better!).

Dave - WØLEV

Virus-free.www.avg.com

Re: ONLINE LOOK at HIGHER-END MATCHING UNITS

floydsense@... (Floyd - K8AC) — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 09:44:53 -0800

There's at least one that's not overrated: The Ameritron ATR-30, designed by W8JI. The rotary inductor uses a thick ribbon instead of wire. I've run the legal limit on RTTY in contests with no problems.

73, K8AC

Re: ONLINE LOOK at HIGHER-END MATCHING UNITS

donhellen@... (Donald Hellen) — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 07:23:36 -0800

On Tue, 4 Mar 2025 16:46:00 +0000, "W0LEV via groups.io"
<davearea51a@...> wrote:

The best solution to this is to build your own. And,.......in doing so, you'll save a whole bunch of $$$!!

Then there's the ugly factor, Dave. I have nowhere near the skills of a
metalworker, so any matching unit I would build for the station use would look
unsightly.

I am all for making my own antennas for HF, maybe for VHF and UHF, too, but the
kind of metalworking needed to make a good looking tuner is a bit above my pay
grade. For now. I eventually intend to try building a super tuner with a large
roller inductor and wide spaced capacitors, after I get a set of good metal hole
punches.

----------------------------------------------------
Some ham radio groups you may be interested in:
/g/ICOM /g/Ham-Antennas
/g/HamRadioHelp /g/Baofeng
/g/CHIRP https://rf-amplifiers.groups.io/g/main

Antenna Tuners FS

KenW8EK@... (Ken, W8EK) — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 10:28:28 -0800

Antenna Tuners For Sale:
.

Vectronics VC-300 DLP Antenna Tuner For Sale:

The VC-300 DLP lets you tune any antenna from
1.8 to 30 MHz, including MARS and WARC bands.

It has a 4:1 balun for balanced line antennas,
and handles up to 300 Watts SSB PEP, 200 Watts
continuous (150 Watts on 1.8 MHz).

The VC-300DLP backlit Cross-Needle Meter display
shows SWR, forward and reflected power simultaneously.
It reads both peak and average power on 30/300 Watt
scales. Meter lamp has front panel switch and
requires 13 V DC.

The VC-300DLP antenna switch lets you select two
coax fed antennas, random wire/balanced line or
built-in dummy load for use through your tuner
or direct to your transceiver. Bypass position
bypasses your tuner but keeps your SWR Power
meter in line.

A dummy load is built in.

This tuner is much more rugged than most of the MFJ
tuners.

This one works 100% as it should, and looks very
close to new. Buy it with paper work for $100.

.

MFJ 949B Antenna Tuner For Sale:

The MFJ-949B is designed to match virtually
any transmitter to almost any antenna. A 4:1
balun is built in.

An antenna selector switch provides
versatile antenna selection. A 50 ohm dummy
load is built in. The MFJ-949B will handle up
to 300 watts from 160 through 10 meters. You
can read SWR, forward power and reflected
power from the meter.

To read forward transmitter RF output power,
simply turn the meter FUNCTION switch to 30 or
300 on FWD. To read reflected power simply turn
the FUNCTION switch to 30 or 300 on REF.

The ANTENNA SEL. switch allows selecting two
coax antennas either direct or thru the tuner,
a balanced line antenna or wire antenna or a
built in 50 ohm dummy load. The 50 ohm dummy
load is rated at 200 watts.

This one looks great, and functions 100% as it
should.

Buy it with paper work for $100.

.

Coaxial Cable "Jumpers" For Sale:

Most of us need a variety of coax "Jumpers"
around the shack to connect our rig to antenna
tuners, amplifiers, coax antenna switches, etc.
These jumpers are useful for that purpose.

NEW Cable Experts CXP008C3, 3 foot, RG-8.
Silver, teflon, PL-259 connectors on both ends.
They sell it for $19; get this one for $12.

I have an extensive number of jumpers in the range
of 1 to 2 foot length. These are all 50 ohm coax,
and may be the large (approximate 0.40 inch)
RG-8 or equivalent, or RG-58 (under 1/4 inch). All
have a PL-259 connector on both ends.

They have all been tested.
Please let me know approximate length you
would like, and whether RG-8, or RG-58.

These jumpers are available for $8 each for
1 to 2 foot, and $10 for 3 feet, plus shipping.

I also have a few other longer lengths of coax available.

.

I also have many other accessories available such as many
different types of microphones, HTs, VHF and UHF rigs, HF
and VHF/UHF antennas, connectors, miscellaneous accessories,
etc.
Just too many to list here. Please e-mail your requests.
.

