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Reviews For: Vectronics HFT 1500

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : Vectronics HFT 1500
Reviews: 26MSRP: 459.95
Description:
Roller inductor Tuner with peak-pwr bargraph
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.vectronics.com/vectronics/index.php
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00263.9
DK8LS Rating: 2002-01-13
great piece of kit Time Owned: more than 12 months.
ive had my HFT-1500 for 2 years now and i'm made up with it. It will tune anything and the roller inductor is silky smooth. Its better than any MFJ that ive seen or used or any other tuner for that matter. If i can find some, i'm going to replace the insulators with ceramic ones, but other than that i would recomend this tuner to anyone. I got mine second hand, but unused and paid 500 Marks for it ( about 250 Dollars). Ive used it on G5RV's both long and short versions, on inverted L's for 160 mtrs, dipoles, symetrical and assymetrical feeder, you name it, this tuner has mastered them all without any problems

vy 73 de steve
WA6IPD Rating: 2001-12-21
An OK tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had my tuner for many years it was one of the first made in Scarborough Ontario. It works ok but has required a little re-engineering. First the crank drive coupling to the coil always came loose and would start to spin. The reason was that the coupling only had two set screws and they would come loose, so I removed the coupling and taped it for two more 6-32 set screws and since then there has not been a problem. But then about two years ago the coupling from the ANTENNA knob to the variable condenser broke and I had to replace that. They really missed it in the design, had they added one more set of LED bar lights they could have also monitored reflected power. If not that they should have added a switch for forward and reverse readings. Over all it’s not all that bad but I think the current price is out of line, they should make them in China where costs are low and they kill engineers who screw up.
W8OB Rating: 2001-10-30
so so tuner Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
i have had this tuner for a year now. the roller inductor is noisy very clunky sounding. although it does a pretty good job on 80-10 meters you will be hard pressed to put more than 500 watts into it on 160 without a 4th of july display. its also very hard to tune lots of playing around to get a match. i have sent various emails to vectronics for info on this unit and have never received a reply from them.
K6DDJ Rating: 2000-11-07
A very good Tuner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased the HFT-1500 from AES about a month ago to run with the Ameritron AL-811H amplifier. It is a great tuner that takes the full output of the amp (about 800 watts PEP, 600 CW) with out any complaints. I use it with a 1/2 wave 80 meter dipole fed with 50 coax, and am able to tune the antenna for operation on all ham bands from 160 to 10. The process of initially finding the tuner settings for each band can be a bit tricky, but once you get the tuner dialed in and record the settings, it is a snap to get right back to them when you want to. Yes it is a bit pricy but after looking at the internal construction and actually using it on the air, I think it is a great tuner that will last for years.
N4PT Rating: 2000-03-13
Disappointed Time Owned: unknown months.
At a local hamfest I picked up a HFT1500 to replace an old MFJ986. The MJF has so many burned spots on the inductor it is hard to tune. The MFJ has smoked many times but survives. I work mostly the low bands 160,80 and 40.
Well, on 80 meters the HFT1500 arcs on anything over 500 watts. Most of the arcs are on the transmitter cap. It is spectacular! I also noticed that the HFT1500 is much more difficult to tune than the MFJ.
I was disappointed because the insides of the HFT1500 look good. But, it is not going to work for my application. If you were looking for something for the low bands I would not recommend the HFT1500.
Well I guess I will cleanup the MFJ inductor.
ArthurP742@aol.com
N.A. Rating: 2000-01-30
Pretty pricey but decent! Time Owned: unknown months.
I have had my Vectronics tuner now for over 3 years now. I have only had to take it apart once
and clean the antenna switch. Which was a every
week job for the MFJ tuners. I sold my MFJ 986 because it did not function like the spec said, it would ark when ever it felt like it, even on 100 watts pretty junky inter parts. The vectronic is a better built interal tuner. I have never had the vectronics ark on me ever even running 1000 watts rtty through it! Little pricey but better than a MFJ for sure.

Darin Wyatt