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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
KK4HP Rating: 2011-12-30
Works as advertized Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Works as advertized on my FT-857D. It's sensitive to common mode RF so you have to make sure you have a well choked control line as well as the coax otherwise you get erratic operation. Also have to remember to turn off the the tune function when changing bands otherwise it will park itself.
KK8ZZ Rating: 2011-10-03
Works great, no fiddling~! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I fiddled around with the pricy BetterRF items that SORT OF do the same thing before dropping them and getting this. Better RF requires a complex series of adjustments with the IC-7000 that may, or may not work... if not, they say, try it again! (This with a Little Tarheel II antenna, well grounded, properly mounted, and a new Icom IC-7000 mobile rig). I finally gave up and bought the current version of the Turbotuner, plugged it in, and it worked with the tune control on the IC-7000., no fussing, no goofy menus (other than the simple setup as outlined in the 4 page manual... wait till you see what BetterRF wants you to do!). Turned on the rig, the CW verification sounded that it was OK, tuned the 40 meter WAS net on the mobile, and it went "..whir, whir, whir..." and beeped twice and I was in business with less than a 1.5:1` SWR. Buy this.. you won't be sorry... Bob KK8ZZ
KE4KMG Rating: 2011-09-28
Tuner is hunting now Time Owned: more than 12 months.
First got it worked geat, now if on 10m and tune to 40m its fine. Now go back to 10m and it cycles-hunts and goes the opposite direction then all the way back. Moved a dip sw. and made it worse. Never had the problem till disconnected radio to bring inside the house. Brought it back to the car hooked it up and started cycling/hunting? Other than that it works ok, tunes once if finds the spot. Giving it a Great! rating still as its a great tuner, I just may have a problem that I'm not aware of yet!
KC6F Rating: 2011-09-21
Does what it says it does. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
It does what it says it does. I have the TT for the Kenwood TS-480. It moves my Tarheel 100A-HP in the correct antenna, and sweeps out the SWR it reads from the TS-480 RS-232 port. It scans a little past the minimum SWR, and then quickly moves back to the minimum SWR point.

The operation is elegant in its simplicity, and it almost always moves in the correct direction, because it keeps track of which frequency you are tuned to, and where you want to go. The park mode that lowers the screwdriver is also nice.

I think some users give it a poor rating because they don't understand that it is not an IMPEDANCE MATCHING NETWORK. All it does it automate the DC motor in your screwdriver. If you mobile install is crapola, its not going to solve that for you. After tuning my Tarheel properly, the TT works as advertised.

My only complaint is that the build quality stinks. Its basically a PCB in a plastic box with Dremel cutouts for the cords. But hey, I don't know any competing units with these features, so I can't complain. I thank the seller for taking the initiative to produce this thing--that's what ham radio is all about.
WB6KIO Rating: 2011-09-19
Tuner didn't perform well in my mobile installation. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Tuner just wouldn't perform well at all in my installation. IC-7000 barefoot into turbo tuner into High Sierra w/5'whip. Kept having a mind of its own and would travel the full length of the antenna up and down and just wouldn't tune,
Talked to Bill(N2VZ) and he told me to send it back so I did and that was back in July. Tried calling his number numerous times as well as Emailing him numerous times but recieved no response regarding refund for tuner sent back over 3 months ago. Would advise any other ham not to get burned with the N2VZ Turbo Tuner because of very poor customer service. WB6KIO/Steve
N3JCV Rating: 2011-08-10
WOW! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased a complete revamp of my mobile shack. It included an Icom IC-7000, a Tar Heel Little TH II antenna and a Diamond dual band for VHF. Install took about two days and everything worked great. To try to learn how to tune the screw by sound did work well but was not an easy task. My Tar Heel antenna placement prohibited me from seeing the antenna while driving. After one week, I purchased the Turbo Tuner for the IC-7000. It made my DXing from my truck a real pleasure. It works perfect and easily tunes from 80 to 10 meters. I am getting to purchase the exact setup for my travel trailer and look forward to that install.
W7PK Rating: 2011-08-09
did not work corectly out of box Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
First my setup
I-Com IC-706 Little Tar-heel II and the N2VZ Turbo Tuner
well got my first N2VZ turbo tuner setup went well with the exception of a typo in the directions there is no CI-V 736 it is in fact CI-V731.
plugged it all in and I was off and running.
tuned right up to 28.380 " out local NW 10 meter group " and then 14.155 no sweat, but going to 3.80 took longer than 10 sec and it seemed to times out let out a tone and went to park mode.
as the directions say I did try changing the ma settings with the dip switches, that did not help. I called N2VZ and just happens he was on vacation at that time, when I did get a hold of him and explained my situation he sent me out a replacement. 2 weeks later the replacement arrived and I am in the same boat. ether it is the same lot and I got 2 defective tuners or something in my setup is a miss.

