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Reviews For: ICOM AH4 auto tuner

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : ICOM AH4 auto tuner
Reviews: 144MSRP: 319 street price 8/2000
Description:
small mobile/base wire tuner 160-6 meters. Remote control with ICOM HF rigs
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.icomamerica.com/amateur/hf/ah4.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
351444.8
KF5OK Rating: 2006-06-29
more than Expected Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
First things first: I don’t think that Icom intended this device to be installed as other than a single use device.

Well, I have been using this coupler for the last 10mo.

Here are my operating conditions.
05 Jeep Wrangler (Noisy) Need to do more bonding and shielding.
Icom 706mkIIg (Great little radio but need the SSB Filters)
Icom ah-4 mounted inside on tail gate
RS 102 SS whip on ArizonaRockyRoad.com antenna mount on Tail gate
Antenna feed: 18-24in of center conductor from rg58 going through tailgate third break-light wire penetration. (need larger gauge feed)

For the first six months I thought I was talking into a dummy load then I read something that jogged my memory. NEVER run your feed wire against and parallel to a metal surface (run at right angles where possible). Yes, I was getting some contacts but nowhere near what I thought I should. I got my feed wire away from those capacitance causing parallel runs. WOW! What a difference. Now I am workin some stations.

Don’t get me wrong! This set-up with only 100w is not a pile-up buster by any means but you will get through with some good operating skills and timing(persistence and/or wait.) I average about 1-3 s-units below a 100-500w contacted base unit.

So far, I have worked with this set up, from Eastern Virginia: Italia, Jamaica, Venezuela, Washington St., Florida, Michigan, Connecticut, Maine, Kansas, Texas, Georgia, S. Carolina, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and some other State side stations.

I tune 80m-6m but 6m is not so good (feed wire.) I make contacts on 80m but I am a good 3 s-units down on that band. 60m is cool but I am still down from the typical station that I have talked to on that band. 20m is competitive but typically can work’m if I can hear them(see above comment.) Same holds true for above 20m but activity there ATT is sparse. So far I have no contacts on 10 and 12m.

PROS: Does more than what Icom claims, PTT tuning convenience from 80-6m continuous, CONFIDENT in it’s reliability,

CONS: Icom has not made a mobile amp and one of these couplers to match the 706 and 7000

Best regards, KF2RC, 73
N2FQ Rating: 2006-06-03
Super Tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had SGC 239 tuner and sold it cuz it would go into
tune mode, although I was on the same frequency. That darn
tuner wanted the ground wire to be longer than the antenna wire.
Phoey.. Purchase the AH-4, same antenna, no problems. In fact,
the AH-4 tunes my 25 ft vertical and 120 ft flat top with home made feeders. Use it with my IC-703. Use it with my TenTec Jupiter, via a mod.uk and no problems. Anything negative I can say,
has been said before, the cable length should be a tad longer.
Great tuner. Won't hesistate in purchasing another.
K4PFH Rating: 2006-06-03
Great tuner... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm using IC736/AH-4 with a homemade vertical. A 23.5' vertical element and a radial of 25'. With the AH4 i can work 10m thru 80m. So far getting great reports and tuning is fast with no problems on the AH4.
YO3DLL Rating: 2006-02-23
Unbelievable !!! Impressive!!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Tuning fast,tuning 1:1 any band , any wire up 7m , easy installation, good price.

N4KR Rating: 2005-12-21
One of Icoms Best Products Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The AH-$ auto tuner is truly one of Icoms finest Products. Having used many tuners over the years, Manual and Auto-Tuners, The AH-4 wins hands down. First of all, it takes the work out of tuning. You simply press the "Tune" button on your Icom Radio and Presto ..you're there. It is limited to 125 watts, but for the most of us who don't use amplifiers, thats fine. I installed this tuner using a long wire antenna. It will tune 160 through 6 meters with no problem altho it's not "Officially" supposed to handle 160 meters (but it does, and very well). The ground is a long stretch of copper braid. Now, if you are considering purchasing one of these fine tuners, there are some things that you should be aware of.

