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write your own review of the Palstar AT4K.
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N0AZZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 20, 2012 03:57
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The Best Tuner Made Today
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Have owned a lot of tuners new and old some held up as built better than anything in the last 50 years well it just ain't so!
The AT4K smacks of quality even as you first open the box if you get one you will what I mean this baby is as well packed as any of my $6000+ radios. I use this tuner for QRO to QRP and beleive me it excels on the QRP rig as well as anything no loss in the tuner I have my Oak Hills Research QRP watt meter the other side of the tuner and the loss is about 1-2 milowatt's very acceptable to me.
I would recommend this tuner to anyone who needs a quality low loss tuner QRO to QRP.
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NY4DX
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Rating: 2/5
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Oct 26, 2011 20:08
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Poor QA/QC
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I purchased a AT4K from Palstar earlier this year and noticed something strange. The Selector Knob for placing the unit in line "tuned" or allowing the antennas to be placed in a by pass "direct" mode was installed and positioned backwards.
So Antenna 1 was actually being selected as Antenna 2 and vice versa. This wasn't a big problem but I paid a lot of money for the unit and wanted it to be correct.
So before vacation, I contacted Palstar Tech Support who told me I was "nuts" and the unit couldn't be screwed up. Then the tech support told me...the customer...that I was "wasting his time" by discussing this problem and to send the unit back to Palstar. So I did. ...and I waited until I got the tuner back before writing this review.
Palstar claims the AT4K Antenna selector knob was installed and positioned incorrectly. They repaired my AT4K at no cost. (except for my expense of sending the units down to them).
My operating experience with the unit is that it is verrrrry touchy...you can tune a mismatched antenna to registered a low SWR at a point that can best be described as having very sharp skirts...a slight variation from that perfect point and your SWR readings can go form 1.2 to 6.5 moving the knobs ever so slightly.
My rating is low for this unit because of what Palstar "claims" was a mis positioned knob. If this was the case..Palstar could have made a tech support statement to fix the problem over the phone...but when tech support told me I was wasting his time...back the unit goes...
A mispositioned knob (if that was what it was...maybe the unit was wired incorrectly?) is poor QA/QC. and telling a customer that he is wasting his time...0/5
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WD8RWI
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 18, 2011 14:07
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Excellent Tuner
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have had any number of tuners including a Palstar AT100CV among others and bought the AT4K to go with a QRO amp that I now have. I have checked this tuner out on all bands and it tunes everything quickly and repeatably. If you need a high power tuner this is one you should seriously consider.
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W8YG
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 31, 2011 10:29
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Excellent
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This is a wonderful tuner has served me well for 2 years and is virtually indestructible but beware of 2 year olds they can do the impossible.LOL Excellent tuner and great service from Palstar.
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N2ETJ
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 14, 2010 13:44
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BIG is the word
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Had the Ten-Tec 238a tuner for years, always had to be careful, caps c11 went out twice but when it failed for the third time and I was told 400 plus dollars to fix I said time to get a real tuner and this AT4K is the real deal. Easily tunes anything and everything and duplicates it every time. What a nice feel too. I should have purchased one years ago. This will be last one I will ever need. Yes, I would purchase again
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K9CRT
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 18, 2010 11:20
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Great tuner BUT
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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As my summary states this is a great tuner. However I got off to a rocky start with Palstar. I was told it was in stock ready to ship when I called them on the telephone to inquiry about it. I was told it would be here within 2-3 days from Ohio to IL. After a week/noshow I again called Palstar and was told at this time they were just putting the finishing touches on my tuner and it would be shipped later that day. It did arrive in a couple of days and the metering was total out of whack. RF output readings on both scales were W-A-Y high. In addition the meter would not zero and it appeared a small object had gotten into the movement preventing it from going to 0. I called Palstar and talked to Paul and he stated he had never seen this before but was more than happy to make it right. He shipped me a new meter and I agreed to install it myself. After replacing the meter and calibrating it with a Bird Model 43 everything was correct. IMHO this tuner was pushed out the door with little or no testing and calibration. It really put a damper on my buying from Palstar but after a couple of years the tuner has more than lived up to its good name. I run legal limit on 160-15 (AL 1500) each day and run ladder line on 75-40m with this tuner and never once has it protested. Again IMHO for the price & class of this tuner I expected better quality control. To Paul's credit he did offer to issue a call tag and pick the tuner up, return it to him and he would do the work.
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KC2DIS
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 18, 2010 09:06
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Well Built and BIG!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I purchased the AT4k becasue I wanted a tuner that would handle larger power requirements for future amplifier upgrades and still provide maximum tuning efficency. I use the Palstar with a G5RV cut for 10 to 80. My previous tuner was an MFJ 989D. I returned that tuner becasue the metering was grossly inaccurate and opted instead to try this Palstar. Well there is no discernible difference between the 989d and the Palstar in terms of tuning ability but there is a big difference in construction. This unit is built very well. The Inductor really does have the feel of a VFO albeit a bit stiff. There was also a nice little bag of extras that included an extra bulb should the original burn out, some cotton swabs?? and some extra screws althouth no mention was made of these in the instruction manual. The tuning chart does NOT include settings for the WARC bands but I have had not trouble tuninging those bands. Have not tried 10 meters yet. The metering was VERY accurate. The unit does NOT include a dummy load so one must be purchased seperately and hooked to the BYPASS output. If you really want nice construction this is the unit to get but beware it is BIG. I gave it a five for construction but I would not expect it to tune a wet noodle. I would say it does an average job in this department but this could be because of the particulars of my antenna installation. I have NOT tried the unit with high power yet but from the looks of the construction it should have no problems with it. I think if it were possible to give it a 4.5 I would becasue of the average tuning ability. If you really want to invest in quality construction you will not be disappointed.
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K5BTV
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 3, 2009 13:22
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Super Tuner
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Not only is this a terrific piece of gear but when I requested factory support Palstar took care of me first class! Wish more USA companies were this fine. You will be pleased all the way around.
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WA4JM
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 19, 2008 07:10
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The Last Tuner You Will Ever Have to Buy!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I’ve owned the AT4K now for well over a year. The only issues I have had was the death of the meter bulb. The lamp is easily available from Rat Shack so not a problem for replacement. The tuner has operated flawlessly with no spitting or arcing. Operating is straight-forward with no gotchas. Construction quality is some of the best I have seen in amateur radio. In fact, the quality is borderline Mil-Spec. Buy one of these and you will never use a MFJ Tuner again. I promise you on that.
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W3RXO
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 14, 2008 19:56
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True to their motto
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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This tuner is "Built like a Tank" AND I believe I could tune a wet noodle, with it. It tunes everything I have thrown at it. It is the most solid performer I have seen, so far, and Paul is right there, if you have any questions, happy to help, with his expertise.
Get this tuner, there is no better.
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