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Reviews For: Turbo Tuner

Category: Antennas: HF Mobile & Accessories

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Review Summary For : Turbo Tuner
Reviews: 156MSRP: 269. USD
Description:
Automatic Screwdriver Antenna Controller for Icom, Kenwood, and Yaesu. Handles antenna motor currents up to 2 amps. Firmware is user upgradeable using a computer. Controller is powered by the radio. Plug and play with no calibration required. Works with all models of screwdriver antennas. Tarheel, High Sierra and others. RF bullet proof with extensive RFI filtering. Full 30 day money back satisfaction guarantee and 2 year no questions asked parts and labor warranty. We stand behind our products.
Product is not in production
More Info: http://WWW.N2VZ.COM
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001564.5
K5MV Rating: 2006-05-01
Excellent Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I installed the new Turbo Turner yesterday in the mobil using the Tarheel model 1000 (Big Bubba) screwdriver. Everything works perfect and I couldn't be more pleased. I even tryed it with my old model 100 Tarheel and found it to work perfectly. I highly recommend it for safety and ease of changeing bands when driving.

Jeff, K5MV
KB7IOG Rating: 2006-04-27
Excellent Product! Works great. Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
After reading through many reviews, of several products, I decided on the Turbo Tuner. It has been working with out a problem since I first connected it. Wow, one button tuning and I'm done. I have it paired with the High Sierra Sidekick & Icom 7000. This automatic tuning system is exactly what I was looking for. I had some questions before I purchased, so I called Bill N2VZ, and he was very informative on the phone and quick to follow up with my additional emails.
I'm having too much fun! Can you say DX!
http://www.telisphere.com/~garrett/Mobile/Mobile.html
K0SSI Rating: 2006-04-27
Works GREAT! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After using a couple of older screwdriver controllers with my IC-706 MKIIG, I upgraded to the IC-7000 and a new Hi Q 4/80 screwdriver antenna. None of the older controllers would work with this setup, and the manufacturers are no longer in business! I ordered the Turbo Tuner! When it came in, I had what I thought was a problem because nothing worked correctly! An email to Bill solved the problem (GREAT customer service). I have been using my mobile setup for a couple of months now and it has worked flawlessly everywhere from 80m through 6 meters! Yes, 6 meters!
Thanks Bill for producing this GREAT product!
Bill de KØSSI
W8JJ Rating: 2006-04-22
Essential Equipment for Mobile HF Operators Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have the Turbo Tuner installed to run my HI-Q 4/80 antenna and it worked right out the box after two very quick dip switch adjustments. I'm a mobile county hunter and make frequent band/mode changes and this device is a dream come true for me.

There was a national news story this week regarding traffic accidents caused by driver distractions. Anyone who has operated mobile knows just how dangerous it is to watch an SWR meter, run the manual switch, and drive. Those days are gone thanks to the Turbo Tuner! I'm able to get full output on any frequency simply by pressing the tune button on the radio without taking my eyes off the road. The audible CW tone lets me know when the radio is ready to transmit.

The customer service before and after the sale is first rate. Bill is willing to answer all questions and provide support as needed. Shipping was fast and the instructions are easy to follow. This product is an essential accessory for all mobile operators using motorized antennas.
VK2NW Rating: 2006-04-14
Great!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just had to write this immediately. I purchased the TT locally for use with an IC-7000 and High Sierra HS1800. After firmware update and hookup, the unit emitted the dreaded "SSS" - something's wrong - finger trouble? So I email Bill with my problem. Next thing (and mind you, this is in VK land), the phone rings - "Bill of TT here. You have to set the CIV baud rate to 300" - thanks Bill!! Out to the car, and voila! She verks!! It must have been fully 5 minutes between email and human voice response. How could you beat that for customer service?
Well, put through it's paces on various bands it comes up fine (once I'd got the motor direction switch right).
No more hairy tuning episodes while driving the highways and byways..
WA6RF Rating: 2006-04-03
Outstanding Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I cannot tell you what a pleasure it is to use this controller. I have used Am-Com and the BOSSII with my IC-706II(G) with some successes but I just could not enjoy mobile hamming. I finally spent the extra $$ and am I glad I did. Using the High Sierra Sidekick, the TT worked great. I had to work with the dip switches twice and through no fault of the unit I had to do some soldering as a wire came off while changing the switches. I sent it back to 'Mother', got a new pcb and the latest firmware,. no charge. What a pleasure!! I highly recommennd this product!!
Dick WA6RF
N2HBZ Rating: 2006-03-30
Works as advertised Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am using the TT with a Kenwood TS-480HX and a Tarheel "Stubby" Model 75 mounted on the roof of my Nissan XTerra. No problems whatsoever.

Bill N2VZ was patient and helpful when I had questions.

A highly recommended mobile accessory.
K1SCJ Rating: 2006-02-28
The Best Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Simply put - buy one!

Others have gone into the product specs and features. I just want to say that if you own a High Sierra HS1800 as I do or other screwdriver type antenna, you must have a Turnbo Tuner for the easiest, fastest and most trouble free method of tuning to the lowest SWR.

