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Reviews For: Kessler Engineering AT-AUTO

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : Kessler Engineering AT-AUTO
Reviews: 88MSRP:
Description:
Production of the legacy AT-AUTO was halted per court-enforced settlement and to facilitate product improvement and redesign.

Kessler Engineering continues to service and support the legacy AT-AUTO, and is continuing to develop and release new firmware, which is freely available from the Kessler Engineering website for use on any AT-AUTO.

Although temporarily out of production, this is still very much an active product.

The revised AT-AUTO builds upon the capabilities of the legacy AT- AUTO and will debut shortly. Please contact Kessler Engineering directly for support and information.

Thanks, Don ki6sz@sbcglobal.net

Product is not in production
More Info: https://kesslerengineeringllc.com/tuners.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
25884.9
NV7E Rating: 2006-11-28
New Firmware Improves Ability to Store Tunes in Memory Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I wrote a review earlier about the AT-AUTO with the comment that it would not store tunes for 40, 80 and 160 meters with my Traffie HX-5Bi, which is designed only for 20 thru 10 meters. Those comments were based on the AT-AUTO firmware version 1.0

I have now upgraded to version 1.10 and note that the ability to tune on 40, 80 and 160 meters automatically is much improved and that the tuner will store tunes in those bands into memory. I am now even more impressed than before with this great tuner.

NV7E + ZS6SIG
KE5C Rating: 2006-11-08
Does exactly what I expected it would Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I use a 120 foot long inverted doublet center-fed with 450 ohm line on 40 and 80, and the default presets did not work at all, but that's not surprising since you can move anywhere you want around the Smith chart with such an antenna by varying feed line length. So I manually tuned, then switched to auto and fine tuned from there putting the settings into memory (over-riding the defaults) that way. Once done, I could change back and forth anywhere on the lower ends of 40 and 80, and the AT-AUTO got it right away in auto mode. As others have reported with highly protected amps, you have to run in manual mode or fine tuning can trip the amp out. When switching bands, I would put the amp on standby until the AT-AUTO tuned. I'll bet this is true with Alpha's too. I operate some at a contest station with an Alpha, and they are very SWR (reflected power) sensitive.

I noticed how many of the internal control wires are in shielded runs. The construction and operation is pretty impressive. I read the reviews and the instruction manual before I purchased it, and it does exactly what I expected it would. I go back and forth between 40 and 80 during contests, and this tuner makes it so much easier than my old manual by-the-numbers tuner. It really helps to have used a manual tuner so you have a realistic perspective on this type of equipment.
N4JTE Rating: 2006-10-30
A little touchy. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Been playing with the Palstar for a few days now and I am relatively (read Cost vs Results) happy, BUT; Some facts; It will not load a 80 meter dipole on 160 in case you wanted that capability, I didn't, but was curious. When going from a very happy 40 meter 3 ele 40 quad to a self resonant 75 dipole and follow directions the auto tuner tells me all is fine (good match) with 7 to 1 swr, I have to reboot, shut off the "auto tuner" and start over to get a REAL match. Also while running quad with auto tuner on and switching to another antenna, 40 sloper for south not even connected to tuner it will start changing the quad settings, only way around this is to make sure to keep in manual mode, not my idea of a $1200 "AUTO TUNER".
N7HR Rating: 2006-08-12
The finest tuner I have ever had my hands on! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
A little background on mhyself to establish my bona fides. I have been hamming since 1951, (ex W4HUP, W3HUR, KA2HR (Japan), VQ9HR) and have built close to a hundred antenna tuners myself. Many have been the ARRL Ultimate or slight variations thereof. Then came the "T" match types. Some have been - I am proud to say -
absolutely commercial build quality and performance. I have also had pass thru my station most of the high power tuners of commercial manufacture available today - Nye-Viking, MFJ, Palstar etc. et al. My personal favorite is the Drake MN2700 designed to complement the TR7. I have over 40 years nautical experience and am a retired Naval and Merchant Marine officer. I have used many of the auto tuners available on merchant ships and have an SGC230 on the rear of my Bronco.
In my not so humble opinion, the Palstar AT-AUTO is the finest tuner I have ever had my hands on! The ergnomics, and appearance are absolutely first class. Under the hood, the build quality is unsurpassed! It is beautiful, using the best quality components available. Operationally, it works beyond my wildest expectations. I have an 80 meter full wave loop at 90 feet which is impossible to tune on 160 unless one corner is opened. That is pretty tough to do at that height, so it stays closed.
The Palstar tunes this antenna from 1.8 - 20 MHz with unbelieveable ease. I also have a receiving antenna, a refurbed CB ground plane with 21 ft radiator. The Palstar tunes this dwon to 80 meters, again with ease. Take out your Smith Chart and check the load impedance of these - they should be beyond the AT-AUTO's capabilities. I found only one very minor anomaly with automatic operation. When tuned at low power and then shifting to high power the tuner wants to re-tune in the auto mode. This can make the amp unhappy. Problem solved: After tuning in low power, shift tuner to manual mode with simple push of a button and tuner will not then attempt to re-tune when high power applied. I reported this to Palstar and they acknowledged, stating they were aware of the situation. Meanwhile, I do not find the solution and inconvenience and am VERY HAPPY
with my unit. I congratulate Palstar on a superior piece of equipment, reasonably priced with unequalled performance. I say again, it is the finest tuner I have ever had my hands on!
George Morton, N7HR
N4MWY Rating: 2006-08-08
works great Time Owned: N.A.
This is a great auto tuner. It tunes up faster, in my experience, on 10, 15 and 20 meters and is slower on 40 and 75.

