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Reviews For: Ameritron ATR-30

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : Ameritron ATR-30
Reviews: 58MSRP: $850. USD
Description:
True Legal Limit Edge Wound Roller Antenna Tuner
Product is in production
More Info: https://www.ameritron.com/Product.php?productid=ATR-30
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00584.1
AA0FO Rating: 2021-08-06
Problem at High Power Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Purchased ATR-30 to tune 266’ dipole fed with 450 ohm ladder line. Transmitting with less than 400 watts, no problems at all. Transmitting more than 400 watts, the tuner started to arc. Had to open chassis and transmit so I could visually see where the arc originated. I was able to apply some electrical insulation at the point of arcing and now I no longer have any problems. I wish the tuner’s length was physically shorter and the roller inductor counter was easier to read but those are minor complaints. I’m very comfortable recommending this tuner to anyone desiring to make the most of their wire antennas.
K7JQA Rating: 2021-08-05
This Tuner is Awesome! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
What can I say? Blows away the competition for a great price. Guys, this tuner I believe would tune a paperclip. Seriously! I've built some really unruly wire antennas, used 450 ohm ladder line and household wire, Alpha Delta antennas out of resonance. Random wire antennas as well as Hex beams and 4 element MSquare antennas and it just works. I bought this tuner used about 20 years ago and it's been fantastic. I recently tried replacing it with an LDG AT-1000, what a huge mistake! I had the ATR-30 in Robs shop at Ameritron 1n 2017 and he took great care of it, so I decided to send it in again. Getting a new roller inductor assy, new drive gears and replacing the lights. All else seems to be operating normally. I would not buy another tuner, overpriced Palstar , it's okay but over priced. If you find this tuner used for less than $400 buy it! Still in production...
K1VCT Rating: 2018-11-19
Does what they say Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've had an ATR-30 for about a month, zero issues.

Things I like:
It works well
Easy to use
Very usable size meter
Great lighting, even on the inductor readout, Large controls
Decent amount of antenna switching options
Great power handling
Cleanly made - inside where it counts

Thinks I dislike:
The SO-239 connector in the back are a little funny to work with - mine don't seat the PL-259 male cable ends unless you fiddle with them a bit. Could just be they're new and tight
The cabinet cover was just a little crooked (lifted) at one side, but easy to correct
The index mark on the antenna selector is a thin white stripe, and a bit hard to see in the dim shack lighting (corrected with dab of enamel).

I've got an end fed long wire that is 72 feet long. I can tune for 1:1 for 80 meter frequencies. Works great right on up to 10 meter operation. Haven't tried it on 6 meters yet.

Looking inside, everything looks nice and cleanly made - aka - no solder globs, no flux splatter, clean connections. I found two loose screws, which may have loosened in shipping (even though the ATR-30 comes in a huge box). Obviously, hand assembled, so there is bound to be the occasional human error in solder joint quality or other minor thing. I don't find those objectionable, so long as they're minor and easy to fix. My mis-aligned cover took all of 10 minutes and a few swipes with Mr. Dremel on the holes to allow the cover to seat better... no big deal.

Does what they say. No issues. Time will tell on overall ruggedness.
W5NM Rating: 2018-01-08
Sort of Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I think like one of the other reviewers...
The ATR-30 is a good design, but implementation
is poor.
Rotary inductor is flaky as the day is long.
Lost some components in the wattmeter. Had to
repair this, and the meter lighting is troublesome.
If you have the money, pick something else.

W5NM
W5DXE Rating: 2018-01-08
Can Tune a Bed Spring Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had my ATR-30 now for over 10 yrs and only thing I can complain about is the light in the meter went out. Soooo replaced with bright blue LEDs and voila let there be light. As far as QC issues go. MFGs all have had issues in the QC department. My FTdx5kMP's OLEDs died after a year and my IC7600 screen died after 18 mos. So they all have problems. Some more than others.
K3PA Rating: 2017-03-06
Avoid at all costs! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Utter garbage.

While the basic design is fine, the implementation is a nightmare. After some intermittent problems, I opened mine up to fine the SO239 coax sockets completely unsoldered. Gee, wonder why it was intermittent? Many other poor construction issues. Quality control is utterly lacking; avoid all Ameritron/Hygain/Cushcraft/Mirage/Vectronics and other MFJ company products like the plague.

