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Reviews For: AUTEK RESEARCH VA1-RF1-RF5 RF ANALYST

Category: Antenna Analyzers

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Review Summary For : AUTEK RESEARCH VA1-RF1-RF5 RF ANALYST
Reviews: 109MSRP: 129.95
Description:
The pocket-sized RF1 is designed to check and adjust antennas,
Product is not in production
More Info: https://web.archive.org/web/20130523062036/http://autekresearch.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001093.2
WO8USA Rating: 2005-04-19
No problems in 4 years Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned the unit for about 4 years now and not had any problems. I do not use it a lot, but when I do its provided accurate results given its low power (bad connections will work at low power, fail at 10W). I wish the tuning accuracy where a little bit better.

Its much better than having your rig hooked up and taking discrete measurements on the air when trying to find the bandwidth or low SWR point for tuning purposes.

I have not had to deal with service, but when I bought it the operation seemed small and run from a house--I could be wrong, but I do not think its a big time operation. I am satisfied with the system.



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Earlier 5-star review posted by WO8USA on 2003-01-10

I have owned an Autek for about 5 years. I use it to adjust my mobile Hustler set of antennas and various other HF antennas. It allows an excellent look at resonance and indication of required adjustment.

I'd highly recommend this to anyone who needs to do antenna work. Simple and quick.

Chris WO8USA
K8WLK Rating: 2005-04-18
Bad news Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I purchased a VA-1 early this year (2005). After using it only a few times and owning it for approximately 4 months the unit became inoperative. I called Autek on the telephone and they indicated it was probably a minor situation with a loose internal wire and I should attempt to repair it myself. I declined and followed their direction to return it to them enclosed with an eight dollar check for return shipping. They told me the unit was under warranty but to send it to them quickly because they were going out of town and if they did not receive it in the next three days it would be two or three weeks before they could look at the unit. I sent it second day UPS.

After two weeks I received a letter from them indicating I had sent the unit with no explanation of the problem or no proof of warranty!. Remember, I talked to them and they acknowledged the problem and told me it was under warranty. In addition, since I had purchased the unit directly from them he knew when I had purchased the unit.

Now they are demanding an additional $60 to repair the unit because it is supposedly out of warranty. In the letter it was indicated they must receive the money within one month or the unit will start accruing storage charges. What a joke! What kind of game is this? Screw the customer?

Also they complained in their letter about no information regarding the nature of the complaint. If the service department turned on the unit they will quickly find the course frequency adjustment inoperative. Are they brain dead!

Also they complained that there was no return address on the package. My eight dollar check clearly contained my address and call sign. In addition how did they send me the letter I'm holding in my hand regarding the issues. What a bunch of idiots.

I can't believe the level of incompetency in this organization. They were nice and friendly when I purchased the unit on the telephone and they were even cordial when I called them regarding the repair. I suspect they subcontract out the repairs to individuals on a time and material basis and this is just attempt to bilk money out of a repair order inappropriately.

Oh by the way, in the letter they sent me they told me do not call only write a letter and allow two to four weeks after receipt of payment for a response. I went to the web site and sent them an e-mail I hope they respond if not my plan is to buy competitor's product and tell them the throw the one I sent them for repair in the garbage along with the reputation.

I wish I had the ability to post their illiterate nasty letter that I received from them as a customer.

My advice to everyone is do not buy any of their products and for those of you out there that have one; if you send it in for repair lookout its trouble
HB9PJT Rating: 2005-03-28
Very accurate Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Have a VA1. Smart design, works perfect. Very handy and easy to use. Ideal for outside use because it is so lightwight. I did make some accuracy tests with different resistors at the coax terminal. It is very accurate. Also when compared to the internal SWR-meters of my TS-2000 and TS-480 the accuracy is very good. Be carefull when comparing because a lot of external meters are inaccurate because of there cheap internal circuit with diode rectifier. When comparing with another device it is importandt to use exactly the same coax because different lenght of coax will transform to a different SWR. Best way to check is to put for example a 150 ohm resistor at to get a SWR reading of 1:3.
KM6CZ Rating: 2005-03-27
Weak product Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought an RF-1 Analyst to help tune a Butternut Vertical... the unit has basically died after six months of use. The usage was very light after initial antenna tuning. The accuracy was questionable as well since the SWR meter built into my auto tuner almost never mirrored the RF-1 readings. (Turns out the auto tuner's SWR readings were much closer to the mark.)
W7IS Rating: 2005-03-26
Portable operation great Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned two of these RF-1 units. Sold the first one and then found out I couldnt get along without it. Both units have worked perfectly except for once in a while the coax connector needs to be tightened. The best part is you can put it in your shirt pocket and climb a tower. I've done a lot of ant experimenting using the RF-1 to plot the swr curve from 1.8 to 30mhz and its fairly fast. So for me, the RF-1 has been great. With fairly long battery life.
PA0FRI Rating: 2005-01-09
Needs help Time Owned: more than 12 months.
An aquired used RF1 had problems from the start because the unit fails intermittently, usually when I need it most. If you squeeze or loosen the screws it works. The buttons sometimes don't function, the knobs have worked their way loose. Power consumption is about 100 mA on the 15 - 30 range.
I disassembled the unit more than three times and found: cold solder joints, components barely making contact, one socket pin was shorter than the other's and swith's pins have never been soldered. Very poor soldering throughout this unit due to poor workmanship quality. The circuit board should be hold in place with 4 screws.It had two.
If it works iIt is a very useful and practical device for any ham shack. It does what Autek says it will do.
The controls are touchy, they are designed for fine tuning, coarse is too coarse and fine has insufficient range but I can get to the exact frequency that I want with patience and technique

