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Reviews For: Palstar HF-AUTO

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : Palstar HF-AUTO
Reviews: 106MSRP: $1695. USD
Description:
* 1 Watt to 2500 watts....average, peak, and peak- hold
* Load into a 10:1 SWR from 1.8 to 54 Mhz
* NO CI-V cables required
* Tunes on SSB
* Digital Display...no analog metering
* Remotable... up to 400'!
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.palstar.com/en/hf-auto/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
64.51064.8
WA8OWS Rating: 2022-01-25
Fantastic so far Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Did much research into this tuner and I’m glad I dented my wallet for it. Extremely fast tuning. Plays well with my icom 7300. I installed a sotabeam click to tune and it’s usually about 2-3 seconds and it tunes my OCF dipole and A4S yagi to less than 1.1:1 on the bands they’re designed for. I also run about 1Kw from time to time and haven’t noticed any issues.
I’ll update if I encounter any problems but so far this thing is the best tuner I’ve ever owned.
W5SV Rating: 2021-12-28
Splendid Autotuner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This tuner handles high power (1.5 KW) very well, and provides a very good match for my rain gutter antenna and my in-attic non-resonant dipole. I usually get a good match with only 5 watts to the tuner, then use 100 watts to fine tune it; usually not needed, or very minor retuning. A bit slower that would be obtained with relays used to choose inductance values, but the roller tuned inductor provides a better match and the memories saved and auto antenna switch is very useful.
W4ABF Rating: 2021-12-13
Good tuner ...gets the job done Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This tuner plays well with my Traffie Hexbeam and my OCF on all bands 10-160. Matches them perfectly. The initial tuning takes a bit of time but after that it's pretty quick as it always recalls the solution for each frequency it's tuned for.

Remote SW is an option that I haven't tried yet.

Bottom line - this is a solid tuner that will serve you well.
N6TCO Rating: 2021-09-18
Best Tuner Out There! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I now own 2 of these tuners and several other ham's I know have bought them also and LOVE them. Customer service if fantastic. Palstar is an excellent company with gr8 people. Just bought a Palstar LA-1k to go with my other amps and love it also,,,,


Well the title says it all!!
Spoke direct with Eva & Paul (owners) at Palstar regarding a serial # on a used rig. After our talk and their honesty about possible upgrade expenditures on the used rig down the road, they made me an offer on a new Tuner Factory fresh.

Being a vet and on disability my budget is tight but they came through for me. Thank You Paul& Eva.

The tuner is absolutely amazing in performance, ease of operation, construction and is the best tuner out there I have no doubt. It looks damn good in the shack also!!

My only regret is that I did not pull the trigger on purchasing this years ago. You will not be disappointed with this tuner so pull that trigger!!
WR4N Rating: 2021-07-14
Update - Best Shack Purchase! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
UPDATE: After 6 months, I love it more everyday! As previously noted, I originally used it on 80m dipole (and that’s still my primary use). Now, I’ve used it from 3.525 - 3.999 and it tunes perfectly, even with high SWR! I’ve experimented tuning the 80m dipole on other bands and it has blown me away! (Not recommended - but curiosity often gets the best of me - hi, hi & if you experiment, use the minimum 30-50 watts. Obviously, performance is degraded when using an 80m dipole on other bands, but the mere fact that it’s capable of tuning such high SWR is extremely impressive.) It’s simply a rugged, amazing tuner, that has no problem with Legal Limit + and it’s become irreplaceable in my shack.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: Best purchase I’ve ever made for my station, other than ANAN 7000DLE MKII. I was shocked at how easy it is to use. I was even more shocked by how well it tunes antenna frequencies that are 8:1. My 75/80 dipole is resonant at 3.850; tuner has no trouble tuning 3.620 or 3.990. I haven’t tried, but I’m confident it would tune at the very bottom of the CW portion. READ THE MANUAL & FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS and you can’t go wrong. I recommend using AUTO TUNE and tuning every 5-20 kHz on 40m and below (depending on the band), switching to MANUAL TUNE to get SWR lower if necessary (rarely necessary - rarely does AUTO TUNE achieve higher than 1:5, but if you’re looking for 1:1, you can usually get there), SAVING MEMORY, then switching back to AUTO TUNE. Once you’ve gone through a band and stored the memories, AUTO TUNE will handle everything. Now that I’m using it, I can’t imagine being without it.
W4PIG Rating: 2021-07-13
EXCELLENT Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
GREAT TUNER GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE IT GETS JOB DONE 73
N9ZX Rating: 2021-07-03
5-Stars Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have had the Palstar HF-Auto along with the LA-1K for a year. Glad I went this direction spending a little more than my budget liked. But in the end well worth it. The HF-Auto is solid, built well and performs great with my Icom IC-7300
VK4KPM Rating: 2021-07-02
First rate tuner. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I use this tuner with my Palstar La-1K and it works seamlessly. I found SWR on my Gap Titan on 40 and 80 left a bit to be desired, perhaps owing to the proximity of the metal roof. At worst HF Auto gets down to 1.4:1 on those bands. I never use the tuner on the SP7IDX hexbeam as it is quite resonant.