if anyone has run into this and can help it would be greatly appreciated.

73's
KF7NRW
GOLDTR8 Rating: 2011-05-26
Works just as its is supposed to work Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased a Turbo Tuner at Dayton as I wanted a safer way to tune my Scorpion.

I purchased the IC7000 version and set it up per the instructions except for a lower stall current than the recommended for the Scorpion. I used 750ma instead of 1000ma which is fine based on my amp measurements of moving the antenna up and down.

Followed the rest of the instructions (which were very easy) and turned it on and it worked just as it is supposed to do.

I only wish I would have purchased one sooner.
W2WP Rating: 2011-05-23
Works Flawlessly Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Tunes my Tarheel Model 40hp to 1:1 on 10 to 20m and 1.2 on 40m. Installation is a breeze.
VA3MW Rating: 2011-05-17
TT -- needs maintenance Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this unit for 4 years and it has been great, when it works, but I can't fully say the product is at fault.

My TT controls a 4" Hi-Q antenna from the FT-857. On the first install, it worked great, but it did get worse. Now, since software doesn't wear out I had to look elsewhere. The antenna takes a beating as I live in a northern climate with Salt used to manage the roads.

Lately, it started to blow the 3.5A internal fuse in the FT-857 (which is a pain to replace as it is SOOOO small).

I took apart the antenna mount and totally cleaned it of all the corrosion. Reassembled it with some conductive carbon grease (that was a great find). Don't use silicon sealant as all that does is trap the water.

Cleaned all the grounds on the antenna mount.

That still didn't solve the problem of the antenna stalling at the top and never moving again. So, I measured the stall current (something that the TT needs to know when it is at the end). I think that there is a bug in the software that if the antenna IS stalled at the top, it will never detect a hi current draw, so it won't reverse the direction. If you get in this position, then you might have to figure out a manual way to move it off the end. As asked for before, a good manual override would be an asset (I guess I should add this).

The manual says to set up the HiQ with a 1000mA stall current. In my case, this was too high (it wasn't years ago). When I set the stall current down to 500mA it behaved much better (the motor only draws 200mA when moving). I also modified the case so I could get to the dip switches without taking the case apart.

I am now getting my 12V power from the car directly, not from the radio (I'm too lazy to pull the radio out of the car again and replace the fuse--it is a several hour job as it is really buried in the back storage area).

Tuning 80M is still hit and miss, likely due to the fact that I need to improve my ground from the mount to the frame. The HiQ Q factor for 80m is pretty sharp, so it can miss it from time to time. I will have to redo the loading coil and see if I can broaden the 80m bandwidth some.

Over the weekend, I noticed that the web page was down. I have emailed and left a voice mail, but have yet to hear back. Bill, are you reading these? Is he still in business?

I have given the product a 4, but the customer service a 0-1. There is nothing wrong with the workmanship of the product. This is the R5 version of code. A mod to get it off the end would help.

If you are having problems, you have to make 100% sure that your antenna is not contributing to the problem. If you have NOT read every page of K0BG's site, then you should not be operating mobile .. hi hi (www.k0bg.com).

Lower band HF operating in a mobile is difficult at the best of times. Ground the hood, doors, hatch, etc. My installation is in a 2005 Nissan Murano that I have had since new.