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Reviews For: EMTECH ZM-2 ATU

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : EMTECH ZM-2 ATU
Reviews: 70MSRP: 65
Description:
Complete kit, all parts furnished
Product is in production
More Info: http://emtech.steadynet.com/zmdesc.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00704.8
W2LJ Rating: 2003-05-23
Teriffic QRP tuner! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I can't really add to the accolades that the previous reviewers have given - they've said it all! The ZM2 is EVERYTHING that you could hope for in a QRP antenna tuner. It tunes my Hamsticks on my Ford Explorer so nicely.

However, there is one thing I would like to add. Go to the Emtech Web page before you build your kit. Scott has posted some pictures on his page which shows his wiring of a ZM2. This is a SUPER addition to the printed instructions! I printed these images out and kept them by my side during construction. It really helped me wire it cleanly and avoid a "rat's nest!"

Great customer support, Scott!
N1KSN Rating: 2003-04-15
This little tuner is great Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
An excellent QRP Z-match tuner. It was fun to build. The tuning is rather sharp, which took some getting used to. The built-in LED SWR indicator makes it possible to go portable without an SWR meter, which is nice. Since it can handle both balanced and unbalanced lines it is my most flexible tuner for QRP use. I'm very happy to have purchased it.
KB8VWV Rating: 2003-04-15
Why have anything else for QRP Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have used my ZM2 for over 2 years and it is so fast and effective, I can not understand the reason that so many people want to go the autotuner route with their 817 or other QRP rig. Why mess with more weight, volume and battery power requirements. The ZM2 just does it all!

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Earlier 5-star review posted by KB8VWV on 2001-02-12

Built this in about 3 hours and worked as described from the first try. Have experimented with random wire, coax and balanced feeds and it tunes them all effortlessly and quickly. Well worth the $50 bucks! Better than alot of the other tuners I have sitting here. Now I wonder if they would make one that would tune 100 watts?
K6USN Rating: 2003-04-15
Simple- and it WORKS! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I was looking for a simple antenna system for my FT 817. Why have a tiny radio and a large and often tempermental antenna? Sort of defeats the purpose. I looked at all the popular 'walkabout' antennas and some of the larger 'portable' units. I use my radio from temporary locations in the USA and throughout the South Pacific. Walking around with it is not my thing- setting up quickly in a condo or vacation resort is. The EMTECH ZM-2 got great reviews (thanks, eHam!) and I purchased one based on that.
I won't talk about construction, since that has been pretty well covered. It works great and is very easy to tune.
I generally use random wires out the window or draped around a balcony. I run a 1/4 wave counterpoise for each band, and get really great reports from DX stations. The flexibility of installation and options of using 'as long a wire as I can get away with' make this a perfect accessory for my scaled down mini DX peditions. The rig, antenna,
tuner and keyer fit in one half of my briefcase with room to spare.

Customer service is top rate. Scott at EMTECH returns e mails within hours and is accessable by phone. I wanted to change the case to aluminum and he had an affirmative resonose back in no time.

Improvements? Can't think of any. This little
tuner meets my QRP needs completely.

K6USN / VK4DSN
Chico, CA
N9OH Rating: 2003-04-11
Fun Kit - Solid Performer Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This little tuner is everything its hyped up to be! The assembly went quick and without a hitch. I was a bit unsure about the toroid winding, but my first windings turned out great. The tuning is sharp, but not so sharp that you can't notice the difference in the LED brightness - even if you fly past the match point. I've only tried it "inside" and i'm not sure how visible the LED will be outdoors in full sun. We'll see! All the parts were included and the instructions were simple enough to get me going -- without providing a step-by-step list of instructions. A project this simple doesn't require them! If you're not an experienced kit builder, no problem. Anyone can build this guy. I built mine with the BNC connectors instead of SO-239 since alot of QRP stuff uses BNC instead of PL-259s. The only complaint i'd have about it is the cost. The parts are pretty cheap and easily obtainable (for the most part) so you could save a few bucks and round up the parts yourself -- but if you're looking to save time then of course order the complete kit from EMTECH. Mine arrived 2 days after i ordered it -- now that's fast. Did I mention it works? I loaded up a length of speaker wire on 20 and 30 meters - no problem. It even seemed to work on 6m.
K9JRW Rating: 2003-02-27
Super kit, fun and works! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Very satisfied with the ZM-2 from website, to order, to delivery, to construction/instructions, to operation. A pretty much ideal Ham kit.

The unit arrived a few days after ordering. Instructions were clear with good diagrams. Took about 3 hours to assemble including winding my first toroids.

The tuner worked fine the first time. I was able to dip the SWR on my FT-817 against a 20M dipole on 40M and 80M bands.