It can nearly allways find a match; even when it says it cannot do so I try again and it usually can.

It needs to have more outputs. Now it only has two-one for coax and one for a balanced line.
K5RG Rating: 2006-06-21
Great Automatic Tuner Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Ordered one as soon as they were available having seen the prototype at Dayton in 2005. It works as advertised. I have no problems with the automatic mode - it tunes every antenna I have (80 m delta loop & 40 thru 10 Carolina off-center windom) from 80 thru 10 meters. No problems running with my Alpha 87A so it handles a full 1500 watts. My only desire would be for the manual to have a more detailed technical description and allow my manual fine tunes to be stored at the frequency in question instead of the automatic mode determined settings (which work fine, I just like a 1.0000:1 match) Also taking the cabinet off is a joy to behold which shows a very nice mechanical design that is well built.
K6QE Rating: 2006-05-31
Excellent piece of equipment Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The antenna tuner is just wonderful! I am a remote control freak and love to remote my Icom 7800 over the Internet. Unfortunately, my 10k radio doesn't like to tune above 3:1. What a drag for 10k? Right? Anyway, for another 1.1k I have obviated that problem with the most wonderful tuner I have ever used. It is just pure quality and a joy to operate.

I use a Force-12 shortened dipole on 75 meters and I can only get about 60 kHz. out of my 10 thousand dollar radio. However my 11 hundred dollar tuner allows me to tune this dipole from 3700 to 3999 with ease. I have memorized all the frequencies in 5 kHz spacings and the tuner races to each location, sets the paramters in less that 3 seconds no matter where I am on the band. This makes operating the 7800 remotely over the Internet a pure joy.

My congratulations to Palstar for making such an outstand product.
KE5EMH Rating: 2006-03-31
Works OK but slow on my antenna. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I received one of the first Palsar AT-Auto Antenna Tuners from HRO. It is well made, but I find it too slow and it could not match my dipole on 80 meters. I live in a restricted neighborhood so I must keep my Alpha-Delta DXCC dipole about 15 feet from the ground. This gives me a high SWR on the lower bands (> 10). It tries for a long time and the comes up with no match. Even on the bands it can match, it takes a full 30 seconds or more and may time out, requiring a second or third attempt before matching. I thought this would be quicker than using my Palstar AT 1500CV, but I can turn the dials and tune the band faster than the AT-Auto can tune. I have put the AT 1500 CV back in the feed line and will stay with it. The AT 1500 CV is a very good tuner. The AT Auto may need some work. KE5EMH