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Reviews For: Stockcorner JC-4 automatic antenna tuner 1KW

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : Stockcorner JC-4 automatic antenna tuner 1KW
Reviews: 25MSRP: 1050 Euros
Description:
Remote antenna tuner rated for 1KW pep. Two antennas. High
quality parts and high performance coupler.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.stockcorner.nl/index.php/en/jc-4s
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00255
DJ1DK Rating: 2017-05-09
Fantastic Antenna Tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This automatic (remote control) antenna tuner is manufactured in very small series by Casper (PA7DX). His website and webshop may be visited on stockcorner nl.
I use this antenna tuner since more than 1 year with my "Lazy Yankee" antenna (which is a horizontally mounted endfed antenna having the shape of the letter "Y", with a coil at the bifurcation - as described by DO4IH). I have made some design changes as I do not use a transformer to feed the antenna and my wires have some other length.
In my case the antenna is fed directly through the JC-4S antenna tuner at the feeding point, so the transmission line losses are reduced to a minimum. And the tuner does a very good job. Thanks Casper, for this great antenna tuner at a very reasonable price!
HB9RYZ Rating: 2016-11-26
Great HF-Tuner Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This is the best tuner I ever used for 1kW. I’m using an Inverted-V with only two short legs of 6.5m each and an 10m ladder line (wireman) from the tuner to the antenna. I can easy tune 10-80m with such a small Inverted-V antenna. I installed an 1:1 current balun (1771ts) from Balun Designs between the ladder line and the tuner output. From the tuner on the top of my roof to the shack is an 28m long RG-213 Ecoflex Plus coax which is connected to my Expert 1K-FA amplifier and then to my transceiver IC-7700. I have absolutely no HF in my shack with the configuration. just after the Digital Wattmeter LP-100A shows me the exact SWR and power.
You can see a lot of pictures on my website www.hb9ryz.ch
Thank you Casper for such an excellent 1Kw remote tune and your great support.
73’ Wolfgang
HB9DLF Rating: 2016-08-06
FANTASTIC Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
First I tried several other products which were partially cheaper.
Finally my choice was the JC-4S from the Dutch company Stock Corner .
The manufacturer offers 3 models

200 Watt
1000 Watt
4000 Watt

All this models for a amazing price. The 1KW IC 4S is available for Euro 535 .— That is really a very good price

The 12 V DC power and control unit is connected by a 4-wire cable and works perfect.
The first tuning procedure is done under 4 seconds. After that it takes usually less then 1 second to get the SWR nearly 1

I have never noticed any tuning steps during operation

The processing of the tuner is excellent! Generous dimensioning of the components give pleasure!

The description is available in english and also in German with great details and practice example

The manufacturer's support is EXCELLENT !! Within 24 hours I`ve got an answer to all my questions. Even to my phone. Great

Anyone looking for a reliable tuner is very well served with the tuner. You get also a big reserve for QRO operating.

I can recommend the tuner without any restrictions

vy 73 de
HB9DLF
K8NDS Rating: 2016-05-28
Fantastic Tuner Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I am using this tuner with an off center fed doublet and 600 ohm ladder line. The doublet is 128 feet long cut for 80 meters. The tuner is mounted remote at the ladder line.
This antenna tunes better than 1.15/1 on all bands (80 to 10) including 160 meters. The tuning rate is extremely fast, after tuning a few times the tune time is less then 4 seconds. On most bands it is about 1 second. It is the best tuner that I have owned up to date. Purchase this tuner with complete confidence.
TF3EO Rating: 2016-01-31
Brilliant Coupler Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought the Stockcorner JC-4 1kW PEP coupler in Mars 2016 from Casper. It has been on top of my roof under my 13m Zero-Five vertical since then. It has endured the fiercest of storms both winter and summer without any problems. It has never failed to tune for me and I have even used it to tune 160M on my vertical and got a 599 from Cyprus f.ex on the band. Amazing engineering and when the box is opened you will find high quality components inside. I find it very valuable to be able to short my vertical to ground remotely by selecting the mid position on the controller box f.ex. in convective weather. Customer care is very fast and caring. Casper has answered my few e-mails very promptly and he is very supportive and nice. 100% recommendations for anyone in doubt. 73
N8IL Rating: 2015-12-16
Still very happy after a year Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I provided a review a year ago, and wanted to update that review. I am EXTREMELY satisfied with the tuner, both for ease of use, and performance. Order it with confidence!

-Neil

----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by N8IL on 2014-12-04

I've had the tuner for two days, and will do a follow-up review after a few months.

I run a K3 with a Yaesu FL-7000 amplifier that makes up to 700W CW on 40M with peaks of 800W PEP on SSB.

I had a popular brand name desktop tuner which worked OK, but I was getting RF in the house. I decided to try a remote tuner. I came across the reviews on this page and decided to give the JC-4 a try.

