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| Reviews Summary for Palstar AT-AUTO |
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Reviews: 55
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Average rating: 4.7/5
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MSRP: $1195.
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Description: Palstars new HF Autotuner.
Give Paul and the users some solid feedback!
1500 Watts single tone, high efficiency, low tuner losses and wide Z range
160m to 20m (1200+/-ljl1200), 10m to 15m (1000+/-j1000)
Tuning time 1-30 seconds with high-speed processor controlled stepper motors
Serial port for field upgradeable software from Palstar website
Display with 2 line large print display for status of antenna feed, frequency, and memory
Custom large plate variable capacitors at 5kV
Ceramic body roller inductor (28 uH) wound with 12 ga plated solid copper wire
Crossneedle Peak, Peak-Hold metering with backlighting (wall transformer supplied)
Chassis and top cover are .090 ga. aluminium iridite coated and top cover is powder coat finished
Dimensions: 12 1/2" wide x 5 1/2" high x 16" deep
Weight: 25 lbs
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More info: http://www.palstar.com/at-auto.php
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write your own review of the Palstar AT-AUTO.
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N7EO
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 3, 2009 14:25
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Excellent Tuner
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Use the AT-Auto to tune a 160m loop feed with 450 ohm ladder line using the internal balun with fantastic results. Using an external current balun and short length of coax to the tuner would not work on 160m. Reading are accurate and the tuning is quick. No complaints thus far from this user.
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K4AJL
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 23, 2009 18:48
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ABSOLUTELY THE BEST
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I HAVE HAD TWO OF THESE. SOLD MY FIRST ONE AND FELT LIKE KICKING MY BACKSIDE. FOUND ANOTHER ONE, ITS A KEEPER. YOU CAN TUNE A WET NOODLE WITH THIS TUNER. I LOVE IT. HOOK IT UP WITH THE CONTROL CABLE AND IT CHANGES FREQUENCY ALONG WITH THE RADIO. TUNES ITSELF. IT HAS 500 MEMORIES TO PUT ALL OF YOUR FAVORITE SPOTS IN. PEAK READING METER IS VERY ACCURATE. IT MACHES MY ALPHA 4520 AND MY BIRD ALMOST PERFECT. YOU CAN'T GO WRONG WITH THE TUNER. IF YOU BUY ONE YOU WILL LOVE IT. IT WILL HANDLE 2000 WATTS. MANUAL SAYS 1500 BUT IT HAS LEEWAY. I RUN IT WITH A ICOM 756 PRO3 AND A ZERO FIVE 43 FT VERTICLE. WOW, WHAT CAN I SAY! GET ONE, YOU WON'T REGRET IT.
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N2EHG
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 22, 2009 18:11
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Great Tuner
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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From seeing Palstar products are Dayton and reading online (eham, etc) I knew the tuner would be well made , and well built. I also knew the company was great. The tuner had all the stuff you would expect. It wasn't until I purchased one did I truly begin to appreciate it's design.
My set up is prob a bit different than most, I have My MarkVF interfaced to my computer thru a MicroHam band Decoder. It controls my 419b, my RatPac and it's PW1 interface to the AT-Auto. Just checked a few settings on the tuner and it was plug and play. Super easy to use, well written manual.
Now when I tune just my turning the dial the tuner is tracking yes even on RX, neat... On Tx it tunes fast and the digital readout really tells you what is going on . The analog meters what can I say also nice. If I had sat down to make a wish list of tuner features the AT AUTO would still have twice as many :)
73
N2EHG
Dav
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W6GF
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 15, 2009 19:04
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3 year review
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have a very complex station, with over a dozen rigs all with linears and many antennas. But any RF that goes to any antenna goes through my antenna tunner. Until a short time ago I had a very fancy and expensive tunner in series with my AT-AUTO...just in case.. operating in the by-pass mode. The amount of RF pumped through the AT-AUTO has been amazing. It has never failed me. Thanks Palstar.
George
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W8JXM
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 15, 2009 18:01
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GREAT SERVICE
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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After several years of excellent service my tuner would not tune. Called and spoke to Don. After he advises me to try to do certain things to get it to work, he advises I would have to part with this beauty for a few days as it had to be returned to the shop. About 10 days later it arrives back in great shape and just purring along. Where is the bill? I call and there is NONE. If you want the best tuner and customer service, phone the Palstar crew and order one of their great tuners.
