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Reviews For: Icom AT-130

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : Icom AT-130
Reviews: 9MSRP: 810AU
Description:
Automatic antenna tuner
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.icom.net.au
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0093.9
W7ASA Rating: 2021-07-10
Cold Weather Sensitive Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I used mine in mobile applications for many years. It works well most of the time. However, in cold weather, my unit would often not even begin the matching sequence in cold below 10 to 20F; you could say it would 'freeze'. In warmer weather it worked very relibly for my mobile.
W5GNB Rating: 2021-07-09
Not so Good ~~~~ Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This unit has a problem with tuning all bands with one length of wire. If you want to add or subtract your wire length, you MIGHT be able to tune all bands but that is a bit unacceptable to me. I finally gave up on this tuner and bought an AH-4 which works Perfectly with most any length of wire I have put to it. ALL bands with no problem. I am using a IC-7000 here with my RV and now am finally a Happy Camper !!!~~~
WS1C Rating: 2021-02-21
Great tuner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just finished interfacing to Yaesu FT-857. Works fine with it. Also works with Icom IC-9100. Really fast tuner, not always sure it tuned. Using 30' wire with good ground. Looks like an L network, more efficient than a pi with all air inductors. It cannot be tested by LDG light bulb method since it attenuates when tuning and lamp resistance varies with power. Only other complaint is it needs start pulse. Still rate SEA and LDG best due to simple interface, 12VDC and RF.
K7ZX Rating: 2012-01-10
Great Product Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had an AT-130 for almost 4 years now and have had great success in using it with both an IC-M700 and an IC-706Mk2G. It has accompanied me to at least two different ships to be used with end-fed wire antennas. It seems to be a bit more rugged than my AH-4, which I toasted by trying to tune a 75 meter mobile whip on 40 meters.

At home I was feeding my balanced antenna with open-wire feeders directly from the AT-130 with no choke on the coax and control line. With even moderate power I was causing RFI on the cable TV, the computer and who knows what else. After winding 12 turns of the coax and control line through a large toroid core salvaged from a Harris ATU, the RFI disappeared. If I use my FT-817ND I initiate the tuning sequence with one of the Icom rigs and apply 5 watts of RF with the Yaesu. It works great that way.

One drawback to using the AT-130 with the 706 is that every time I would change bands or frequency ranges the tuner would automatically tune. Just lately it stopped doing that. Any ideas?
ZS1KL Rating: 2010-01-12
Icom AT-130 and Icom 703 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This unit works great with the following Icom radios, IC- 703, 706mkii, 706 mkiig and 756 pro3. No problem in tuning a long wire.
EI5GJB Rating: 2009-12-14
good tuner Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
i have this tuner with about a year now, and i find it very good no problems here and I'm using it on a balanced antenna and it performs very well. i work it with a non icom radio, i just use a foot switch to key the tuner when applying a little RF from the rig when changing bands, and its very fast less than a second to find its comfort zone. up to this i worked with an mfj-949e versa tuner ii but i damaged the inductor, so I'm glad i had this to fall back on. I'm limited as to the amount of RF i can put through it but 150 watts is OK for me and as i said i have a balanced antenna i just connect the open wire feeder directly to the atu, one leg of the feeder to the hot side and the other to the ground, and a common mode choke at the feed point between atu and transceiver. the doublet is 100 ft of wire or 50 ft per leg and i get good reports with this setup into UK, Ireland and western Europe. its not a dx antenna by any means its only up about 30 ft but very good for the rag-chew
KG4LJB Rating: 2008-06-09
Works well - once you understand it's requirements Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I repair marine electronic equipment for a living, so I have the advantage of being very familiar with this unit. It is a capable tuner if you observe the following measures: Give it a better than average ground. Use a choke balun to reduce shield radiation. Use a antenna of at least 35 feet.

My system consists of a 75' random wire, 3 - 6 ' copper ground rods, connected to the tuner with copper strap, and 5 ground radials of various lengths (more to come). There is also a connection to my Grumman aluminum canoe - just for good measure!

Getting it to play with non - Icom radios is possible, but probably not in a fully automatic sense. You have to manually start the tuning process for any new frequency. I have successfully interfaced it to my Kenwood TS-440S, making only minor, easily reversible modifications. Now when I press the "voice" button (that is normally used for the voice synthesizer option - not installed) the tuner begins it process. If you want the technical details, send me a email.

andros2112 at yahoo.com

In a nutshell, you briefly ground the "start" line, the unit responds by pulling the "key" line low. This line needs to be connected to your radio in a way that causes it to go into the transmit mode, and produce about 10 - 15 watts of rf - NOT full TX power! If all antenna and ground requirements are met, the tuner will find a match pretty fast.

My only beef is the unit's inability to tune a balanced antenna. By design, it wants to end feed a random wire. Sadly, it is not compatible with a balun...

Someday, If I ever find the time, I may try to suspend my AT-130 from the feed point of a dipole.
Should be a interesting experiment.
VK2JNA Rating: 2006-04-04
AT-130 to non-Icom Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm having a devil of a time getting this tuner to talk with a Barrett 550 marine HF radio. The AT-130 manual is very skimpy. Has anyone else had any luck getting the AT-130 to match up with a (non-Icom) Marine HF radio?

Getting the AT-130 to autotune when it sees a new carrier seems impossible. It appears it needs to also "be told" with a switch. Unacceptable in a marine HF system.
VK3JLB Rating: 2003-02-23
Let down by poor documentation Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recently got my brand new AT-130 working. I purchased the unit while I was on holiday so I'd be forced to read through the manual for a few days before trying to hook it up.

As I'm using it on a non-Icom radio (An SG-2020), I was aware of the requirement to build an interface box. I've ended up with a little black box that attaches to the top of the radio and has a 'tune' button. This causes the SG-2020 to emit a carrier and triggers the AT-130 to start a tune cycle, sending the CW signal for as long as the tune cycle requires.

My main gripe is the manual. It seems to gloss over the requirements if it is not connected to an Icom HF set. The pain that I experienced was the "start" input. The manual says words to the effect of "Voltage input to trigger the start of the tuning cycle. Normally 8 Volts, when less than 1 volt is recieved a tune cycle will commence".

What it really means is "ground this input if you want it to start tuning". As its a commercial unit and unlikely to be connected to a non-icom HF set, I can see why this has gone undetected. Still, a bit of a let down.

After some dramas rigging up an antenna (mainly a height issue), the unit appears to work well. When tuning the same frequency twice, it is all over in less than a second. For a new frequency, it takes between 2 and 10 seconds. Usually closer to 2.

It only takes a couple of watts of RF to figure out what to do. I normally turn my 2020 down to 2-3 watts which is plenty.

The main benefit of the '130 is cost. Much cheaper than the Barrett (SGC), Codan (?) or importing an SGC tuner.