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Reviews For: Palomar Engineers PT-3000 Antenna Tuner

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : Palomar Engineers PT-3000 Antenna Tuner
Reviews: 3MSRP:
Description:
The PT-3000 is a wide range impedance matching network that is designed to match a 50 ohm transmitter to a variety of antennas over the frequency range 1.8 to 30 MHz. The antennas may be coaxial cable fed, single wire against ground, or balanced two wire feed. The circuit is a "T" network with two series capacitors and a tapped shunt inductor. The PT-3000 has quarter inch diameter copper coils to allow continuous operation at high power and a built-in R-X noise bridge to allow tune-up without transmitting.
Product is in production
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# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
1535
WA2VUY Rating: 2022-12-14
Excellent tuner Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This review is for the PT-2500A model.
Awesome T tuner, 1.8 to 30mHz. Rated for 2KW continuous, using big 1/4 inch copper coils for the inductor rather than a roller inductor. I prefer this configuration, less to go wrong. The built in noise bridge allows you to tune-up the tuner without transmitting. It's large: 16"wide, 14"deep, 6"high. As I experiment with many wire in trees, and for one reason or another they may not be perfectly resonant, a good tuner is handy.
K3ROJ Rating: 2012-04-24
Best there is Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought mine from a friend in our the radio club and never dreamed how well a noise bridge helps tune an antenna. I don't have the manual but soon learned that when turning the switch to "tune" that I had to find the point of lowest noise on the band which was where the tuner remains until moving frquencies or bands. Make a chart to check out all bands you use and you will find this beauty will do the job. I also own a Heathkit SA-2060 tuner but without the noise bridge it was tedious to tune. By the way, always turn off the noise bridge before transmitting.
N4VNZ Rating: 2008-10-04
Heavy duty tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I own several high power tuners such as the Nye MB-VA and the James Millen 92200. The Palomar PT-3000 is a real gem. Too bad it is no longer being made. This is a very high quality and easy to use tuner that will handle a couple of KW without working up a sweat. Components are of the finest quality and the inductor is made of 1/4 inch copper refrigeration tubing (!). You are not likely to overheat anything here, more than I could say of the MFJ roller inductor tuner I bought a few years ago.

An interesting feature is the built-in noise bridge, similar to the PT-340 unit (I also own one of these). You may or may not like these devices to tune up your tuner without transmitting, but they DO work. Just be sure to turn it off before you transmit or it's bye-bye noise bridge!

I liked this tuner so much I bought another one just like it for a backup. My Millen's bandswitch fell apart after a few years (well, actually, a LOT of years) and the Nye, while a fine tuner, will not match things the Palomar will match with ease. Not only that, but the Nye's swr bridge failed after a few years of use and rather than hassle with trying to replace it, I simply removed the meters.

Now, the Palomar is the only tuner I have on the station and it has matched assorted loops, verticals and long wires without a hiccup. One of the 2 I own needs the noise bridge repaired. If you buy one, just expect that because some ham-fisted ham will have fried the circuit by transmitting while the noise bridge is switched in the circuit. Fortunately, it is a simple circuit for the do-it-yourselfer (Palomar Engineers no longer supports this product). Other than this, you will have many hours of trouble free operating with this unit. Will take any amount of power and mismatch you can throw at it without annoying arcing and such. I haven't tried it yet, but I believe it would match the farmer's pasture fence running next to my property!

I will admit, I am sort of a Palomar Engineers equipment collector. I have a couple of their bargraph swr and power meters and some assorted accessories they have made over the years. I like the "look" of their station stuff. Too bad they are basically out of the accessory business other than the ever-popular PT-340 tuner-tuner, which is still available new, and I believe they still sell their active loop SWL antennas. I have always found their equipment to perform like they said it would and to be very durable and easy to maintain and it has a charming "look", like that of a very well crafted one-off piece. (They always put the 9V battery holder OUTSIDE the case, in case it were to leak whilst sitting on the shelf. Nice touch).

Anyway, if you find one of these rare birds in good shape, don't hesitate to buy it if the price is right. They seem to be going for around $200 these days. Hard to beat for the money IF you can find one. REALLY scarce at hamfests (I have NEVER seen one for sale at Dayton in over 10 trips up there) but worth the trouble to look for if you are in the market for a quality high power antenna tuner at a very reasonable price.