Prices do not include shipping from Florida.

Thanks.

73,

Ken, W8EK

Ken Simpson
E-mail to W8EK@... or W8EK@...
Voice Phone (352) 732-8400

.

Re: ONLINE LOOK at HIGHER-END MATCHING UNITS

davearea51a@... (W0LEV) — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 08:46:19 -0800

I have found virtually ALL commercially available antenna matching units (a.k.a., "antenna tuners") marketed into amateur applications are sorely over rated when it comes to power handling claims. The best solution to this is to build your own. And,.......in doing so, you'll save a whole bunch of $$$!!

Dave - WØLEV

Re: ONLINE LOOK at HIGHER-END MATCHING UNITS

tyssen@... (Tyssen Becker) — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 19:40:29 -0800

No, Dave, I have never tried one of those. There are several vintage tuners that are probably great, such as the Miller and a few others that I cannot recall the brand names. In the late 70's and 80's there were several good, high end tuners on the market, but they are pretty rare now as the sales volumes weren't that high.

73,

Tye, W8ZM

Re: ONLINE LOOK at HIGHER-END MATCHING UNITS

43x8309@... (Dave G6EGM) — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 04:56:42 -0800

Have you tried one of the old Z Match tuners such as a KW Ezee Match ?

Re: ONLINE LOOK at HIGHER-END MATCHING UNITS

tyssen@... (Tyssen Becker) — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 04:30:31 -0800

I have used Dentron MT-2000 and 3000 matching networks since the 1970's and found that they will tune almost everything, including my rain gutter (yes I tried it once just to see if it would work) at full legal power. I say tune because they will reduce the SWR to match the antenna to my transmitter. I have also measured the output power of my transmitters at the transmitter and at the antenna to gauge the I feed line and tuner loss and found the loss to be reasonable depending on the length and type of coax used. The Dentrons do not "suck up power" through resistance or reactance. If adjusted properly, I have never had any arcing, sizzling, overheating or other destructive activity and I have tuned everything from quads, yagis, verticals and random wires of practically every conceivable length on field days and other temporary locations, even using CB antennas on 10 meters.

I have tried many tuners from Drake, Kenwood, Yaesu, the Nye MB-V-A, and Ten-Tec without the same wide ranging results. Some of those tuners had difficulty tuning a fairly resonant antenna. There has never been a situation where I could not match my piece of wire to the transmitter with the Dentron MT tuners. The only other tuner that was close to their equal was the Murch UT-2000A, because of the roller inductor. I always wanted to remove the switched inductor from the Dentron and put in a roller inductor, but never wanted to cut up one of my units. I still have the Dentrons and several others, but I now mainly use a Palstar At-5K because of the roller inductor. It will also tune almost everything at high power levels. Mine is a little iffy on 10 meters because I have an early version before they increased the range of the roller inductor. Yes, it has a fan, but I never use it because there is no heat build up. I have never had the opportunity to try a Tokyo Hi-Power tuner.

As to the MFJ tuners, I have never tried one other than a small low power unit I use mobile. However, I did talk to a very large dealer at Dayton one year (still at the Hara Arena location) about one of the larger MFJ tuners. He asked me what kind of amplifiers I used and when I told him, he then asked me if I really wanted to trust those expensive tubes and input networks to an MFJ tuner. So, I never did.

I have also constructed some antenna matching units myself and they worked OK, but they seemed to have too much power loss and didn't have repeatable tuning results where the Dentrons and other quality tuners always did. I am not related to Denny Had and never worked for Dentron but over the years I have found them to be an excellent way to match the transmitter to the antenna at a reasonable cost. They work well and the increasing value of those tuners on the used market show that they are also respected by many other hams.

No matter how effective your antennas are, they always have a narrow resonant frequency range, especially on the lower bands (80 & 160 especially) unless you are using an antenna that is like a dummy load because of its wide band, power robbing matching network. An antenna "tuner" is a valuable piece of equipment and like everything else, you get what you pay for. However, it all depends on the type of antenna you have. A T-Network tuner works well on resonant antennas and random wires, but other tuner designs work well on other antenna types. YMMV.

Re: ONLINE LOOK at HIGHER-END MATCHING UNITS

donhellen@... (Donald Hellen) — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 15:36:31 -0800

Dave . . .

On Sat, 1 Mar 2025 20:56:11 +0000, "W0LEV via groups.io"
<davearea51a@...> wrote:

I was given a Toyko Hi-Power HC-2000. On 160 the inductor heats badly and on 40 the variable capacitors arc badly. This all at even 500-watts! It sure looks good and extremely high quality inside, but....

