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| Reviews Summary for Palstar BT1500A Balanced L Antenna Tuner |
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Reviews: 16
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Average rating: 4.8/5
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MSRP: $695
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Description: Dual inline roller balanced L network antenna tuner with Hi/Lo Z and Hi/Lo C relay operated push buttons. Incorporates illuminated cross needle power/SWR/reflected meter with active peak, peak hold, average readings, 300/3000 watt selection. Covers 1.8 - 29.5MHz. 1000 watt single tone, 1500 watts PEP.
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More info: http://www.palstar.com
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You can
write your own review of the Palstar BT1500A Balanced L Antenna Tuner.
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W8EEO
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 25, 2007 20:55
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Best tuner I have ever used!
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I have always used a transmatch because I prefer open line. Over the years I have constructed tuners with some working fine and some not all that well. A few years back I bought the Palstar AT1500BAL and was really happy with the tuner. It had some problems on the higher bands with stray capacity but was ok. I bought the BT1500A about 6 months ago because of the relay switching between high and low capacity.
I am using a twin delta setup with a a 132 foot loop on each side. It is up about 55 feet in the air.
I must say that the set-up I am using now is the best all around one I have had in the last 48 years or so on the air.
A balanced tuner is necessary to use this antenna on all bands and the BT1500A covers them all. It is a bit "pricy" but worth the money if you want the best. There is an old saying about these things. "Any station is only as good as the basic antenna in use". The only thing a transmatch can do is match the rig to the antenna. The BT1500A has shown that it is able to do that in my case. I usually don't suggest what other folks should get because any problems they have becomes my problem in a sense.
However, in my opinion, the BT1500A cannot be beat.
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KC5BHJ
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Rating: 4/5
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May 14, 2007 08:33
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Good Tuner
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have a G5RV in an inverted V with the peek at about 50' fed with 450 ohm ladder line. I had been using a Nye Viking MB-V-A. I could tune 80 and 40 to 1:1, but 20 meters went to hell in a handbasket... best I could do was 3.5:1. I bought a new BT 1500A hoping to get it on 20 meters.....I run a Alpha 374 and would like 1.5:1 or better...
I have gotten the exact results with the BT 1500A as before. Palstar recommended adding about 10' of ladder line and trying again. I haven't done that yet.
Overall the tuner looks good and is well built. I'd rate it as good as the MB-V-A, which to me is a GREAT tuner. BUT the MB-V-A will tune coax also.
And has a dummy load connection.
Would I buy it again? Depends on what happens when I add the ladder line.
In the mean time I bought an Isotron 20M antenna. (waiting for ti to arrive).
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N9JG
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 15, 2007 13:42
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Excellent quality and works 160-10
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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My antenna is a 110' dipole fed with open-wire line, and the antenna is 30' above the ground. My amplifier is capable of about 1 KW output. The previous tuner was a Johnson Kilowatt Matchbox, and while it worked fine on 80-10 meters, it would not resonate on 30 meters. Furthermore, even though a 110' piece of wire is short for 160 meters, I did want to have the ability to use this antenna on 160 meters. To use the Matchbox's SWR meter you have to connect a cable from the Matchbox to an external inline coupler, which is a pain. Finally, the Kilowatt Matchbox has very large dimensions.
The Palstar BT1500A tuner has overcome the Matchbox shortcomings I have listed above. Its built in SWR meter, with twin meter needles, is very easy to use and has 300 and 3000 watt ranges. The BT1500A tunes all the WARC bands, and it does allows me to operate on 160 meters with my shortened dipole.
To use a shortened dipole on 160 meters, it is standard practice to load both the feedline and the flattop against ground. I did this by shorting the feedline wires together and connecting the shorted pair in series with a loading coil to one side of the Palstar's balanced output feed-throughs. The second feedthrough was connected to an external rf ground. To make it easier to switch between the balanced and unbalanced setups, I installed bannana jacks and plugs. Naturally, this is not a "balanced" antenna on 160 meters, but it is a method for me to operate on that band. This method will not work with a Matchbox because a Matchbox can not resonate on 160 meters.
The BT1500A is very easy to tune with only two knobs to twist. However, it does have two push-buttons, one labeled High-Pass/Low-Pass, and the second labeled Low-C/High-C, and these buttons must be in the correct positions. In my case I made up a simple table containing the knob and button settings for the CW and Phone portions of the bands I wanted to operate on.
The case is very sturdy and has an attractive appearance. The quality of construction is excellent. I highly recommend the tuner.
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KC8HXO
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Rating: 4/5
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Feb 24, 2006 14:25
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Good quality, limited range
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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No faults on quality, although the instruction manual doesn't match the labeling of the tuner. That doesn't seem right when you pay this much for a tuner. Limited matching range is it's only downfall, (but a BIG one, in my opinion). I bought a Johnson Matchbox, and it has more matching range than the Palstar. Sometimes older is better. Overall a good tuner.
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HB9DDS
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 30, 2006 07:38
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Rock Solid & excellent Tuner
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Before I ordered a MFJ-976. I received it, but it didn't work. Some wiring problem inside and loose and damaged contacts. So there was NO control at the factory. So I ordered this Palstar BT1500A Tuner for my G5RV. It semms to be e really symetric antenna Tuner. The knobs are going very well and it tunes very smootly. So I can recommend this Tuner very higly.
