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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
M3GNM Rating: 2007-12-07
Excellent Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Having bought the Yaesu FC30 ATU I was extremely disappointed by this purchase. The Yaesu designers were smoking crack the day they designed that POS.

I then went back with the FC30 to my "dealer" and insisted that he take it back and swop for the LDG897 which was the best thing ever. The ATU is brilliant. It will tune a wet piece of string and is well built. Stay away from the Yaesu FC30 and go with the AT897.
WN9E Rating: 2007-07-04
Great Tuner!!! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought this tuner about a year ago as I wasn't completely satisfied with the FC-40. It is the perfect add-on to the FT-897. I used it for most of last year in my shack with good results until I bought an FT-2000. I used the FT-897/AT-897 this year during my group's Field Day. I used it with was a Cobra Ultralite Senior and 4:1 current balun. I was able to tune anywhere on 6-80 meters with no problem whatsoever and made multiple contacts on 20, 40 and 75/80, as well as one on 6 meters. It even tuned up on 160 although there was no activity there. If you want a tuner for the FT-897, this is definitely the one to go with.
KB5MIQ Rating: 2007-05-13
i like it Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
i purchased this tuner with a new ft 897d at the end of april 07 and i like the tuner, but i had one issue but it was my fault and not the tuner or LDG. when you hook up the tuner be sure and plug the red end of the cord marked radio into the radio and the black end marked tuner into the tuner, if u get them backwards it wont work.
i have that solved and the tuner works fine, i like it.
73
kb5miq
KD8DEY Rating: 2007-02-16
I Like it Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Simply stated I Like it. I'm not rich. Actually I'm Partially Disabled from work injuries working security. And I live basically from paycheck to paycheck.

IM Really Picky on what I spend my money on. The AT-897 is what I choose and I have no complaints. Right now I only have a 6 meter Dipole hooked up to it. works fine. tunes up no problems. love the one touch tune. (looks nice on the side of the radio).

To the guy that called HRO about the so-239 problem. Why didnt you send a E-mail to the manufacturer? I fumble fingured one of the case screws while mounting the tuner to my radio (diabetic neuropathy). Contacted the manufacturer about my little problem. and they were kind enough to send me a couple more to replace it with (no charge).
K2GW Rating: 2007-01-29
Great Portable package Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've used my FT-897/ AT-897 package for portable work for 2 1/2 years now and it's still working fine. Does a great job tuning my portable antennas in one convenient package. Place the rig on the picnic table, connect the antenna, press tune and you're on the air.

One hint for portable operation with any rig. To avoid problems with any SO-239 that gets it mate connected and removed frequently, add a permanent right angle adaptor. Now all of the wear and stress in on a throwaway $4 part instead of your tuner's connector

73

Gary, K2GW
M5AEO Rating: 2006-11-15
Sadly, it didn't work! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I had this tuner for about a year; bought it with my FT897. In principal it's a really good product, but in practice I just couldn't get it to work in my situation, which is a shame as it is a really well-constructed piece of kit.
In my case I was using a 40 metre end-fed wire, fed with coax via a balun. The ATU was able to cope quite well, but would keep dropping into 'bypass' mode every other over, neccessitating a re-tune. Obviously this wasn't very convenient! I tried to cure this with ferrite chokes galore (!) but just couldn't get it to work reliably.
So, I'm not condeming this equipment, just warning others that RF feedback may be a problem.
I am now using an MFJ manual tuner.
Jon Kempster M5AEO.
KB3RMX Rating: 2006-10-09
Good Tuner Bad Package Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I've owned this tuner for six months now and I have to say that it does tune just about any antenna that I've put on it, but although I'm pleased with the tuning ability of this unit, the hardware is yet to be desired.

First of all when I installed it to the FT-897, the holes in the tuner didn't line up with the holes in the rig, the screws did not have the same threads as what the ft-897 was, so when I put this thing on I had to file the holes bigger to line up with the rig and had to purchase screws that were correct. Also when I installed the coax to the input side of the AT-897 the so-239 connector was loose. The thing does work very well, but for $200 you'd think LDG would build a better package.
OZ1GCT Rating: 2006-05-20
Very good tuner Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have used this tuner almost a year with my FT-987D and I think it´s doing a great job.Tunes very fast, even a longwire, if you use a balun.But if you are looking for a tuner with a lot of knobs and meters, it´s not the tuner for you, because it has only one single button to press.
N5EAT Rating: 2006-05-19
Very good so far Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've had mine 2 weeks or so. Probably have done 200 tunes or so in that time. My tuner has a single short press for bypass mode. The other button press is one long enough to start tuning after you've applied some rf to it.

The unit seems to be really good at retuning to a particular setting on a different band using the same antenna. This is excellent. If you change antennas - it will have to again find the sweet spots. This tuner is not completely automatic in that you have to initiate the tuning each time you want it to tune. It does not start tuning when it senses rf. This is because it's always in power conservation mode. Once the unit finds a tuned point - it basically shuts down and leaves it's relays in place until you decide to retune.

So far on the AT-897 will tune any frequency I need regardless of the tap setting on my MFJ portable screwdriver antenna.

The unit looks pretty good mounted on my 897. If you read the specs - the current draw of this thing is almost zero. So for it's intended purpose - running off internal batteries in the 897 - it's quite good.

This thing is a 5 if it doesn't break. Some of the other reviews give me pause - but so far i'm very pleased.








NS6Y_ Rating: 2006-05-19
It's the Un-Tuner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This isn't a tuner, it's a detuner! I'm sorry but I've messed with this enough, sometimes it tunes, sometimes it detunes, mostly it detunes, I can forgive it for being big and ugly, there's a certain honesty in that, but when it consistantly makes your antenna the equivalent of no antenna at all (watching signals magically disappear after a tune! and finding it's the same as when you unplug the coax) it's time to move on. Long button presses, short presses, there's supposed to to a small language of button presses for this unit, for bypass, for tune from scratch, but there seems to be no consistancy in this language. This tuner is going right back for a refund, and yes I have already sent in my order to Elecraft for their little ATU, I don't plan to use my '897 at more than 20W for the field stuff, or in here in this apartment, and I'm sure the Elecraft unit will look lovely duct-taped to my rig!