#1...The tuner comes with about 12 feet of coax and 12 feet of control cable. It is up to you to do the wiring. With the tuner you get Two Pl-259s to solder onto each end of the coax. Or you can use another cable with only "one" PL-259 soldered on.. The control cable also has a Plug-Connector on one end (for the Radio) and 4 open wires at the other end (for the tuner).

#2...It is necessary to "Open-UP" the tuner by removing 8 Philipps Head screws. Once open, you must route one end of the coax (WithOut the PL-259) through the botton hole in the Top cover of the tuner. You Then solder on the connector. You then do the same thing for the "Open Wire" end of the Control Cable, routing the cable to the four wire female connector. There is a "Black", "Red", "White" and "Green" wire, no soldering is necessary, you simply plug them in to their appropriate places.
You then plug the PL-259 into the "SO-239" inside the tuner, replace the top cover, tightly replace the screws and youre almost there.

Now this may seem like a lot of work for most guys who prefer a Plug and Play set up. But believe me, it's not very difficult at all. In fact, I enjoyed the time putting this tuner into operation.

After the cables are wired into the tuner, you then mount the AH-4 in an appropriate place, route the cables back to your radio, plug them in and you are ready. Well, almost ready. Dont forget the antenna (long wire, loop), and the groung wire.

Next you must go into the menu of the radio and tell it which tuner you are using,(AH-4 or the 180). Once you do this, you are done. Just tune up a Band and Frequency and hit the TUNE button, That's It. You are On The Air with minimum SWR and full power out.

So far, I have not had any frequebcy that this tuner cannot handle. Im only using about 70-feet of wire and get tariffic results. You may do even better with a longer wire or loop antenna. If you are using a loop, you simply route the other end of the loop antenna back to the Ground terminal on the Bottom side of the tuner.

The reason I am including all of this information in this review is to prepare you for what is necessary when you purchase the AH-4. The advertising does not explain all of this for you. BUT, the good news is the Tuner Itself......It's worth every minute you spend getting it ready for operation, Believe Me. This one is a Winner, much superior to the SGC couplers.

I hope this helps in your decision to purchase the "Well Engineered" AH-4. You have made a wise choice.
Congradulations ICOM on your Great Product, THANKS from all of us who enjoy the AH-4.
K6ATZ Rating: 2005-08-30
Part of a GREAT BASE VERTICAL too! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After years of enjoying great performance from my AH-4 with Hamsticks and Firestiks of various sizes on my vehicle, I decided to build a new vertical antenna for my house using wire, PVC pipe and the AH-4 auto tuner. Result: it works better than my store-bought vertical!

I put a flag at the top for a true homemade “flagpole antenna” that makes me AND the neighbors happy. I’ve got pictures and more construction details posted here:
http://www.joetracker.com/station/ah4.htm

Another local ham, KT6LN, uses an AH-4 in lieu of radials on a Hustler 6-BTV vertical, with possibly even better results. (I say “possibly” because we also use different radios.) He has pictures posted here:
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/kt6ln/radio/index.htm

Using an Icom 706MKIIG, I did an A/B S-meter comparison vs. a GAP Titan DX on send and receive with hams around the USA before I donated my store-bought verticals to the Milpitas ARES group. Overall the AH-4 and wire did much better than the GAP Titan!

Can you tell I’m happy? Yesssss! Who needs to buy manufactured verticals and spend all that time setting them up? It took weeks to tune the GAP, a “no-radial” antenna (...about the same amount of time it once took me to set up a Hustler 6-BTV with radials, by the way...but I'll pick on the GAP in the GAP reviews section).

