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Reviews For: Vectronics VC300DLP

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : Vectronics VC300DLP
Reviews: 25MSRP: 159.95
Description:
"T" Antenna tuner with dual movement SWR meter and dummy load.
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.vectronics.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00252.3
2E1CPQ Rating: 2002-08-23
Very Poor Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I got my new M3 Callsign and had some help in getting set up,This unit was bought and for a couple of weeks it worked ok(i am only allowed 10 watts on hf)then i found that i could not set it to the same or near the same place each time i changed bands it was really bad, the Inductor switch then started to grind and stick.Anyway i took it down my garden and hit it with a BIG HAMMER thats my one and only experience with one
I will NEVER have one in my shack again.
M5GWH Rating: 2002-03-26
Mine smoked! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Build quality - just about acceptable.
Usability - dreadful - look at it in the wrong way and the tune is lost.
Metering and sense - goes faulty and is often badly built. Be prepared to replace parts.
Inductor - flashs over or nice arc-ing noises!
Balun - taken out and put into my Tokyo HC200!
Dummy Load - not quite 50ohms but now in its own box.
Overall - for a Vectronics unit, which I read as being good - the VC300 is a poor example.
N9VWA Rating: 2002-03-20
Total Garbage Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Bought this tuner from AES a couple years ago. I thought it would be a dependable tuner for barefoot operation. First problem was the 50 Ohm internal dummy load never worked out of the box! It was not worth complaining about, as after peeking inside it is only rated for 20 watts or something. I decided to install a BNC jack for an external dummy.

It worked fine for a few months. I used it on all bands on both coax and ladder lines. One day, out of curiousity, I discovered it does NOT ground un-used antenna inputs. This is totally unacceptable in my opnion. This is bad for lightning (or rather, your equipment connected to it)...

Then, the problems came after about a year. I hauled it down to college, where (after several months of storage) it would not tune anything. The variable inductor arced over (with a nice buzz and flash), leaving a carbon trace in the cheap plastic. Yes, that's right!! The inductor is made of PLASTIC! So out came the Dremel, and I removed all the wire, sanded down the arc points, put H.V. corona dope on it, and re-winded the inductor with COPPER wire. Viola- SUCCESS. But the whole idea of only 100 watts destroying this thing is not accecptable, and I always tune at reduced power (25 watts or so...).

Then, less than a week later, both meters would just "peg" with only a few watts, even into a GOOD dummy load. Being a curious engineer (althoug quite pissed at this point) I started my 3rd repair. Forget it. The board material must have came from China or someplace CHEAP. Every desolder will remove the component alright, but take the bloody TRACE with it!!! And yes, I am quite skilled with a soldering iron, and I have NEVER had this happen before.

The end result is a garbage box, totallly incapable of it's advertised specifications. DO NOT BUY THIS TUNER.
AC0X Rating: 2002-01-16
not a bad little low power tuner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Of all the low power (sub $200) low power tuners on the market, this one is one of the better ones. There are better, more robust tuners, but not until you're in the above $300 class. But, like all low power tuners, you can't really "beat them up". Despite them being called "300 watt" tuners, you really shouldn't run more than 200 watts through them, and that's only under good SWR. While you're tuning, you should keep it under 50 (under 25 would be better yet). But if you follow those warnings, you should be fine.

Also.. mine DOES have 48 positions on the inductor. The cabinet labeling may only have 12 positions (A through L), but there are multiple positions available between each letter.
G4AON Rating: 2001-02-12
Does the job, nothing more, nothing less Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Being a keen home builder, it was annoying not to be able to find the right parts to build a neat antenna tuner. While the Vectronics unit isn't anything special, it does work. The SWR meter is sensitive enough to allow you to tune up using a 2 Watt QRP rig and is calibrated to display 10 Watt or 100 Watt power levels at half scale (depending on the range selected).

The configuration is the standard "T" network, using a 12 way switched inductor and variable capacitors. Rated for a maximum of 300 Watts PEP or 150 Watts key down. The web site states the inductor is a 48 way switchable unit, yet mine is only 12 way... The internal dummy load doesn't look to be able to stand more than about 20 or 30 Watts, the manual doesn't give a rating for it.

I suppose the best way to sum up this ATU is to call it cheap and cheerful, there are several similar units on the market. If you need a modest power ATU with antenna switch, SWR bridge and dummy load built in and provided your rig isn't putting more than 100 Watts out, this unit should work fine.