I ordered the tuner (14 days shipping from EU) and ran a control wire and soldered the connector to the antenna-end while waiting. The documentation is available on the stockcorner.nl web site. One thing that is unclear is that the small control box is included with the tuner.

I have an end-fed Zepp that shows 5:1 on 160M and 3:1 on 80M. My first attempt at tuning with the JC-4 was surprising. It took about three seconds. I really thought it was too good to be true. (The old tuner took up to 30 seconds.) After using it for several hours at varied power levels across all bands, I can say I would enthusiastically recommend it to those of you that need a remote tuner and are not running legal-limit power (It's limited to 1,000 watts, and they do have another model for that.)

The quality of construction and parts is outstanding. It's also nice to have the relay noise outside the shack. :)

The I can't complain about the mic connector as mentioned on another review. You just have to seal it to your own liking. I do the same thing to the RF connectors, so it's really not a big deal.

Good hamming!!!

-Neil
N8IL
LA2RRA Rating: 2015-11-21
Superb Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Have this one for almost one year and this is perfect.
I use tuner when im n holyday and now at my qth here in Norway.
Tuner is connected to my homemade windom with 400 ohms feeder and tuner is outside my house with short 50 ohms coax feeding inside house.

Absolutley perfekt with my AL 80 B amp and Ts 590sg.Abt 600w no problms

Thinking to by one more..have also sg 3000 but this can not handle more than max max 200w...

You dont do wrong bying one like this..also quick answer to support :-)

73 de La2rra Lars M
KI6PU Rating: 2015-11-15
Excellent Remote Tuner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Several months ago I began searching for a remote tuner to help reduces the losses over 110 feet of coax and would also handle 600 watts. The JC-4s, newest version, arrived in about a week and was well packed for the trip. Its construction is of high quality to enhance efficiency.

The antenna is a G5RV type dipole fed with 600 ohm open wire transmission line. A 1:1 current balun is installed between the output terminals of the tuner and the open wire transmission line. One hundred and ten feet of coax is attached to the input of the current balun. So far I have not noticed any RF problems in the shack even though I run about 600 watts at times. The new manual for the JC-4s is a valuable source of information about using the tuner with various types of antennas. Customer service is excellent as I had several problems with coax connectors but after several suggestions my problem was resolved. The tuner is ground mounted and is covered with a plastic dish pan to protect it from the weather.

Using the JT-65 mode on 40 meters, the operating range at my station improved to over 10,000 miles opening up new DX possibilities. Operating HF with the JC-4s is now a real pleasure.


EC4KW Rating: 2015-08-17
Just Perfect Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was looking for a good remote tuner for my vertical long wire, i was reading about the CG-5000 for use it in QRO but some negative feedback made me change my needs til i just find the JC-4 for 1kw
Construction is very solid as you can see on the manufacturer web, good design and good performance for a reasonable price.
The package was shipped the same day after payment and i took about 5 days, very well packaged and comunication with Casper was clear and fast.
Installation was easy, and tunning is very fast, it can tune my 16.2mts wire on 160 mt band to 1:1 in 3 seconds.
Great ATU for a great value, worth the money.
SV1HFY Rating: 2015-03-25
Best tuner ever made Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is the best high quality antenna tuner I have ever used, it can even tune a nail! My only complain is the box should be of a better quality to withstand extreme weather conditions and sunlight exposure over time.

I am using it for a couple of years now with DDUtil and PowerSDR to auto tune my SDR and my vertical antenna using *only* a simple MAX232 RS232 to TTL converter from eBay for US$3-4 so the whole ant tune process is remotely controlled, fully automated and avoids dangerous and costly mistakes such as excessive power when tuning. Should also work with Flex radios. PowerSDR should also be calibrated correctly to reflect proper 9W output when tuning in any band and SWR protection shoule be disabled on TUN when Pwr < 10W.

Mini HOWTO use PowerSDR, DDUtil and a MAX232 RS232 to TTL converter to fully automate the antenna tune process with this tuner. The same setup can also be used to control quite a few other tuners.

You have to create two macros in DDUtil and use the RTS and CTS TTL signals of the serial to control the JC units. The RTS should be connected to the START of the tuner and the CTS to the KEY of the tuner.

Create two macros in DDUtil:

Tune On: DDRT1;DDLY100;ZZTU1;
Tune Off: ZZTU0;DDRT0;

With certain Icom tuners the DDLY100 should be changed to DDLY500. The delay should never be lower than 100ms.

Under "Ports" in DDUtil configure the serial port in "SerMacPort" where the MAX232 converter is attached. You should also change the value of CTS macro when Off to execute the "Tune Off" macro.

Also, under "Features" of DDUtil, check the "Tune Detect" and change ONLY the "Tune Off" to reflect the proper macro value of "Tune Off" but only the "Tune Off", the "Tune On" value should remain at the default value of 999.

NOTE: VERY IMPORTANT, YOU MUST NOT USE the TUN button of PowerSDR!!! USE ONLY THE "Tune On" macro button of DDUtil for everything to work correctly.