Setup is simple. Then, one push of the Tuner button on your rig and your transmitting a 10 watt carrier signal and an audible tone emits. When the tone stops you know you've reached the lowest SWR. It's that easy and in a vehicle, no need to take your eyes off the road.

I am using the Turbo Tuner in a fixed installation with an Icom IC738 and IC756. At first, the tuner did not work with either of these rigs. So, I bought an IC706 and the tuner worked just as it should. I contacted Bill. He got his hands on an IC756, made a slight modification to the Turbo Tuner and sent the new unit to me. It worked right out of the box. Seems that Icom made a change in their spec, but now the Turbo Tuner is compatible with all three Icom rigs.

When I install my IC706 in my Jeep with a new HS1800, I will buy another Turbo Tuner.

This is just a great product and Bill makes every effort to provide excellent product support. He's the best. Do youself a favor and buy a Turbo Tuner. You'll get a great product and even better support if you ever need it.

Richard
G1ZRN Rating: 2006-02-18
Excellent. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
N2VZ Turbo Tuner for ICOM IC 706/7000.

I purchased a Tarheel 300 160M to 10M screwdriver antenna last Christmas (see separate review) and after finding the automatic tuning of an ATAS antenna and my FT857 to be a must when mobile I thought a Turbo Tuner would be the ideal companion to my IC706MK2G and the Tarheel 300.

I changed back to an Icom IC706MK2G as I found the Yaesu FT857 to be disappointing but one thing I did like was the automatic tuning of the antenna from a button on the radio, so after following the link from Tarheels web site to Bill’s N2VZ web site and read all about the Turbo Tuner which allows full automatic tuning of a screwdriver antenna I was quickly sending off an email to order one to use with my IC706.

After a delay due to production problems, which I understand has now been sorted, it arrived here in the UK a few days ago. I had already downloaded the manual and so had a head start on installation.

To set it up with whichever antenna you are using it with requires unscrewing 4 very small screws to access a small bank of dipswitches. The dipswitches control the current required to run the antenna, to accept a slightly higher SWR if your antenna cannot provide a suitable match to a given frequency and also to set the direction the antenna first moves in when trying to find a suitable match.

The Turbo Tuner is connect to the 4 pin Molex socket on the IC706 where it also gets it power so you don’t have to install another power lead, and also for the IC706 to accept the commands from the Tuner another lead is connected to the 3.5mm CI-V socket.

Now it was connected it was time to check out operation. Switching on my IC706 also powers up the tuner, which announces it ready by sending out from the tiny speaker inside a Morse character “R”. Selected 160M first and pressed the tune button on the 706 and away the antenna went finding a match first time. It worked on all bands at first other than 17M & 15M and when I wanted it to retract the antenna to the park position it moved off in the opposite direction and fully extended the antenna.

Setting dipswitch 1 on to reverse cured the park problem but after a couple of hours trying different dipswitch setting according to the trouble shoot section in the manual it would go straight into park mode when trying to find a match on 17M & 15M.

I emailed Bill and explained the problem and he quickly replied asking for a phone number to call me on and to be by the car. He called me here in the UK a few minutes later and we discussed the problem and he suggested a cure. It turns out that the coax length between the tuner and the antenna was way too short.

My radio is remote mounted in the rear of my vehicle and close to the antenna and I only had approx 3ft of coax between the tuner and the antenna. So I wound an Ugly Balun, which increased the length of the coax to 14ft, mounted it at the feed point and it has cured the problem instantly. The tuner now controls the antenna perfectly and finds a match on all bands from 160M to 6M.

Many thanks to Bill for a great product and for a great after sales back up and I recommend anyone with a screwdriver antenna to try a Turbo Tuner as it means no more eyes of the road to watch for the SWR to dip on the radio when using the manual switch method.

73
Mike G1ZRN.
KA4OJN Rating: 2006-02-14
The TurboTuner works Great Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have a Yeasu FT-857 and a Tarheel model 100 antenna.

I purchased the TurboTuner after watching the website for several weeks and finally seeing that it was available. I was in south Georgia at the time and had it shipped to Kentucky where I live. While I was waiting to go home and get it I made up a cable as I knew that it would have to be inserted between the radio and the antenna.

When I opened the package I was surprise to see that he had included a cable and he even included a molex plug in case there was not one in my installation. I set the dip switches and then went to my truck and installed the TurboTuner. The instructions that came with the TurboTuner were clear and concise.

I had a wattmeter in the line that I had used to check when I was on frequency so I left it in while checking out the tuner. I did not have the choke spread apart far enough on the antenna. Once that was corrected everything worked flawlessly. For the next couple of weeks I used the antenna on multiple bands, using the wattmeter to check that it tuned the antenna correctly each time. It would tune it to peak power with lowest SWR each and every time.

After a couple of weeks of trying the tuner around town I returned to south Georgia. It was a real pleasure to use the tuner as I just had to hit the button and everything was automatic. It was much safer on the highway to just hit a button and know that it was tuned up instead of holding a button down and watching the meter for a peak.

I strongly recommend Bill's TurboTuner.

73,
Jim KA4OJN