WO7T Rating: 2004-09-14
Defective on ship Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have to echo the poor scores due to workmanship quality and QA. My RF-1 came intermittent. Disassembled, touched up multiple solder connects (very poor soldering throughout this unit).

Works fine now, and is good tool, but if this company can't get them put together well, why not drop the price and start selling them as kits, and leave construction to buyers.

My advice if you do buy, is check it out fully upon first couple days of receipt, and if unhappy, return for refund immediately.

GL
AK0M Rating: 2004-09-14
CONTINUED UNBELIEVABLY POOR CUSTOMER SUPPORT Time Owned: more than 12 months.
On Aug 2, 2003, I posted my comments re: my bad experience with my VA-1. My unit was intermittently bad, and after one in-warranty trip back to Autek, was returned to me still intermittent. I asked for a replacement unit, but was told that was out of the question.
Well, the unit finally "failed hard" on me, during another contest field expedition trip in early August, leaving me without an ability to install and use one of my primary antennas. The failure was again the LCD display. In desperation, I returned the unit the unit to Autek for repair, at a cost of $68 plus an additional $7 to get it there. Remember, this is a unit that has been intermittent since the day it was received, and back to the manufacturer once before.
My VA-1 has been gone for 5 weeks now. I just called Autek, and was told that they replaced my LCD display (because I told them to), and before shipment the operation was checked, and the measurements are way off. But, their one and only technician is now in Europe for three more weeks. So my unit will be gone at least another month. Sure seems to me that their tech would have checked the operation of the unit before deeming it "fixed" then leaving the country.
I would NEVER recommend an Autek product to anyone, unless you are prepared for poor quality, poor performance, and even poorer after-the-sale customer service.
It's too bad, this is basically a good product, and in the right hands, could be very successful.
So I guess it's time to purchase something different... I'm not impressed by the MFJ, having had similar experiences with their quality and customer support. I don't know what else to even consider.

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Earlier 1-star review posted by AK0M on 2003-08-02

I bought my VA-1 in June of 2002. When it arrived, the right two segments of the first digit did not display. I was about to return it and then suddenly the digits starting working fine and did so for several weeks. Then they failed again, and then started working again. Autek did respond to my emails with all the previously listed suggestions, but nothing helped. My unit fails intermittently, usually when I need it most. Autek would only promise to do repairs if the unit was failed when they received it, and I couldn't guarantee that. I asked for a replacement, and was told no. So I guess I live with it the way it is, my warranty now expired last month. And, as I expected, on a DXpedition vacation last week to C6 land, the unit decided to fail, leaving me to tune the antennas the old manual way.
When it works, yes, it is touchy in tuning, but the small size more than makes up for that. I really like it when it works. But it's not dependable, and Autek doesn't stand behind their product. I won't buy from them again. I am not a satisfied customer.
AB0TA Rating: 2004-08-03
Small package, good product Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had mine for 5 years and it works great. It is in a plastic case, and the buttons are a little cheap, but mine has always worked as expected. The frequency readout is on the money, my 756ProII verifies that it is accurate. The digital SWR readings are typically one or two tenths higher than what my analog Diawa CN-410M meter indicates, and the resonance point of the antenna is usually 20 khz lower on the Autek, but who cares ? I've never seen any two SWR meters agree on a measurement. I've also never needed to know the exact SWR when working on an antenna. It's just a tool used to get you close to where you want. It works great if you want to find the resonance point without having to run inside and fire up the rig and spew QRM all over the bands. If you like playing with antennas, this is a must have tool. If you think you'll be using it more than 5 days a year, get the MFJ model for the rugged case.
K8SDK Rating: 2004-08-02
You get what you pay for Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My first one came DOA. When I called Autek the guy treated me like I was an idiot and told me I must be using a dead battery. After much discussion around that point he told me to send it back if I couldn't get it to work. I did, & got a new one promptly. It works great for $130. Yes it is poorly built (I had to re-solder the ground lead from the SO-239 to the PCB); and yes the power switch is crummy (I installed an ultra miniature slide switch on the case, in series with the battery); and yes the tuning is touchy (but for me part of the fun of electronics is fiddling with knobs & dials). I use it to tune antennas in the field and it is accurate enough and very convenient.