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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: 670. 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
N2EIK Rating: 2015-02-16
BEAST Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned two super tunes in my ham years. One was a Murch UT2000a and this ATR-30. I have owned this one for maybe 7 years now. This is a beast. I have fed it with full legal RTTY into some crappy loads and its have never arced. Just for kicks I dumped 2500 watts through it into a dummy load and it stood up tot he test. No arcing at all. As others have reported, the roller inductor is less than smooth but it works ok. I like the antenna switch built in.
I woul like to have an automatic but I really have a lot of confidence in the ATR-30.

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Earlier 3-star review posted by N2EIK on 2007-02-03

I haven't seen any flaws as described in some other posts. I have been using it QRO and I like the meters But the meters do not work at all (nature of design) if there isnt any 12v dc going to the tuner. It is sort of inconvenient, but easy to work around (add a plug from my shacks 12 volt rail. All in all I should have never sold my Murch UT2000, that would tune a tin can! Should have bought one on ebay.
W6MK Rating: 2014-11-06
Works! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Recently acquired a used one. QC sticker inside says made in 2012. Got it to augment a Palstar differential tuner which is very well made, easy to use but offers fewer tuning solutions due to differential capacitor setup. I also suspect that the Palstar is somewhat less efficient at the margins.

Put the ATR30 to work to discover that the inductor roller had intermittent contact when using my usual 3 to 5 watts of tune-up power. Adjusted roller. By the way inside of tuner looked fine with competent assembly and soldering.

I can now tune my resonant feeder multiband dipoles on bands which before were not tunable.

ATR30 controls not as smooth and easy in operation as the Palstar but still plenty easy enough. I think this, overall, is an excellent tuner if its properly set up and adjusted.
NW3Y Rating: 2014-08-19
Poor Quality Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Purchased the ATR30 and out of the box it felt very light for a tuner that says it can handle what it claims. The inductor would not make one full revolution without hitting something inside. I was not about to fix this problem and because of this and its apparent cheap feel, I sent it back the next day. I replaced it with the Palstar AT4K. (see my review of it)
K2VI Rating: 2014-05-20
superior tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Owned the atr-30 since 2002. Never had a problem , arc nothing. It just tunes everything and with much less loss that the palstar tuners. This tuner is the beast. The only thing palstar has over the atr-30 is there smooth inductor. I will sacrifice that small nit for a tuner that could handle and power you throw at it , low Q equates to little loss and huge tuning range. This tuner could tune a bobby pin. Good job ameritron.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by K2VI on 2013-01-16

Purchased new in 2004 and still going strong running 1K through it. I clean the air inductor and switches every two year or so. Never had a problem with this tuner. Are there better? Sure palstar to name a few but I will keep using this one for a very long time.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by K2VI on 2007-02-03

purchased mine new in 2002 and it still works flawalessly,i run full 1500 watts pep from my ameritron al-82 and it tunes flat SWR all the time.Im thinking it's a quality control issues with ameritron/mfj. I got lucky and got one that was assembled perfectly.Also the peak meter is very accurate and responsive.I hope you get one of the good ones,they do a great job.
K4HYJ Rating: 2013-10-30
Works great!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have not owned an amplifier for a very long time so my experience with "high power" tuners has been limited. I first owned an Ameritron AL-811H which easily produced 800 watts PEP. I bought it and an old MFJ-986 differential tuner. They worked great together. I sold them both after several months of use and bought a non-working Henry 2k-4 amp. After it was up and running and putting out 1300 watts key down with no sweat, I bought another old MFJ tuner (989B) and they worked great together.

After some testing and self learning of how the amp worked etc, I realized there was decent loss through the tuner - which I've learned is just the way it is. However, a local ham told me that his ATR-30 had very little loss and if I wanted a good efficient tuner this would be the one. After borrowing it and doing my non-scientific testing, the ATR-30 gave me almost .6db more throughput than the 989B. So I set out to find a used one for a good deal.

I came across one on QRZ.com and purchased it. It performs just as my friend's one does. The meter is comparable to my LP-100A meter for both power and SWR. The LED meter light is a nice touch. The capacitor controls through a gear drive are nice and smooth and the settings are repeatable. Same for the inductor - the counter is repeatable and the control is smooth and quiet. Much better Q than the old 989B.

I've used it at almost 1500 watts PEP on 80/75, 40, 20, and 10 meters and 800 watts on 17, 15, and 12 meters with no issues or arcing etc. I can't really test on 160 meters since the old Henry does not support that band. It works great on 160 with only 100 watts.

The worst match it has seen is on 60 meters - my OCF dipole is no where near compatible for that band. It is almost 7:1!!! The ATR-30 tuned it down to 1.8:1 and it works great (with 100 watts of course).

The fit and finish is very good (realizing this is a used unit). Very clean on the inside - good solder joints and tight screws with solid looking construction. The Lexan front is a nice touch that MFJ has moved to. The case is heavier than most other new MFJ gear reminding me of the older MFJ days - good Ameritron holdovers!
N0DQS Rating: 2013-02-18
just ok Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Tuned all that I wanted but had to solder 2 spots that the factory missed, have had this with other products as well so nothing new, inductor was a bit rough and noisy, meter was inaccurate. Did the job but was not for my shack, a bit rough in the asssembly also. Fit and trim a little rough.
W0BKR Rating: 2012-09-12
Pretty Good Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this tuner for some time now, and honestl, don't need it that much with my antennas. Now and then I tweak down the SWR if close to 2:1 and it works very well. No issues, no problems, etc. Seems to work as it should. A bit long from the front to the back of the unit to fit on the desk. Pricey but I think, in the long run, worth the money. Roller inductor tuning is nice. Not silky smooth, but functional.
WX4R Rating: 2012-08-04
Great Tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Been using such for several without any problems.Tuner will handle legal limit easily.
N5GOD Rating: 2012-08-04
No problems great tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had no problems with the tuner. I bought mine used and worth every penny. Tunes everything I need to tune. I use it with a AL80B so I cannot say about higher wattage. In my shack for what I do I cannot ask for any better.
KY6R Rating: 2012-06-11
Edgewound Inductor Stinks Time Owned: more than 12 months.
For the first year, this tuner did a great job - but the edgewound inductor was never very "smooth".

After 1 year, there was a binding and "grinding" sound when I tuned the inductor. I found that a brass screw comes loose and then scores the copper strip on one of the inductor connectors. I tightened the screw and it lasts a couple months. After a couple times doing this - the copper strip was so badly scored that I had to cut it - solder a wire and pass it through the back of the inductor. This worked fine for 6 months - then the brass screw becomes so loose from the brass tapping expanding that it won't stay tight no matter what.

The Palstar AT2K is a much, much better tuner.