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Reviews For: Yaesu FC-30

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FC-30
Reviews: 41MSRP: 200.00
Description:
Matching Tuner for FT897 - mounts on the side of the FT897
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00413.2
G4FAL Rating: 2003-03-06
I would advise anyone with an FT897 NOT to purchase the FC30 Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have actually got four Yaesu tuners. All
have the same spec.

FT1000MP internal tuner 20 - 150 ohms
VL1000 (quadra) tuner 16 - 150 ohms
FC20 (with FT100D) tuner 16 - 150 ohms
FC30 (with FT897) tuner 16 - 150 ohms

But when I use them, they have totally different characteristics.

FC20 will tune a windom or G5RV, etc. when used with my FT100D
FT1000MP will tune a windom or G5RV, etc.
VL1000 will not tune anything that is not already at least 3:1 or
better.
FC30 will not even tune things that the VL1000 will tune!!

Of the four automatic Yaesu tuners, the FC30 is the worst. Also
the FC20 will not work properly with the FT897.

OK, I did some tests with my minibeam. This is about 3:1 SWR at
14.280 and 14.010. It is resonant around 14.140. The Quadra will tune
the minibeam from 14.000 ot 14.285 (just). The FC30/FT897 combination
will tune from 14.050 to 14.230 only - but it does it very quickly.

Now, I tried the FT100D with the FC20 - this tunes from 14.000 to
14.350 without a problem.

The FT100D with the FC30 is the same (as bad) as the FT897 with the
FC30. So the tuner will not match the performance of the FC20. But worse still, the
FT897 with the FC20 is the same as the FT897 with the FC30 - so BOTH
the radio AND the tuner are worse than the notoriously poor quadra is
for tuning.

What a shame! Why have Yaesu made SUCH A MESS of this when the radio
appears to all other purposes to be excellent?

Incidentally, when I discussed the poor matching range of the quadra
with Yaesu staff they said that with such high power, a resonable
match was important before the tuner was used. That excuse does not
hold true in this case.

But remember that the published spec. for the FC20, FC30 and
Quadra tuners is IDENTICAL.

The other 'problem' with the FC30 is the fan. This continuous fan makes the FC30 unuseable when running on batteries.