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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
KC8HXO Rating: 2002-09-19
You can't beat this!!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This little unit is slick. It does everything they say it will, and more. Nice to see that in a product these days!! The kit now has the front panel drilled, and is $65.00 . It is SOOOO EASY to tune! It was easy to build, too. You can't find a nicer SMALL, LIGHTWEIGHT tuner, in my humble opinion. If I could give it a 6, I would!
YUNG Rating: 2002-09-03
Best little tuner ever Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Bought the ZM-2 to tune the FT-817, works very well and fast, use in the mountains mostly.

At home tested it against my MFJ 949E tuner, the ZM-2 out-performs the MFJ especially when tuning 40 meters.

John
M0CUQ Rating: 2001-12-24
Excellent Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I got the ZM-2 kit direct from Emtech and despite the international shipping it took less than a week to arrive. It was then built in about an hour and a half, with the drilling taking the longest time. Luckily I have suitable facilities.

Well, in the continued hurry I pulled a few yards of wire from a reel and connected it to one of the binding posts, the ground connection was made to the desk! Surely it was rash to even think that this would work? but the ZM-2 worked a treat and immediately this arrangement was tuned on 40m and I was on the air!

For an impromtu antenna in a hotel, up a tree or on a kite this is THE tuner. Although the parts could be purchased cheaply locally I would say spend the money and support these Emtech guys, if the ZM-2 is anything to go by they are definitely on the ball!

Graham
N4EJG Rating: 2001-02-16
Ugly duckling, but fabulous performer Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I placed my order on Friday and the kit arrived via US mail the following Monday from Washington State to Florida!!!!!!

Upon inspection, it doesn't look like much. The two poly caps look like they were pulled out of a '70s era transistor radio made in Hong Kong. Don't be fooled by appearances. This little tuner is the real deal! Just don't exceed the 10 watt rating and you will be amazed.

It goes together easily. The instructions are straightforward. It really should not take you more than a couple of evenings.

I was truly astonished at how this little tuner works. I am used to having to take forever to tune out reactances with my LW. The visual SWR indicator is tuned by varying the two poly caps, that's it! There is no inductance tuning on this baby. My first experiment I was able to tune a 20 foot wire hanging out the window with a counterpoise on all bands 80 through 15 in less than 5 seconds per band and get a 1 to 1 match each time. I have used various tuners in my ham career and never saw anything like this.

The ZM-2 also seems to have a higher Q than my Heath SA2040 or my old Dentron, letting through much less noise and BC band QRM through on my HW8s.

The little tuner is small. Many have tried different cabinets etc. I will leave it as it is and be able to take it with me everywhere.

For the QRP operator who is looking for an easy to use tuner to work portable or in the shack, you can't go wrong with this one.

Ed
KS9Y Rating: 2001-02-12
It's a nice kit for the money. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
It very easily tunes any antenna that I have tried it on. One of nicest thing about it is that it requires no power to operate making it perfect for field trips.
The only reason I didn't give it a 5 is that I feel that the many holes that had to be drilled in the case should have been done at the factory. Luckily, I had a skilled machinist to that for me.
W2RBA Rating: 2001-02-12
Good little kit Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Although the price of $50 is a bit high, the kit went together almost like a breeze and absolutely works like a charm. It comes with a set of instructions for building it quite unlike other kits I've put together -- for example, it doesn't have any particular wiring instructions (except for the toroids) and many of us (well, at least me!) don't have any great skill at drilling holes in aluminum with rather close (for a kit) tolerances. But, hey, I did it and the tuner works fine on balanced lines and unbalanced (both of which I use)! Heartily recommended.
WB7NXC Rating: 2000-10-19
Easy build works well Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just built my second kit as a ham.. the ZM-2. Took maybe three hours including drilling holes and such. Went together well. It tunes well for my first kit, a Pixie, into a random length dipole fed by coax. Tunes quickly. Pretty nice deal.
AD4J Rating: 2000-08-07
Unbeatable for QRP Operation Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This tuner works well with both balanced and unbalanced antennas. The built-in SWR indicator and small size make it perfect for travel or field operation. Three days after building mine, I took it to London and had a lot of fun operating from the hotel. It will tune just about any reasonable antenna. Construction is easy.
N.A. Rating: 2000-04-03
great tuner for QRP Time Owned: unknown months.
Built this tuner several months ago and find I am using it more than my large tuner. found I can tune up most any size wire for travel. This has become my Travel tuner. Gives me the chance to get on the air away from home. Just ordered one so I can leave one hooked up to my home station. Highly recommend this little kit. Easy to build and use. Only negative is the position of the cable connectors, but they can be moved if you wish. Give it a try, you will like it a lot...
N5MZX Rating: 2000-01-26
Fantastic QRP Tuner Kit Time Owned: unknown months.
Want to build a fun and functional kit? This is it. It is easy and fun to build and guess what it does what it is indended to do. This tuner is so simple to operate I cant figure out why others would even want to own another brand of QRP tuner. Check it out you will like it. Also I am glad to be a 13 WPM General and lets keep CW in our QRP operations.