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Reviews For: Ten-Tec Automatic 253 Tuner

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : Ten-Tec Automatic 253 Tuner
Reviews: 6MSRP: 995.00
Description:
The Ten-Tec 253 Ant Tuner
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.tentec.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0064.5
W8MIS Rating: 2011-10-20
Great Tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is my second Ten Tec Auto tuner in my many yrs of hamming. Both worked great and will handle those coax and balanced feed antennas too. When returning to last antenna and freq it is instant tune. Will band track with Ten Tec line of rigs. But will work whith all other brands too. Quality thru and thru.

KH6VP Rating: 2009-03-03
Great Tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I got this tuner together with a TenTec Paragon and a Titan I linear from a setup that was used in Desert Storm.
The only problem I have had with it is that every now and then it needs to be re-calibrated (procedure explained in the manual).
It is a great tuner and the 9 memories is not a big problem for me as I normally use one band.
I have other tuners but this one shines and the 2KW handling is great for the Titan. Although it does not seem as tough as, say, an SGC tuner, it runs well. There are very few automatic tuners that handle 2KW in the market.
KM1B Rating: 2003-11-12
Very nice! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am using this tuner with Omni VI and Hercules II amplifier in the original Ten-Tec cabinet, and it is like having a 500W radio with auto tuner.
Not enough memory can be a problem for a fast frequency change, but I haven't had any trouble with it. As long as I stay within a certain range on each band, band change isn't an issue.
As long as I follow the proper tuning procedure, the tuner works very well on all frequency with my FD-4 antenna. My 4-ele beam is well tuned and I don't need a tuner with this, but this tuner only makes it better.
I am lucky to have this setup and sold most of my other radios and amplifiers because I don't need them. I hope TenTec makes one like this with a better controller even if this is perfectly working fine for me.
K8JS Rating: 2003-09-04
Excellent, mostly Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought this 253 auto tuner pre-owned.
It functions well with 1500 watts output amp on all bands from 10 thru 160.
It does make plenty of "Thunk-Thunk-Thunk", internal thunking noises when it is doing the tuning processes.
I like the fact that the L-network design is very efficient with minimal internal circuit losses between the rig and the feedlines.
N4LQ Rating: 2002-12-30
Flakey Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The basic tuner is a simple L network and has a wide impedance range however the logic system is very limited, undependable and tuning is very slow. It only has about 9 memory positions which you could easily use up on 160 and 80m alone. Memory loss seemed to be a constant problem requiring frequent resetting. The TT 238 tuner would be a better choice. Manual tuning is actually faster than this.
W6THW Rating: 2002-03-30
Great Automatic Tuner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The Ten-Tec 253 automatic Ant Tunner is one of
the best tuners i have used.
Size is 5.5' heigh by 14" wide and 10.5" deep.
Weight 9lbs 9oz
RF Power rating is 2 KW maximum.
Circuit Type Reversible "L" Network
You can use four different Ant connections on the back, also bypass. I have been useing mine with a Hercules 11 and it tunes in about 5 sec. It uses a
Rotor Inductor and relay switched fixed Caps.
It can be used automatically or manual
It can tune up to a 10 to 1 SWR. There is a rca conector for 12 volts at 3 amps for meter and tuning. One of the coax positions on the back is for balanced feed line.
It will remember the last Ant position you used.
The frequency it will cover is continues from 1.8
to 30 mhz. It has six leds on the front panel.
Tuning is a Yellow led reading (tune)
Under is a Yellow led reading (under) under 20 watts.
Over is a Yellow led reading (over) if you tune it with over 150 watts.
Ready is a Green led reading (ready) when tuning is finished.
Arcing is a Red led reading (arcing) when you have a bad mismatch.
Fault is a Red led reading (Fault) it comes on when you have a bad missmatch. I use my tuner
with the Hercules 11 and works just great.
The maual tuning is with rocker switches for the Rotor inductor and the other switch is for the Caps relays. Its has a lighted watt meter from 0 to 200 watts or 0 to 2000 watts.
Too bad they are so hard to find a mint one
is going for $900 or better Ten-Tec isnt making
them anymore. But they still carry some
of the parts. Mine was missing the plastic strip
on one side and the band switch knob was not the
right one. I called Ten-Tec and they sent me both
plastic side strips and a new knob for free and
that included shipping.I did buy a new manual
from Ten-Tec and was glad to still get one. What
a great company.
Mike