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Reviews For: LDG AT-897 Autotuner

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : LDG AT-897 Autotuner
Reviews: 54MSRP: 239.00
Description:
Bolt on wide range autotuner for the Yaesu FT-897. No cooling fan! Latching relays means no current draw once tuned. Provides access to CAT port for computer control of the radio.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.ldgelectronics.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00544
VK7HDX Rating: 2011-10-11
Usual LDG high standards Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
No problems here... Just plug in and play.
And that's what we are all looking for.

73
Karl
VK7HDX
K8RBW Rating: 2011-05-09
LDG Sets the Standard Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My first experience with LDG dates back to building the tuner based on their mid-1990s QST article. With advancing age and declining dexterity, my building days are gone; nonetheless, I have purchased a number of their products since then. They have never let me down, always providing first-rate merchandise. Their AT-897 (non Plus) was no exception and was a stellar performer during several trips to Hawaii, providing great matches from a hotel room as well as on the beach. It recently malfunctioned so I sent it to LDG to be repaired. Today I received a box with a tuner in it. The invoice stated that they had replicated the problems I described with my AT-897 and it was not repairable. I was stunned to find that they had sent me a replacement AT-897 Plus gratis. I've always been quite happy with the products and service provided by most producers of amateur radio products. LDG stands with the best of them.
Mni tnx to Dwayne, Jennifer and the entire LDG team.
Vy 73,
de Dick, K8RBW
W4JAH Rating: 2010-09-12
Works perfect Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Works Perfect, very fast and tunes every thing that I have thrown at it. Great Job LDG
N2CSA Rating: 2010-03-26
Will Tune Spaghetti Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought a FC-897D and AT897 for my Go-Kit. It was pressed into service for PSK-31 when my IC-746PRO needed a trip for repairs. I added the LDG 4:1 balun to the FC-897/AT897 combination and worked this set-up into a 112' random wire configured as an inverted L. The AT897 tunes 6 through 160 meters. During a winter storm the wire was coated with 3" of snow and ice. The AT897 tuned it.
KE5LDO Rating: 2010-01-26
Excellent repair of AT-897 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I recently had to send this tuner in for repair.
They replaced repaired the cables, replaced the
Resistor R14, replace J8 and J10 DIN connectors, Staightened the pins on the CAT - Din 8 connector and replaced missing screws an "friend" had removed and lost when installing it as a mobile rig. He had removed from the radio instead of leaving that alone. I was not there at the time to supervise. They also replaced the cables AND shipped back to me at NO CHARGE!

I compliment LDG on this practice. I tried to pay them and they said, " No, they could not duplicate the problem." I will be testing it out this weekend. Thanks, LDG!! I am a customer for life!!
NU1H Rating: 2010-01-24
Great Tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have been using this tuner for the past 3 years with no issues whats so ever... I have used this tuner with many different antennas and verticals. I had the FC30 tuner for about a week before i returned it to HRO and exchanged it with the ldg tuner... The only issues i had over time was the antenna connection on the back came loose, and that was due to connecting and disconnecting all the different antennas over time. I would buy another LDG tuner and would recommend this tunner.
K7RFW Rating: 2010-01-24
Worked for a while, smoked, poor repair job. => UPDATE Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought the LDG AT-897 at Dayton 2007 to complement the FT-897D that I bought at the same time and I used it a couple of times to fine tune my Buddipole on 80 meters (shortened antennas are VERY narrow banded) with good reports. After several uses, it started to continuously tune and had to be stopped and eventually smoked (100 watts at 12 feet). LDG said that RF probably got inside and fried something (and it did) so I sent it back to LDG for repair.

I checked and saw where it was repaired when I put it back on the radio, and did not use it again until a month ago when I decided I wanted to try and use the Buddipole for 40 meter RTTY and voice (top end voice being about 3:1 and RTTY 1.4:1). Not only could it not tune (it did try), but one of the SO-259 connectors was very loose. While it did work very well for a while, I am not very happy with the repair and since it costs to send it back, I think I will just write it off as a lost cause instead of trying again. Maybe I will take it into work and see if it is something simple that I can fix.
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UPDATE: My MFJ Intellituner stopped working, so I had to go to work since I wanted to do the RTTY contest. Tightened up the connectors and some other screws, touched up a few questionable solder spots, hooked up the wires (but did not fasten it to the radio this time) and it worked, including the feed-through to the computer which did not since the repair. The Bird said I was doing 3.2:1 on 40 meters and 2.8:1 on 20 meters but the radio said I had 1:1 on both bands. Kind of hard to say how it was doing but had Aruba on 40 and Connecticut on 20 from Northern Utah with 75 watts, so I guess it works. (a 120 foot horizontal delta up 25 feet, feed with 30 feet of Radio shack TV twin lead to a 4:1 balun, and 25 feet of RG-8x to the watt meter).
M3VXJ Rating: 2009-09-08
What's that smell? Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
That'll be a coil burning out. Returned and repaired under warranty. Burnt out again within 2 minutes on 20m and I can't get the smell out of the shack.

Until the problems it had been performing pretty well. Off it goes back again. I'm very disappointed. Would not purchase again and would not recommend.
JR3TVH Rating: 2009-06-24
Greater performance for its size Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have been used along the manual.
Cable this ATU to connect longer verticals and dipole of higer harmonic or lower harmonic antennas. Just press the button (unlike IT-100 there is no tuning button on the front panel)
and it tunes well enough performance for the compact size. I had imported to use this one and some compact LDG tuners,I just mind when repairment is needed.
Once the one use longer wire or tubes, this tuner can tune and find the right resonated position.

AF2RF Rating: 2009-06-13
Works better than I expected Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought the LDG AT-897 because it is said to work better than the unit yaesu sells. Well I cant compare the two, but the LDG works fast and properly. I have an L shaped 20M dipole at 10M height feed with 10M of LMR-400 type cable, and the LDG tunes it from 40M to 10M with an SWR below 1.5:1 on all bands. It doesnt make it work on 6 or 80, but would you really expect such an antenna to present a reasonable load on those bands?