I configured the Hf-Auto as per instructions which was an easy process.

I love simplicity so I have no Data cables attached

The way I work with the Yaesu FT3000DX after transceiver, amp and tuner are turned on, interconnected and antenna connected is this:
Turn the power down to lowest setting on 3000DX
Select FM. Select "Standby"" SDBY on La-1K
Select my frequency after listening for use.
Press mic momentarily. I hear the HF-Auto working. When it has ceased I press mic switch for a longer period and it completes the tuning.
By this time La-1K and Hf Auto are showing the same frequency and also same SWR. May be slight variances.
I then get off FM and select USB or LSB on transceiver depending on what frequency i have just tuned.
I put La-1K into "Operate"
Increase power from Ft3000DX and I am all set to go.

The Hf-Auto has always tuned to an acceptable level for me.

It is VITALLY IMPORTANT THAT TRANSCEIVER IS POWERED DOWN TO LOWEST BEFORE TUNING.

Make sure the tuner in transceiver is not enabled.

Make sure you have an antenna connected.

I get excellent signal reports on all bands I work so I am very happy with amp and tuner.
W9RTB Rating: 2021-02-07
BEST $$$$ I Have Spent For The Shack Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was lucky enough to get the Palstar about 2 weeks ago and glad I did. This is the best turner I have ever used. I had the RT-600 remote, LDG100 and the MFJ-994B. The Palstar is in a league of it's own. Simple set up using auto mode, set it up and let it do what it does best. My 31ft Zero Five vertical tunes 10-80m with SWR's of 1.04 as the highest. Fast tuning from memory. Forgot to mention the tuner is remote from the shack.
I was reluctant to spend the money but I have no regrets. Not to mention excellent support from Paul and MADE IN THE USA.
NB4R Rating: 2021-01-23
Spot on and smooth as silk! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I was going to ding it because the wattmeter was wrong, but I couldn't do that because I didn't buy it to use as a wattmeter. Used two different Bird 43s and the wattmeter was 50 watts low at 500 watts. No big deal. There is an instructional calibration video on YouTube to assist with this. The video was done by the Palstar owner Paul Hrivnak. Paired with the great HF Auto control software that Terry G. Glagowski, Ph.D. / W1TR has written this automatic tuner to be reckoned with. You can set this up with a virtually unlimited number of antenna systems. Also you can have another virtually unlimited number of memories on top of the memories that the HF Auto has internally. Again all this is possible with the HF Auto software that Terry has developed. I opened it to perform regular maintenance and it looks like it has barely been used. It had a little difficulty tuning a ground rod. No seriously, I've had both the MFJ auto tuners and this one. I prefer the Palstar because it is much quieter and it doesn't have the tendency to start hunting when using SSB. I could go on for another hour, Just read all the other reviews. It is a solid performer.