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Reviews For: mAT-30

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : mAT-30
Reviews: 12MSRP: 160
Description:
Yaesu-compatible compact automatic antenna tuner
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
12124
K3USS Rating: 2023-01-25
Yaesu FT-710 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Wondering if anyone is using this Tuner with a FT-710?
Would love to hear your opinion.
G7BSG Rating: 2022-08-01
Just the job for /M Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Bought a MAT30 for use with my FT857 for mobile use. Once set up to the radio operation was simplicity itself and made operating /M a lot easier as I didn't have to worry about constantly having to wait for it to retune when changing frequency.
One interesting thing: the tuner seems to 'drop out' if you change frequency more than 10kHz and you then have to retune it, however once done and saved into one of the 16k memories this isn't a problem and if I go through all the freqs I am likely to use and stick them in the memories before setting off makes mobile operation a doddle.
GM4SVM Rating: 2022-03-31
Good, so far. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am not a frequent user of ATU's, but I like to have one and I had got fed up with my old manual tuner. Having had a junk clear out I bought a MAT-30. The only connections to it are the antenna in/out sockets and the control cable to the radio. You select external tuner in the radio menus. I use an FT450D and the MAT-30 turns on and off using the Tune button on the radio, so its easy to keep it turned off and bring it in when needed. The tuner tunes just about anything. It tuned my 15m dipole to work on 40m. Obviously, its not a viable antenna there, but it shows what is possible. The MAT-30 remembers tuning results so it doesn't have to retune every time you change band or frequency. Overall it works well. For how long, who knows? For occasional light duty use I am sure it is going to be fine. It certainly does what it claims to do.
N1RBD Rating: 2022-02-22
Works great with the FT-DX10 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought this to run with my FT-DX10. So far, no complaints. I did have to go through every 10k and tune, but once that is done everything is automatic. Since this emulates an FC-30, you can plug directly into the Tuner port instead of using the Amplifier port like a lot of "generic" tuners use. Just spin the knob and you'll hear a click every 10k as it retunes. No issues to date and have been very pleased. I did purchase from DXE to have them to turn to for assistance if anything does go awry.
W8OB Rating: 2022-02-19
I am out on this one Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Ok one day before the warranty runs out mine takes a big dump, I started using it and noticed the swr on the antenna was bouncing all over then nothing except inf swr and no rx. When it went out it did some strange things to my rig like send it to zombie land, luckily I removed all power from the rig for an hour and all is now well. I called around about getting it serviced and no help. I contacted the company in China and got the take it back to where you bought it for service. Ok I will say it was well built and worked great when it worked. If you don't mind getting the bend over and smile answer if you need service go for it. I am going back to the manual tuners less hassle
N3NUE Rating: 2021-04-29
Just bought, 10KC issue Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just purchased from DX Engineering. Hooked up to Yaesu FTDX-1200 with interconnect cable. Noticed that when tuning, all works ok, but..... I cranked the VFO 10KC up and heard a relay click and audio went away. Same thing on all bands. Backed off from the "dead" point and audio came back. Called DX, they weren't sure what issue might have been but Scotty helpful with MAT web support. Emailed MAT, and while waiting called Vibroplex as they advertise these tuners as well, and they are the only website that states this will work with the 1200. Folks at Vibroplex very helpful, stated that's the way they work as every 10KC past what you tune they remind you to retune and audio will be restored immediately.
Received email response from MAT in a few hours. They stated that this is part of the design so that every 10KC or so you get a reminder to retune your rig. Nothing broken or weird so it seems.
I will continue to play with this to see if there are any other issues that may come up.
K6AB Rating: 2020-12-21
Great Antenna Tuner / Used with Yaesu 991A Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Owned this tuner for 22 months. No problems. Works great with my FT-991A. SuperAntenna. Buddipole.

This unit is considerably different from the mAT-125E mentioned by another ham.
- It's designed specifically for Yaesu rigs that are compatible with Yaesu's FC series tuners. Not for any HF rig, like the mAT-125E.
- Not RF sensing. Band switching is directly controlled by the radio.
- No internal batteries. It's powered by the connection to the radio.
- No buttons. It's entirely controlled by the radio. The 125E has 5 operating buttons plus Power.

Sorry to hear the other ham's experience with very poor customer service from the factory, which is indeed something to keep in mind. The unit is currently sold by DX Engineering -- might have better luck working with them.
ON6AB Rating: 2020-02-22
Think twice Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I own the MAT 125E version but I guess the design of the tuners is very much the same for all versions.

If it works, it works ok and it can tune a big spectrum of impedances, no problem there.
However, it only worked for a few days and then it failed for no particular reason.
I turned it OFF in the evening and the next morning it did not turn on.
No thunderstorms, no lightning or any other adverse weather conditions.
And there you are with your Chinese tuner, at the opposite side of the world…
After examination – it appeared that the fuse in the VCC line had blown. Also, the charging circuit of the internal Li Ion batteries was defective.
I contacted the seller and he agreed to send the unit back to China but I figured that was not a good solution as I was not too sure I would ever see my tuner again.
Ok, I know, that’s the risk when you buy Chinese stuff and I can only blame myself here.
I then contacted the designer Zhang Zhibin – BG3MZU. We agreed he would send me a new battery unit free of charge so I could repair the tuner myself.
Helpful, no doubt. Only…I never received the battery unit and he never replied on my emails again.
The tuner still seems to work on battery power and fortunately they do not need frequent charging.
As for the ease of use, I find the button combinations to perform all settings and actions quite complicated and difficult to memorize.
Also, if you bypass the tuner and you transmit, you get some kind of Christmas lighting of all the leds at the same time (including the power led).
Not really very assuring towards build quality and circuit design.
All in all, a bad choice.
Difficult to operate and poor reliability .
The problematic service is something you know upfront.
KB3LME Rating: 2019-09-09
Great Antenna Tuner / Used with Yaesu 897D Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have this tuner for my Yaesu 897D. It is a great tuner, works well with the 897D. Among other antennas, I use it to tune my quarter wave 40 meter vertical antenna on 80 and 160 meters. It does the job, gets me out on those bands. I also have the Yaesu FC 40 tuner, it's a great tuner, but it would not tune my antenna on 160. Got it on ebay at a great price.
WD0FIA Rating: 2019-07-31
The mAT-30 works! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been running the FT-891 for three years in the Mustang and Silverado. I bought my first FT-891 the day it was released for $799. I was really impressed with it. I lucked into a "special" price of $499 last year and I bought three more units.

My wife has decided to allow me to put HF in her 2017 Fusion and 2018 Ecosport as long as I don't put a "huge antenna" (AKA a Tarheel II on them). OK..... so I started looking for tuners and ordered two MFJ-939Y's. I got one, the MFJ-939Y is on back-order everywhere. I have had mAT tuners in the past, so I ordered a mAT-30.

The mAT-30 connects and acts like the FC-40 Yaesu tuner. It will tune a wet noodle. It might even tune a dry noodle in high humidity........

I got the mAT-30 to tune my 75 meter Hamstick on 10, 20, and 40 meters and made several contacts on each band. There were frequencies on the 75 meter band the MFJ-939Y would refuse to tune. The antenna itself is resonant at 3970. Pretty impressive, and definitely not just showing a tune, but matching it to show 1.2 for SWR to the radio and putting enough usable RF out to check in.

So if you are looking for a tuner consider a mAT-30. I got mine from a US seller on Ebay for $162. I would not buy another MFJ-939Y after seeing how well the mAT-30 works. Even the case is nicer on the mAT.

73 Keith WD0FIA