----------------------
Earlier 3-star review posted by K3PA on 2011-12-18

Yes, it works. Never seemed to have any problems with arcing, etc. Reasonable tuning range. Peak reading meter *sort-of* works. That being said, it is MFJ and shows it. The spinner knob fell off mine.
KB4YHO Rating: 2016-02-24
Excellent tuner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This big Ameritron tuner works better than advertized. Of course when I picked it up new I like most open these things up to check the build quality. Here's where I was blown away. This ATR-30 had no loose or missing hardware. All solder joints where shiney and well flowed. The internal cabling and small PCB's were all well made and routed smartly through the unit. Both the cross needle meter and the turns counter have very nice LED lighting. Now the roller inductor was well made and the silver plating appears very robust. The gears for the turns counter were meshed properly, which means somebody actually took the time to properly position the large roller inductor. It shows in the fact that turning the crank is relatively smooth and with constant and repeatable settings. Best part is the out of the box calibration of the SWR and PWR meters. In both peak and average they where within about 5% of my PowerMaster readings at every power level. Now many have appearntly had issues with this tuner but I'm here to tell you that the one I just picked up from HRO is of superior quality. As a matter of fact this ATR-30 is replacing a Palstar AT2K that's becoming intermittent again due to roller inductor wear. The Palstar is on its second roller inductor as I've worn off the silver plating in certain areas on these cheaper silver plated #12 wire inductors. The ATR-30 is a beast compared to the AT2K. Bottom line is this tuner is less expensive than most other high power types, build quality is much much better than expected. Haven't found anywhere it won't tune and it definitely has lower insertion loss than some of the high tier tuners. Would buy again and agin if the quality is similar to my recent purchase. Good job Ameritron/MFJ!! My perseption has changed. Happy customer.
KZ4B Rating: 2016-02-24
One of widest range(160 thru 10)--lowest loss tuners available. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have two of these tuners that serve me well in legal-limit operation with my two aesthetically matching Ameritron AL1500 Amps. They feed a variety of antennas including a ladder-line fed G5RV (200'long overall plus common fed 40 M dipole) cut for 160 thru 10 M Operation,480' 160 M Horizontal Loop, and a Mosley Pro 57 Beam. Please note the following comments/observations regarding my experience with this tuner:

1)As frequently noted in many other reviews of this tuner--the heavy gauge copper edge-wound rotary inductor which is largely responsible for the tuner's exceptionally high and broad-banded efficiency can be troublesome if out of alignment. Because of the heavy-duty construction of the inductor, there is necessarily heavy felt "drag" when rotating the inductor. This heavy felt "drag" is a sign of good electrical contact at the tapping point of the inductor/coil! The "trick" is to make sure that the "drag" is uniform around all 360 degrees of rotation from one extreme end of the coil to the other. If possible, personally test the Tuner prior to purchase. Otherwise, make this check IMMEDIATELY upon receipt of a new Tuner. My experience has been that an initially good inductor will give many years of good service. Also, tuning/rotating the inductor ONLY at relatively low power (100 watts or less) insures good contact for years without maintenance other than occasional light lubrication of moving parts. The Rotary Inductor's OEM "Crank Handle" is somewhat cheap and flimsey (I.E., not on par with the general good quality of the rest of the unit) and aggravates the perceived heavy "drag" when cranking. A slightly larger, much more attractive and robust "mil-spec." Crank Handle made by Raytheon [Part # (KNB)175-6-2G @ $24.00 ea.] is available from Surplus Sales of Nebraska (www.surplussales.com). This Knob not only eases cranking effort/feel, but looks great!

2) Note that the SWR/Power Meter is dual powered by an internal-to-the-tuner 9 volt battery and/or an external "Wall-wart"(WW). The Tuner will indicate SWR with power obtained from the signal being measured (I.E. NO external or battery power is required)--but Power Measurements DO require battery or external WW power. Don't do like I did and think the Power Meter has failed when the 9 Volt Battery died and NO WW was in use. Also, I have had to replace the SWR/Power Meter Diodes due to voltage surges caused by lose coax connectors and a bad antenna selector switch. Ameritron charges "peanuts" for replacement diodes that have a higher voltage rating than they used in earlier ATR30 Tuners.

3) I own and am a big fan of the great looking and buttery-smooth-tuning Palstar Tuners. However, no ONE Palstar tuner works as well on ALL Bands with as broad an Impedance Tuning Range as the ATR30! The Palstar AT2KD (with only two knobs to adjust thanks to d differential capacitor) is faster to tune but has a more limited Impedance Range relative to the ATR30. The only other competitive (to the ATR30) tuner) are the high-powered Ten-Tec Tuners (238A, Etc.) which have similar high efficiency and in certain limited cases an even broader tuning range. However, without somewhat difficult internal modifications, observed reliability is somewhat marginal above 1200 Watts PEP into difficult-to-tune antennas. For a great evaluation of most current antenna tuners including those I have mentioned in this review, get "THE ARRL GUIDE TO ANTENNA TUNERS" by Joel Hallas, W1ZR. The ATR30 is the most compact, broadest impedance matching, and highest power handling manual tuner that I know of!
WZ2P Rating: 2015-09-10
Very good Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
My setup is: 160 meter full wave horizontal loop. Antenna fed with 450 ohm ladder line right into the shack, connected to the ATR-30. No RF issues at all on all bands. I run legal limit almost always, never had an issue. This setup provides a commanding signal on all HF bands with a single antenna. This tuner works as advertised. Build quality is ok but not excellent. The value is also good for anyone looking for a high power antenna tuner. I would purchase another ATR-30 and recommend it. Don't forget, you need a reasonable antenna period. Anyone who expects a tuner to make up the difference needs to rethink things.
KB9RZ Rating: 2015-04-16
It Works Fine Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I believe this thing could tune up a chain link fence. I can tune up fine on 10, 17, 20 using my 40 meter dipole just fine. Running a AL-811H 800 watt amp into it. No problems at all.