73 de Daniel, HB9DDS
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N6ZUC
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Rating: 4/5
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Oct 22, 2005 21:58
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Very good tuner
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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This is a well built, heavy duty tuner. Craftmanship is excellent. Choice of componets is likewise. Both the inductor and capacitor tuning is very smooth. The more you use it, the better it feels. Indexing is perfect, being able to return to frequency with no error, dead on. The metering is also very good when checked against several outboard SWR/Power meters. This unit is closer to a 5 than a 4, but it did not give me the option of fractions. The only complaint I have is that the tuning range is a little bit limited compared to other tuners I've tried. My old Dentron, and even my cheapy MFJ 901B has greater range. I run a doublet at 45 feet, fed with about 50 feet of 450 ohm window line, and the Palstar will not tune it to 10 or 12 mtrs, even though the MFJ will with no trouble. There is a learning curve associated with this tuner, as you need to learn how to set the buttons depending on the band you are using. All in all the unit is a keeper. Pricy, but should last a lifetime, and it is built here in the US which is important to me.
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K7PEH
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 9, 2005 19:55
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First Impression: Excellent!!
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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My first impressions are that this is probably the best dang antenna tuner ever made for a balanced feed.
I am using this antenna tuner (or, coupler or match box for purists) with an 80-meter center fed dipole fed with 450-ohm window-style ladder line. My antenna is about 60 feet above ground on average strung between two very tall fir trees (technically, one is a cedar and the other is a hemlock).
This is a big unit that is designed to handle full legal limit and knowing Palstar, it can probably do better than that if the SWR is not too bad on the antenna feed side of things. This is the second largest box in my shack -- only the linear is larger. The inductor hand crank is quiet and smooth and the tune capacitor is also very smooth.
I operate this configuration mostly on 80 and 40 but I have tuned up this antenna on all HF bands up to 10. I have another antenna that I usually use for 20 (or, 15 and 10 when they are in season), a Traffie Hex Beam, though this balanced dipole will do fine on those bands.
I did open the box only to view with awe and appreciation the fine engineering of this tuner. Everything is big and heavy duty and all connections are made with high-quality connectors.
Cost? Yes, it is expensive but then paying $695 for this fine tuner feels a lot better than paying half for a lesser tuner that I would not be as satisfied with. I highly recommend this tuner for anyone with a balanced antenna configuration.
Caveat: I am indeed a Palstar fan and I also own the AT1KM antenna tuner as well as two WM150 SWR meters as well as the DL2K dummy load.
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DG1FHA
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 14, 2005 05:35
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Excellent Tuner
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Very happy with this tuner. Use the tuner for 12 month. My station antenna is a wire antenna with 2x 27.5 meters and 24.8 meters ladder line. Can work 160 to 10 meters with this tuner without any problem. Well designed and made with perfection. Well chosen parts for 1500 Watt output. You can see more photo's of this tuner on my website (http://www.franz-hegener.de/9227.html) I would do this deal again. Excellent customer service.
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PA1HR
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 7, 2005 02:10
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Excellent Tuner with Excellent Service!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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More than a year ago I bought the Palstar BT1500A at Willy from Communication Systems Rosenberg (CSR) www.gagacom.de or www.palstar.de. Actually I bought seven tuners. For others too.
I use this tuner for two antennas: Inverted Vee of 2 x 10 meters and Sloping Dipole of 2 x 5 meters. Both with homemade open feederline.
After a year of extensive usage I still am very satisfied about the BT1500A.
This tuner does a perfect job on all bands; 160 till 10 meters. No problems at all. Even with a quater wave dipole on 160 meters.
The BT1500A has been built extremely solid! Well chosen parts for 1500 Watt output. A huge variable C and easily turning rolling inductors.
All parts and details of this tuner are well designed and made with perfection.
For me this is a very reliable antenna tuner. I am very happy with it and I am kind of very critical...
The service of such tuners is very important too. Last week I sent a few e-mails to Paul and called him by telephone. He is very helpful and kind. I ordered some spare parts and (almost faster than lightning) received it within the same week at very reasonable costs. Excellent service!
I can recommend this antenna tuner to everyone who likes to use balanced antenna systems.
Palstar IMHO is a high-quality manufacturer of high-quality products for Ham Radio.
The price is very reasonable for such high-quality products.
Are there any cons? I cannot find one.
I feel very happy with this tuner! Not only me, but the other six too say they have made the right choice. No doubts at all.
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N6LN
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 30, 2005 22:59
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Absolutely Top Quality
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I like this tuner more than any piece of ham equipment I've ever bought. I have a 75 meter dipole fed with about 200 feet of 450 Ohm ladder line and I can tune it to any HF band, including WARC bands and 60 meters, to nearly 1.0:1 -- including 160 meters, using the feedline/antenna as a longwire. Ten meters loads up well. The key is the huge air variable (you really have to see it to appreciate the workmanship) which has a subsection that splits off as a low capacity unit for the higher bands. Furthermore, I can switch bands and load up almost instantly because the dual roller inductors are driven simultaneously on the same crank. With two degrees of freedom instead of three, I don't have to hunt for the sweet spot. The ease of use is a big plus.
The quality of workmanship is unsurpassed. These units are literally handmade, and built like tanks. In Ohio.
As others have said, the company has excellent customer service. Thanks, Paul.
Worth every penny.
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