Wow. Not what I would have expected from a Toyko Hi-Power matchbox. I thought
those were very high quality units. Was the arcing at high altitude?

You've mentioned that, at high altitudes, capacitor gaps have to be larger to
prevent arc-over, and you had that happen in an MFJ tuner when it was fine at
low altitude. The Toyko Hi-Power HC-2000 is rated at 2 kW PEP. Was your 500 W
during SSB or some other mode? (I think you prefer SSB over other modes.)

Maybe the heating of the inductor on 160 meters was a feature, allowing you more
bandwidth due to a lower Q? :-)

Seriously, I would have bought one of those Toyko Hi-Power HC-2000s if the price
was right, but based on your experience, it's probably no better than the LDC,
MFJ, and other reasonably-priced matchboxes. There's one made over in Europe
somewhere that sells for maybe $2500 USD that reportedly uses good quality
components. It might be one from this company (these are the three I see on
their website):

http://ha8du.ham.hu/du_1500_eng.html

http://ha8du.ham.hu/du_800_hu.html

http://ha8du.ham.hu/du_3000_hu.html

Donald KX8K

----------------------------------------------------
Some ham radio groups you may be interested in:
/g/ICOM /g/Ham-Antennas
/g/HamRadioHelp /g/Baofeng
/g/CHIRP https://rf-amplifiers.groups.io/g/main

Re: ONLINE LOOK at HIGHER-END MATCHING UNITS

davearea51a@... (W0LEV) — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 12:56:31 -0800

I was given a Toyko Hi-Power HC-2000. On 160 the inductor heats badly and on 40 the variable capacitors arc badly. This all at even 500-watts! It sure looks good and extremely high quality inside, but.....

My home brew differential matching network uses an inductor made of 1/8-inch x 3/16-inch copper bars which is silver plate. Even at 1.5 kW on my worst band, the heating is absolutely minimal, maybe 5-degrees above ambient for a 3-minute key-down spring. The variable caps are two matched 3 kV variables each max of 250 pF. I wish I had two matched 500-pF variables, but I didn't.

Re: ONLINE LOOK at HIGHER-END MATCHING UNITS

floydsense@... (Floyd - K8AC) — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 09:02:53 -0800

Hi Dave. I've had a couple of tuners that had heating problems. One had an inductor with too-small wire diameter. Two had undersized relays in the signal path and the relays got rather hot. One tuner I had heating problems with was a Palstar autotuner that overheated when running 750 watts with digital modes. Later we found out that their 2KW tuner was really rated at around 375 watts for continuous carrier modes. The two tuners I have now that never get warm: Ameritron ATR-30 and J.W. Miller AT2500.

73, Floyd - K8AC

Re: Daiwa CNA-2002 auto tuner

zorlockk@... (Jason - KG7L) — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 09:29:19 -0800

Re: Daiwa CNA-2002 auto tuner

zorlockk@... (Jason - KG7L) — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 09:28:05 -0800

This is a first gen auto tuner. It is run by a DC motor. When you push and release the operation button the motor turns plastic gears connected to the caps and inductor.

This is a pic of the cna-1001. Same route if tuner, but handles less power.

Re: Daiwa CNA-2002 auto tuner

zorlockk@... (Jason - KG7L) — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 09:22:30 -0800

Ted, I did. I found out how I could hook it up backwards. Lol

There were a few other problems as well. Cold solder joints, bad diode.

The pdf manual online is horrible quality, but Daiwa sent me a good clear pdf of the schematic which was super helpful.

Turned out the forward power not showing was a bent needle in the movement. Fixed that, and the destroyed the movement for the reflected power. MAD FACE!.

I found an old cn-520 on ebay that uses the same meter that sound be here tomorrow. I will replace both needles and the cover. The meter cover on the 2002 is chipped/ broken in a couple places.

Re: Daiwa CNA-2002 auto tuner

ted.duskes@... (Ted Duskes - VA2TED) — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 14:27:01 -0800

Curious... did your solve the problem?

Re: Daiwa CNA-2002 auto tuner

davearea51a@... (W0LEV) — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 11:12:59 -0800

Check all the RF diodes, especially those in the forward sense. Use a DMM in the diode position to check both forward and reverse voltage. For the diode(s) reverse should be nearly infinite while the forward should be between 0.4 and 0.8 vdc.

Dave - WØLEV

Virus-free.www.avg.com