Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: HA8DU DU3500AL Automatic Antenna Tuner

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : HA8DU DU3500AL Automatic Antenna Tuner
Reviews: 2MSRP: 2650
Description:
DU3500AL 3.5 KW 1.8-30 Mhz Automatic Antenna Tuner
Product is in production
More Info: http://arraysolutions.com/Products/Ha8du/du3500sl.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0025
VK4SX Rating: 2022-08-18
The GOLD AWARD for Full AUTO HF Tuners Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
well if you think you have seen or used the Best High Power Full Auto Tuner, then you most Definitely have NOT seen or used the HA8DU DU-3500AL piece of Hardware,
and yes, I have used the " OTHERS "
Super Super FAST from 160m to 10m, Incredible, like and Elephant, NEVER FORGETS, EVER. none of this Taking off to retune in SSB after it has been matched, no stupid Hunting Hunting, AHH Found You,

seamless operation, Full Auto Tracking RIG, AMP Tuner.
Incredibly Fast setup,
New HA8DU, DU4000AL will provide LAN as well as Serial,
I have nothing more I can say,
it Looks and Performs like something from a fairy tale,
if necessary, for any questions, Peter jumps on it, Whapsapp or email very quick to reply.

Dennis vk4sx
W5IP Rating: 2016-05-03
Strong & Quick Automatic Antenna Tuner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased the DU3500AL auto-tuner from Array Solutions, the exclusive distributor for HA8DU based in Hungary. Jay and his crew are great to work with and I recommend them as well as this fine tuner. The availability issues that held up the tuner’s delivery appear to arise from the increasing popularity of the unit.

The tuner is pretty good-sized, as large as my Palstar HF Auto and larger than my Nye Viking MB-VA tuners. You will need room for the footprint. As you can see from the Array Systems web page, it is built like tank and the workmanship is excellent. I like loop antennas on 160 and 80, so you can see I like antenna tuners.

What I want these days is power capacity, extremely fast tuning and the tuner’s ability to return to a predetermined spot. The DU3500AL offers the ability to track the transceiver via the CAT commands in real time at 19200 baud or more. It is rated for 3.5 KW for the ham bands, but will apparently tune well outside of them. In use, there is no time required to tune the antenna so long as you went through the initial tuning of each band for each band segments once. It sounds more arduous than it is, as the tuner has automatic means to place you at the right frequencies when setting it up to assure resonance across all of each of the bands from 160-10. The tuner does not cover 6 meters. It may be operated manually, but for the cost of this unit, it is designed for use with automatically tuned amplifiers for very fast QSY and pairs well with both my OM2500A-F and Yaesu Quadra.

The actual tuning occurs when you hit the threshold of each segment with the transceiver - and it is quick. The Palstar will tune anything to resonance, but because it is a long way from some bands to another for this design, it can take 6-8 seconds. Sometimes it forgets. The DU3500AL never seems to forget.

The color TFT screen is bright (adjustable) and easy to read. The tuner has four antenna outputs and one designated as a dummy load output. I don’t know why. It remembers the last antenna connected from the five and can also be set to five un-tuned locations, ostensibly for bypassing frequency segments where the antenna choice is resonant . There is no direct antenna tuner bypass switch which I suppose is consistent with the predetermined aspect of the theory of operation. There are eight additional antenna ports available for external switching.

An important step for this process is to set up the radio for the tuner. Two things I missed at first, for my FTDX9000D and all Yaesu radios, are that the CATTOT must be adjusted to 1000 (default is 10) and the three conductor cables provided by HA8DU carry only ground, TX and RX so RTS should be off. Your mileage may vary. The connections have the transceiver feeding the CAT signals to the tuner which connects to the amp that then feeds back to the computer. The computer does not have to be on or using radio software to work, though I use HRD and the readouts on the computer, radio, tuner and amp all track simultaneously.

In conclusion, if you want a well-built, high power auto-tuner that will provide QSY from 160-10 instantly, this may be the one for you. Tell Jay hi.