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Reviews For: LDG AL-100 for Alinco

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : LDG AL-100 for Alinco
Reviews: 6MSRP: 150
Description:
Auto tuner made for the Alinco radios such as the SR8T.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.ldgelectronics.com/c/252/products/18/68/1
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0065
KB3ZUO Rating: 2017-09-05
Good Specs Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This tuner works very well and tunes very good. I have used it with my SR8T and a MfJ 1622 . It tuned all the bands but 160. With a 66 ft longwire and a 4:1 balun it tunes most of the bands on my radio. When it seems to fault (happened once) it shows no rf on a band it normally tunes on or rf lost during tuning. I accidentally tuned with the antenna switch on a setting without an antenna and the memory accepted there was no antenna. A 7 second push of the button reset it and it works fine.Tunes an antenna not cut exact my 20 meter dipole too.
KG4RUL Rating: 2016-11-30
Works Great! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have used mine with an Alinco DXSR8Tand a 24' flagpole antenna. I have also used the SR8T mobile with the tuner and the MFJ equivalent of hamsticks. No problems in either application.
M0AEP Rating: 2016-11-30
Impressive! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought a used Alinco DX70TH about 9 months ago.
Whilst it gave reasonable match with a 10/40M dipole on 40M some bands were unusable and an ATU was researched.
The LDG AL-100 was a candidate and I decided to take the plunge. So pleased with the results! One press of the Function button on the DX70TH followed by a quick press of the txvr's Tune button and clickety click - bingo! All tuned.
This is my first experience of LDG equipment but probably will not be the last. It has made an excellent little old workhorse of a transceiver even better!
AC2NZ Rating: 2016-07-10
Great, but already discontinued Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Got one for my DX-70TH and it works fine; tunes almost anything I can throw at it. It's fast and accurate.

Strange: They introduced it in May of 2014 and as of late June 2016 it's already discontinued! Have to guess that not enough hams use Alinco rigs and need such a tuner.
KD2KCY Rating: 2016-07-10
Execellent tuner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've been using a MFJ 949D for a tuner. It works fine but it takes me several minutes to get a good match while holding down a CW key. I hooked up the AL-100 and tune in a few seconds. I love it. I installed it between the 949D and antenna using direct so I see the meter tuning and transmitting and I have the two antenna option as well as the dummy load. In combination they work great.
FORMER_K4COP Rating: 2014-10-24
The 17m problem Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Got a reply from LDG about the 17m issue. Apparently the SR8T times out before the tuner can complete its computations. However, a good match was still found and thus the good reading on the SWR meter.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by K4COP on 2014-10-24

Just got this tuner to go along with my new Alinco DX-SR8T. Came with the connecting cable to connect tuner to radio. As is, the tuner will not tune a long wire or ladder line feeders. To do so, I had to get the 1:1 current balun for the long wire. You need the 4:1 balun for ladder line feeds.

The tuner learns as you go. Has 2000 memories. First time you tune a frequency can take 10 seconds or more. Once tuned, that frequency and tuning are stored in a memory. The next time you come back to that same frequency, it only takes about 2-3 seconds to tune.

The AL-100 does a great job of tuning my wire to all bands 10-40 meters. I have not checked it on 80 or 160 yet. My wire is only 66 feet in length.

All of my SWR readings are less than 2:1. Usually anywhere between 1.1 to just less than 2:1. There is one anomaly. When I tune 17 meters, the tuner is telling me it cannot tune because RF power is lost. However, when I check the SWR with my Swan SWR meter, the SWR reads 1:3 to 1. So I have asked LDG support if they can tell me what is going on. Will post the answer when I get one.

The tuner is noisy while tuning as all the relays are trying all the thousands of combinations in order to find a match. But actually, I kind of like hearing.

Make sure the tuner is grounded to earth ground and that your coax connections are nice and tight, other wise you may get high SWR readings at the best match. If you use along wire, make sure the ground on the balun is connected to earth ground as well.

I recommend using a jumper coax of about 6-12 feet between the tuner and the antenna feed point. I go through an MFJ 4602 window pane so My coax between the panel and the tuner is 12 feet. Once I changed from a two foot coax to 12 feet, many of my SWR readings lowered.

Very happy with this purchase, I've already worked some new DX countries any my wire is only about 20 feet above ground.