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K4ELO
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 7, 2009 07:21
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Excellent
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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This is a great tuner. I love it.
Powered it up from an Astron SS30 I had as a spare. Intermittently the power would cycle off. The supply had been working fine with a xcvr before, so I suspected the tuner. After several conversations with Don (the designer) at Palstar, I switched to a different power supply and problem gone. Turned out the supply was bad. Don's concern for his product and level of support was outstanding. How often can you reach the product designer when you need technical support?
I really can't say enough good things about this tuner. The Palstar ads and website don't begin to do the product justice in terms of features and performance. Maybe not as fast tuning as the relay type tuners, but it's quieter. A satisfying humming sound. Once you tune a frequency it goes into memory and that's it.
Too bad I only need one tuner, or Palstar would make another sale.
73
Wayne
K4ELO
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K6RIM
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 16, 2009 13:27
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As Advertised!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Owned for only two weeks, but long enough to state that this high power automatic tuner delivers, as advertised. Operates seamlessly with Alpha 87A.
Had a few questions both before and after the purchase, and received very prompt, courteous and responsive answers from Palstar.
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N3ZH
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 8, 2009 07:46
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It can't get any better
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I'm don't have much to add to the other good reviews.
This is an expensive tuner, but it does everything one can wish for in a tuner, and it does it very well.
It has every auto-control interface one can think of. It can just measure the frequency you are transmitting on, or it can connect to the ICOM tuning connector on the radio, or it can read the frequency the radio is using via the CIV or the COM port.
Specs says it can handle 1500 watts, so you won't outgrow it when you buy an amplifier. It can automatically cut the PTT signal to the amp if the SWR is too high.
It also can tune a larger impedance mismatch compared to my LDG tuner.
There wasn't any software to control the tuner via a computer, so I wrote a java program to control the tuner via its CIV or its COM port. It is available on the yahoo support group's file section.
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N2QQF
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 13, 2009 21:00
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Nice Unit w/ Great Performance
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Well, I know what I am about to say is the typical statement of "This is the best unit I have ever had" but I must say, "this is truly the best tuner I have used to date". I am sure in twenty years there will be some newest greatest tuner ever but for now; this one takes the cake in my opinion. I will say this is also the largest tuner I have ever owned. The AT-Auto is larger than my SB-220 amplifier and almost equally as large as my Yaesu FT-2000. This tuner is no light weight little tuner, this is a manly man's tuner that is made really well.
The construction of the tuner is as good as all the other Palstar Units (typically Beefy) in a nice designer black case with attractive look to it. The unit looks very nice as previously mentioned and the meter is very accurate. My previous AT-1KP was also very well made but the peak/hold and AVG power were not as good as the one in the AT-Auto. I am not saying that the previous meter was bad but this unit is very accurate. I choose this unit becasue of my previous experience with Palstar. There are other tuners out there but I had great success previously with their products and I figured why go off to another company if I was happy with their previous product.
I also chose this unit becasue of the design. This isn't one of those cheap relay driven tuners. This unit utilizes stepper motors giving a better and more accurate mechanical tuner. I have a few friends that consistently use almost 2kw and have never had a problem with the tuner and power. I would not do so as it isn't rated for that kind of power nor is it needed since there isn't much a difference between 1.2kw and 2Kw and it does not run the tuner to the limit. This is an expensive tuner but I feel it is worth the money. I used to hate to QSY to another band becasue I had to tune the amplifier then the tuner and I always hated to do this becasue it was a task. Now it is very simple to do, without much fuss!
Thanks Palstar again for putting another good product on the market. This is not a cheap tuner but if you see how it is made and what is put into it you would understand plus they need to make a small profit. The Tokyo High power tuner will not tune as good as this unit anything above it advertised impedance match it will not tune. I can't discuss my experience with customer service since I have not had to utilize customer service as of yet with either this product or the last Palstar unit I had and I hope to never have too.
This tuner is worth the money and if you want the ultimate state of the art; high end station you need to add one of these to your shack.
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KB4BJM
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 10, 2009 20:17
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Piece of mind
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Like all of Palstars products. This unit is high quality and support is excellent.It works great with my TS-2000 and Amp Supply LK500ZB.
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