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Reviews For: Kenwood AT230

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : Kenwood AT230
Reviews: 19MSRP: fc-301
Description:
Manual Tuner. 160 to 10 MX.
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00194.9
M0ECZ Rating: 2006-11-14
A well built piece of kit Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I picked up my AT-230 on ebay after reading reviews on it here on eham.
I paid over the odds for it at a Buy it Now price of £125, but I needed an ATU quickly and didn’t want to but new as I don’t think modern build quality can match the more “mature” models.
All in all, I am please with my purchase. I run a TS-2000 into a G5RV and there are parts of some of the bands that the TS-2000’s internal tuner just can’t tune (if it can’t get a good match, it just gives up and instead of giving the best match it can, it switches itself out of circuit!!). I have found that the AT-230 has been able to tune the G5RV well enough to enable me to transmit on most bands from 80m through 10m.
The AT-230 is a nice, well built piece of kit and I am pleased to own one.
G7WGX Rating: 2006-11-04
good tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had 3 Kenwood 230's and I keep selling them thinking I can find one better but I cant seem to find one any better for the low amount of money they are now second hand so I am going to keep this one hopefully as they are very good they are very sensitive when tuning but you cant have every thing this one is a keeper if you see one get it as some of the new ones are not as good.
G4RNW Rating: 2006-09-29
V good, but has limitations Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned this ATU since new in 1982. It is very satisfactory and easy to use, but the R & X adjusters are a bit sensitive. It is ideal for the TS830 which I bought at the same time and is still in use with it. It is not suitable for high power rigs i.e it is limited to 100w on 160 and 200 on all other bands. It wont match 'anything to anything' i.e wont cope with very high SWRs but it is rarely caught out. It is versatile, will run coax or end fed. I have a five band GP for 10 - 80 plus end fed 1/4 wave for 160 and it copes with little problem. It doesnt always hit SWR 1:1 but close enough not to matter. I would reccommend it to anyone using modest power
MM3PTS Rating: 2005-06-14
Easy Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've owned the AT-230 now for a few weeks .It's in line to tune my G5RV and does so without any problems .I find it very sensitive when tuning .I've also had the Daiwa atu which was also excellent but my preference is the Kenwood .Also owned MFJ and thought they were poor .In the UK the AT-230 sells used for between £90 --- £130 but well worth it .
W7DDD Rating: 2004-12-10
Wonderful Tuner Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought one of these units on eBay to go with my Kenwood 830S. I knew I'd need it because of my potpouri of home-brew antennas. I now have 2 "store-bought" antennas, but my main all-bander was a Marconi long wire with 70 ft + 30 ft + 20 ft legs, crazy angles, kind of sloping from my roof to a fence post, with a 10-15 foot lead-in. The main part of the antenna is a 70 ft Radio Shack #14 copper wire. The feed line is an insulated piece of maybe #18 or 20 aircraft wire I bought on a spool by the pound from Boeing surplus. It's my main 40-80-160 meter antenna. I work all these bands.

The Kenwood tuner tames this "dog's breakfast" of a sky-wire pretty near down to flat (seems to depend somewhat on rain/temp.) I use it everyday; it's always operational. My signal reports are usually "very nice signal." I couldn't begin to explain what antenna I was using to my contacts. (They're always swinging their beams around in my direction!) It can tune my A-99 10M vertical easily onto 20 meters. I wonder if I shouldn't try for 80, or even 160! If it's a bad day, I have to struggle down to a SWR of 2.0, but usually, I can make anything a flat 1:1.

This is a wonderful tuner. It's big, rugged, heavy, dependable. I can't imagine being without it. Not ever. I'm sure it would tune my rain gutters or bedsprings; maybe even my water pipes or model train tracks.
ON4MGY Rating: 2003-10-11
Great tuner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I use the AT-230 together with my TS-830 and I really like it. It is very easy to tune even very strange impedances from antennes and it also has an antenna switch and RF/SWR meter in it.
It has everything my DAIWA CNW-420 has but I prefer the KENWOOD.
Great job Kenwood !!
ON5ZO Rating: 2003-02-10
Usefull tool Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I found this unit second hand for 100€/$. It was a bit rusty on the outside (but pristine on the inside) so I removed the rust and paint with sandpaper and spraypainted it; it looks like new now, and smelled like new for a couple of weeks, hi!

Other than a tuner, I also had a power meter and A/B/dummy coax switch with this purchase.
When it comes to tuning, I have been able to present 50ohms to the rig in all situations I used it for.

This one will never leave my shack, or at least not permanently...

- ON5ZO
ON4VP Rating: 2001-12-16
Good tuner + antenna switch power meter Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Not only you get a nice tuner, but besides that you can switch between two 50 Ohms antennas and an extra longwire antenna. If connected, you can load against a dummy load to. Choose between "trough" or via "matcher", read out the SWR, power (fwd and ref).

I use it togheter with my TS-530 but you can use it with any transceiver. I had one before, sold it but recently found another and will never sell it again.

The hardware is of good quality, and power can be handled more than 200 watts for shure. Never tried 1 KW as the ZL-station did, HI.

A very nice piece of equipment right there on the shelf !
ZL3AG Rating: 2001-06-20
Good versatile tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had the AT230 for 18 years. It initially came to the shack as an accessory to the TS830S and SP230. I found it could almost load into anything, and added greatly to the versatility of my station.

Well the TS830 is long gone. It was replaced with a TS430S 15 years ago and still is in the set up now that I have an IC 746. It allows the Icom to work to really bad matches and also follows a FL2500 amplifier. Yes it will handle 1Kw ( not on 160) as long as you do not change the switches when doing it.

These units are so cheap now, keep one or get one. It is really handy on the shelf.

I intend adding a PEP ability to the power measuring in the future and recalibrating the meters.

( I still have the SP230, it has a homebrew +13V supply for the IC746.)