|
New to Ham Radio?
My Profile
Community
Articles
Forums
News
Reviews
Friends Remembered
Speak Out
Strays
Survey Question
Operating
Contesting
DX Cluster Spots
Propagation
Resources
Calendar
Classifieds
Ham Exams
Ham Links
List Archives
News Articles
Product Reviews
QSL Managers
Site Info
eHam Help (FAQ)
Support the site
The eHam Team
Advertising Info
Vision Statement
About eHam.net
|
| Reviews Summary for Palstar BT1500A Balanced L Antenna Tuner |
|
Reviews: 20
|
Average rating: 4.8/5
|
MSRP: $695
|
|
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.
|
|
More info: http://www.palstar.com
|
|
Email Subscription
You are not subscribed to this review.
Subscribe!
My Subscriptions
Subscriptions Help
|
You can
write your own review of the Palstar BT1500A Balanced L Antenna Tuner.
|
KI4BUN
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Jul 24, 2009 18:06
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Buy once, cry once!!
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
This tuner isn't cheap. Neither in price or in quality. Palstar builds 'bullet-proof' gear. I'm running a 137' dipole fed with about 50 ft of true ladder line. It'll tune about anything I throw at it. I had various tuners over time but nothing like the quality, capability, fit, and finish of the BT 1500A! Not even close.
Most of my operating is on MARS frequencies so being able to tune outside the ham bands is required. Of course there are no issues, but the repeatability of the settings for a given frequency are superb.
Just a note on Palstar's customer service. After many, many hours of use, the meter bulb burned out. I emailed them asking if I could purchase a new one...I got one in the mail a couple of days later...gratis. I'm a fan.
Buy once, cry once. You won't be sorry.
|
|
K9SQG
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Jun 19, 2009 14:01
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
A real keeper, excellent quality, excellent staff.
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
The BT-1500A continues the Palstar tradition of an excellent product. You don't see people selling theirs and for good reason. Note that my experiences are with 40 and 80 meter horizontal loop antennas for swap net operations.
The overall design is rugged, has a clean appearance, and matches my Drake gear perfectly. It gives no hint of being strained even at legal limit power levels. Resetability is right on. Never thought much about "peak and hold" on a wattmeter but now I wonder how I got along without it. Customer support is A1 and Paul and Don care about the people that use their products. Mine is a keeper and if it gets sold, it will be by my survivors.
On the slight downside, the labels took a little getting used to but a lot of things do. A chart of settings gets you back to where you want to be in seconds. The price is not entry level but the quality and capability is second to none. You get what you pay for and this tuner should be considered a lifetime investment, you won't have to put any money into maintenance or repairs.
Thanks Palstar for an excellent tuner and excellent customer support!
|
|
KG6I
|
Rating: 4/5
|
May 26, 2009 14:29
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Good Tuner For My Big Loop
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
|
After 20+ years of using my HB link-coupled tuner to feed my FW 160 meter loop in the vertical plane, after doing much Web research on tuners and tuner circuits, I elected to upgrade to the Palstar BT1500A. The main reason was I could get my HB tuner to tune my loop to a 1:1 match on 160, 80, 60 and 40 meters, but it would either do 80 or 40 but not both well, with a given length of 450 ohm window line. The Palstar gives me a good match on all bands, 160-40. Two minor complaints: first, the cross-needle SWR/Power meter's illumination is weak. I may install a couple high-ouput LEDs to remedy that. Second, there is just a bit of backlash in the vernier drive for the variable capacitor. Since the tuning is quite sharp anyway, the backlash complicates obtaining a perfect 1:1 SWR a bit. My old HB tuner was sharp as well, so I can live with it. The construction and look of the unit is first-rate. A bit pricey, but I found mine used, in excellent condition, so that helped somewhat. The ability to use my FW loop (546 feet around, hanging from 100 ft+ tall Redwood trees) on four bands, without having to monkey around changing feedline lenghts is a real plus.
|
|
K0EX
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Feb 17, 2009 11:01
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
BT1500A
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
Wanting to work the WARC bands and 160m, I retired my Johnson kW MatchBox (no, it's not for sale!) in favor of trying a BT1500A. I have two inv-vees co-fed with 450-ohm line -- one cut for 40m and one for 80m. The BT1500A tunes "sharper" than the MatchBox and it doesn't seem to match as well in some instances. However, it is a well-designed (physically and electrically), built-like-a-tank tuner! Expensive? Yes. Worth the investment? I certainly think so. Am I happy with it? Absolutely. For a balanced-line-only tuner, it's the way to go.
-Mark K0EX
since 1974
|
|
W8EEO
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Jun 25, 2007 20:55
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Best tuner I have ever used!
|
Time owned: 6 to 12 months
|
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.
|
|
KC5BHJ
|
Rating: 4/5
|
May 14, 2007 08:33
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Good Tuner
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
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).
|
|
N9JG
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Apr 15, 2007 13:42
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Excellent quality and works 160-10
|
Time owned: 3 to 6 months
|
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.
|
|
KC8HXO
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Feb 24, 2006 14:25
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Good quality, limited range
|
Time owned: 3 to 6 months
|
|
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.
|
|
HB9DDS
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Jan 30, 2006 07:38
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Rock Solid & excellent Tuner
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
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
|
|
N6ZUC
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Oct 22, 2005 21:58
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Very good tuner
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
|
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.
|
|
If you have any questions, problems, or suggestions about Reviews,
please email your Reviews Manager.
|
|
|
|
|
