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Reviews For: TennaTronix TurboTuner-2

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : TennaTronix TurboTuner-2
Reviews: 11MSRP: 319.00
Description:
Auto tuner for screwdriver antennas
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.tennatronix.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00114.4
NJ0F Rating: 2022-06-05
Wonderful and very reliable Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I own several of these units for over 5 years driving Tarheel antennas. Never had a day’s problem. Tunes like it should and small enough to hide away.
WB4SLI Rating: 2022-06-03
ITT-1 Icom to IC-7200 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Out of the box I took the instructions and followed them as closely as possible since the 7200 is not mentioned in the instructions. I tried the 7100 configuration to no avail and tried the 7000 configuration to no avail. The clincher is that there are only 10 error codes, yet there is no table with suggested actions based upon one of the 10 codes. The solution is to email the mfr with the issue and wait up to 24 or 48 hours. At this point I do not believe that the box is worth its cost. BTW I am using a little tarheel 2 antenna. I will update if and when I can get this thingamajig working.

UPDATE - No response from tennatronix further attempts to try other feedlines or connecting cable resulted in a big fat zero. I both the thing a year or two ago and just now was where I would like to use my tarheel. I can get the old rasberry pi out and see what I can program myself. from my perspective it absolutely of no value for me. Since the warranty is out I will canabalize it for parts.
W5MBG Rating: 2021-08-25
Using with IC-7100 and Little Tarheel II Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Using with a Little Tarheel 2, lip mounted on the hatch of a 2017 Audi Allroad. Followed the instructions provided and the tuner works perfectly from 80-6m (with the 36” whip). Simple and complete. No RF connections required as it uses the SWR data supplied from the radio. Note that I have RF Chokes on the power and antenna lines and have gone through great lengths to make sure the antenna had a good ground. Highly recommended.
VE3WF Rating: 2021-05-15
Great Support Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Picked one of these on the used market. Couldn't get it to work with my Icom 7100. Contacted Tennatronix and sent it to them. They updated the firmware and sent it back. Working perfectly now. It uses the SWR circuit in the radio and tunes to flat swr quickly. I can't imagine a better method. Counting turns and saving memories not required. This is definitely the way to go for a screwdriver antenna. If you can find one , buy it. Great company.
KB9OPW Rating: 2018-06-30
Good tuner for Tarheel Antennas Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I also was a little apprehensive about the purchase so I read reviews and studied up. I made the plunge and haven't been happier with a purchase. I set the dip switches to my desired settings and it's worked well ever since.
K6PBL Rating: 2018-04-14
No memories Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
The tuner works fine, but it does not have any memory. Sometimes it will run the Little Tarheel antenna up and down from stop to stop trying to find the best SWR. When I switched to a Scorpion antenna I bought a Tunematic, and what a difference. It has two speeds and moves to the last memory position for the frequency and then fine tunes to the lowest SWR. The Tunematic also has a positioner that prevents the antenna from running into the stops. Both tuners did the job in the end.
W4EG Rating: 2017-03-12
Although not a N2VZ tuner but many similarities Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I communicated with the owner of the "Turbo Tuner-2" regarding the N2VZ turbo tuner which is no longer available.
My need was to integrate it with an Icom-7100. He advised me that the only thing I had to do was to make sure Switch 1 switches were all set to the "OFF" position to work with that particular radio (IC-7100.) The CI-V plug does not need to be connected to IC-7100 connector.
I am using it with the Little Tarheel-2 screwdriver antenna. Performance is good on all bands. Thanks to the owner making the Turbo Tuner-2.
VK6FIOR Rating: 2017-01-31
Brilliant Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Was a little apprehensive due to the cost buying it and having it sent to VK6 but bit the bullet and I'm so glad I did. Already had the Yaesu FT 857 and Little Tarheel in the car so this proved to be a plug and play process that took less than 10 minutes to set up. It tuned from 10m all the way down to 80m and everywhere in between without an ounce of fuss. Love the option I now have tuning the antenna while I'm driving. Can absolutely recommend this brilliant tuner.
K0BAK Rating: 2015-10-21
Great product, changed my operations Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Have a Tarheel 200 antenna on a minvan trailer hitch. FWIW, also use a 500w mobile amplifier. Previously used a semi-automatic Ameritron controller that read frequency from my ICOM radio and did an OK job making automated coarse adjustments based on frequency and band edge screwdriver settings. Since I use the antenna mobile in contests, I wanted a fully automatic tuner and took a chance on the ICOM version of the TurboTuner2. (Note that since I already had the antenna and connections, I already went through all the basic debugging of the screwdriver like grounding and matching coil adjustments; and had used the antenna in contests for almost a year.)

The TurboTuner2 connects to my IC-7100 radio using both the 4-pin AH-4 autotuner interface, and the CI-V interface using a 3.5mm audio-like mono plug. The big advantage of this connection is that you don't have to use the coax connections on the TurboTuner; the radio measures the SWR instead of the TurboTuner. To perform tuning, you merely press the tune button the ICOM, and the TurboTuner does it's thing, commanding the radio to switch to FM and transmit carrier with low power while the TurboTuner tunes the screwdriver.

Previously, I would have to make fine tuning adjustments using a separate remote SWR meter, but when the TurboTuner indicates successful tuning (with Morse code beeps), it presents a very reliable low SWR. This has changed the way I operate mobile in state QSO parties, allowing me to more rapidly get a new contact without a bunch of time-wasting fussing. This unit is expensive, but for me it was worth the price and I'm pleased with it's operation.

The TurboTuner isn't perfect. About 5% of the time it gets confused and I have to interrupt the tuning and power cycle the radio, which may leave the radio in the low power FM setting when it turns back on. I haven't used the unit enough yet to correlate any consistent reason for this or a way to avoid it. I'm still giving it a "5" because of how useful it has been for me otherwise.

VA3MW Rating: 2015-05-12
Awesome Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have an older N2VZ Turbo Tuner that I had used for years with my FT857 and my screwdriver antennas.
When I bought a new IC7100, I contacted Giga Parts about doing an upgrade of my older controller. They quoted me a very fair price and I mailed it to them from Canada.

About 3 weeks later, I got it back upgraded to V7 from V4 of the code with detailed instructions on how to configure it for the IC7100. Connected to my Little Tarheel, it works wonderfully, if not better. The TT2 now uses the SWR readings from the radio (and not the TT2).

If you are installing one, make sure you choke (mix 31 or 43 material) the feedlines from the antenna to the radio and the control cables. Once you do this, it will work flawlessly. Don't skip this step as you'l be sorry and have no end of frustration.

I highly recommend the TT2 as it does 'just work'. The service is amazing as well.