I love the fact that it requires no separate power source yet has an LED indicator when in tune mode. Great to not need another DC input/cable when carrying a portable setup around. The pre-drilled faceplate was also a nice touch. If I absolutely had to come up with something to change, I would ask for more operational instructions in the documentation such as covering the Ground/Link Switch and things not to do that might damage the unit.
Overall certainly a 5/5 rating well deserved.
KB5HWS Rating: 2003-02-20
30 Countries in 2 days Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This is an excellent tuner for QRP power levels.

I worked 30+ DXCC entities in 48 hours of casual operating on 10-40m during the ARRL DX Contest using 5W, a 90' length of wire, and my ZM-2. While that has a lot to do with the FB condx during the contest, the fact that this little tuner allows me to tune up a random wire on all bands helped quite a bit.

The kit is very easy to put together, and winding the toroid is no problem at all. The instructions are excellent and very easy to follow. The front plate now comes pre-drilled, which makes building the kit much easier.

Tuning up is a snap, and the LED SWR indicator is about as intuitive as it gets.

It's also very portable, lightweight, and relatively inexpensive. You don't have any excuses - if you need a QRP tuner, buy this one!

K9PO Rating: 2003-02-20
Excellent addition to a portable station Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I saw this at a local ham club meeting was immediately impressed.

I travel quite a bit and had been bringing with me a 100watt station built around a FT100D but with recent changes to aviation insecurity I no longer wanted to have an unlocked case of radios travel around around the world. So I have gone QRP and bring them on carry-on.

I ordered the kit and it arrvied very quickly. The instructions are very good and I built the tuner in about an hour. It is a little different to use than pi-network tuners and it took me little bit to figure it out as I had accidently thrown the instructions away.

My first trip with the tuner was to California. In a hotel in downtown LA I was able to tune a random length of wire for 20m, 15m, 10m, and 2m.

I worked Idaho, Oregon, Minnesota, all on 20m CW. On 10m SSB running QRO (5 watts) I got a partial QSO with a JA in Kobi Japan. All thanks to the ability to tune up a length of wire.

The tuner itself is small, easy to pack, and presented no problem to the TSA. The SWR indicator (a diode) is really nice and greatly assists with the tuning. It also has a built in balun and comes with either BNC or SO-259 connectors.

Emtech will sell you an unbuilt kit, a kit with the toriods already wound or a fully built kit. So every level of kit builder or operator is addressed with this product.

The tunning procedure I use is to first tune the two polycaps for maximum signal while in the operate mode. Then switch to tune and tune both caps (1st one and then the other) for minimal illumination of the LED. Quick and easy less than 1.5 minutes for each band. As there is a single solution for each band I can write these down and reset when changing bands. The best part is that I do not have to have additional batteries to run this tuner like some other popular QRP tuners require.

VR2XMC Rating: 2003-02-20
an interesting project Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Similar to other reviewers, the components given in the kits seem cheap stuff which can be obtained locally at about USD10. However, upon finish of the kit, I am surprised by its performance. While it is said to be an ATU covering the HF, it can be used in 6 metres as well. Although the tuning range is narrower in 6 metre, there is no apparent power loss.

It can tune a wide variety of antennas. However, the matching point is very sharp and can be easily missed if you are not carefui enough.

Construction of the kit is not difficult. The front panel is now with drilled holes and sticker label. Winding the toroid is straight forward to me (I constructed two K2 in the past).

After I finished the kit, I find difficulties in getting the SWR LED off for a matching point. Upon discussion with Scott via email (very quick response from him), I relocated T2 at a position further away from SW3 and tried every effort to shorten the internal wirings.

I am pleased by its performance after the above minor rectification work. I now carry it with my FT817 and super antenna MP-1 for portable operation.

73

Johnny VR2XMC
W2VD Rating: 2002-10-22
Compact Manual Tuner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I ordered my ZM-2 and received it in under one week. The kit went together in several hours. Two toroids need to be wound, all switches, etc. are panel mounted, and wiring is point-to-point. A word of warning regarding the front panel decal: be careful when applying!

I've only tested the ZM-2 with my mini G5RV (up about 65 feet). I was able to get very good matches on 80-12m. On 10m, the SWR was a bit under 2:1. The LED visual indicator is very useful for tuning to lowest SWR. I have not tried tuning anything with the balanced inputs yet.

To tune, put the ZM-2 in operate mode and tweak for the loudest signals. Then put the tuner into tune mode and tune until the SWR LED indicator goes out. Then switch back to operate mode.

I checked the SWR with another SWR/wattmeter, and the SWR was indeed lowest when the SWR LED indicator on the tuner was off.

All in all, I'd say that the ZM-2 is a nice QRP tuner for the shack or HFPack/portable work.