For my next experiment, I’m going to try adding a top hat of four 23.5’ wires, descending from the top at 45 degree angle, and see how that helps on the low bands. Stay tuned for more AH-4 fun!
KE6AEE Rating: 2005-08-24
Great Tuner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Im a new general class Ham. I bought the Icom AH-4 to go with my Icom 706, and does it work great. It tunes up my 175 foot delta loop in seconds all the way from 80 to 6 meters. I also use it to tune up my Radio Shack stainless steel whip in my vehicle. Good grounding makes a big difference on the Jeep. It tunes up on the lower end of 75 meters down to 6. Im going to buy another one for vehicle use only
VK8HCT Rating: 2005-07-20
Good product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Well this is my first antenna tuner and I only got my call a short while ago. I am using it with an Icom 706MkIIg, in a mobile installation.

First the good. It easily tuned a 7 foot 27mhz CB whip on 15 and 20 metres.

I transmitted first using a 9 foot whip mounted on my 4wd, but stationary and managed to work the Phillipines from Central Australia on 21Mhz, no problems.

I then used a 15m wire and it tuned 80 metres no problems and I worked Western Australia (about 2000K from my location)

Next day I managed to clearly work the Phillipines again on 21mhz using a 6 foot CB whip, whilst mobile, travelling at about 120kph.

It tunes very fast, although on occasions the radio shuts off whilst tuning. I believe this is when the antenna is resonant on the band you are trying to tune...not sure.

Ok, thats the good so far. The bad.

Well, its not really designed for portable operation, or, its not designed to be easily moved between locations.

Firstly, why put the antenna connector *inside* the box and then use a cable gland? Why not have the antenna connector outside the box, maybe covered with a weather shield of some sort?

Similarly the control cable. Why not have a socket outside the box, instead of inside?

I move the box between my vehicle and my QTH, and this makes it difficult. In my home I want a long antenna cable, but in my car I want a short one. Now I have to open up the box each time I want to change the cable.

The control cable supplied is too short. They could have doubled the length for a few extra dollars. Also it uses a non standard connector at the radio end, and I havn't seen anywhere selling extra control cables. Same as the antenna cable, I want to be able to have a short cable in some situations and a long cable in others.

I guess its designed to be installed at one location and left in place, but by putting the control cable and antenna cable connectors outside the box it would make it far more versitile.

I could buy one for the car and one for the shack, but that starts getting a bit expensive!

Still, in my limited experience, I am satisfied that it does what its meant to do well.

VK8HCT
W2NSF Rating: 2005-04-07
Yep, it's a keeper Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought an AH-4 about a year ago, with a future project in mind. This weekend, I "activated" several lighthouses in our area for the ARLHS QSO party and was very pleased with the performance of my AH-4 based cartop setup. This unit quickly tunes my whip antenna (see below) and gets my signal out. I can finally throw the box away; this baby's a keeper! Works as advertised.

The story: cut a 3'x3' piece of plywood, lined the bottom with copper flashing, mounted a Radio Shack 102" whip to it and put the AH-4 underneath. The whole thing sits on top of the car between the rooftop racks. WOW! First time out, I was just testing the SWR in the driveway on 17m - ICOM 706, PTT tune, clickety-clackety, it's tuned! I gave my usual "is this frequency in use, W2NSF?" and whatayaknow, a station from StLouis responds! I guess it works. I found out a trick - whenever you change bands, just hit the PTT button briefly and it retunes the whip, significantly improving reception quality.
K0CKH Rating: 2005-03-26
Works as advertised - very pleased! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I had an FT-100D and ATAS 100 but wasn't pleased with the results. I bought an ICOM 706 MKIIG at Dayton two years ago and never went mobile with it. Finally, after reading the reviews here for the AH-4 I ordered one and mounted it, along with my 706 in my GMC Yukon XL (Suburban).

I put the 706 control head near my dash on a Ram mount, the 706 under the middle seat and the AH-4 in the rear compartment by the back window. I custom-mounted a ball mount by drilling two holes in my back bumper on the driver's side. I have mostly been running a 102" whip. This thing tunes great and I can work stations with ease. It is 100% better than my FT-100D+ATAS ever hoped to be. I am very pleased.

I ordered another AH-4 to tune my 1,000' loop (fed with balanced line) to use with my ICOM Pro II. I am looking forward to that combo and will report back when I get it all hooked up.

73, Charlie K0CKH