| AE5VM |
Rating:      |
2022-10-31 | |
| Reliable |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Had it since May 2018. I used it on My Yaesu FT-818, and 891. No problems whatsoever. Will use it on my one week camping setups as well. Antennas used are End-Fed and whips. I use 5-20w when camping or at picnic tables.
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| WA6MOW |
Rating:      |
2022-08-19 | |
| Best QRP Auto Tuner for the Money! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| These tuner are small, super light, and run off of 4 AA internal batteries. I use it with all my QRP rigs. Transmit a signal and push the tune button and your antenna is tuned in a few seconds. I am using it with my IC-705 at present. This tuner is a real keeper. By the way LDG is a great company. I have three of there other tuners. Any issues are dealt with promptly and fairly. I damaged one of their tuners out of warranty and they fixed it at no charge. Amazing! |
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| OZ1DTF |
Rating:      |
2021-07-17 | |
| Perfect for FT-817/818 |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I use this ATU with my FT-818ND. Despite that this ATU is not defined as a random-wire tuner, the Z-range is enough to work very well 60-10 m with an endfed radiator wire and a counterpoise wire (each 45 feet) connected directly i.e. without UNUN. Add a banana connector to the radiator wire and connect to the SO-239. The counterpoise wire just needs stripping at the end and can be connected directly to the wing-nut for GND. No regrets. The Z-817 is a very fine product!! Also small size, weights almost nothing and has a very long battery life, easy user interface. Of course the range can be extended by baluns/ununs. |
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| VA3SQ |
Rating:      |
2019-03-14 | |
| Very Good Product |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have had this tuner for about 3 years and never had a issue with it. I use it with my OCF antenna and Flex 1500 QRP rig. I can achieve a VSWR 1.5:1 or less on all bands. I really like the memory option, it makes for fast tuning between bands. I change the batteries once a year and do a complete reset of the antenna and tuner. I would definitely purchase another one these tuners again. |
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| KA0USE |
Rating:      |
2019-03-13 | |
| revised review |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
i originally reviewed this in october, 2014, giving it a zero.
well, call me an idjit (idiot).
the instructions aren't written on my level. when the green light goes out, it is tuned.
i thought it should stay lit, but nooooo, and ldg
wasn't any help.
it does work, if you don't overthink it. |
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| WD0BCT |
Rating:      |
2019-02-14 | |
| Great tuner! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Being an old timer who was away from ham radio for over 20 years I was leery of auto tuners. So I hung in there with my old manual MFJ tuner. I new it worked. So why bother with new technology! After operating portable QRP with my FT-817D w/o a tuner I decided to try the LDG Z-817 tuner. Wow! It impressed me with how quickly it tuned and the battery powered unit is still small enough to back pack.
After using this handy bit of QRP new technology I just ordered a Z100 Plus for use with my 100W portable/base station rig.
LDG appears to be a quality product and I would recommend their tuners to anyone. |
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| KD2BS |
Rating:      |
2018-09-07 | |
| It just works! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I bought this with my FT-818 and it just works with all my antennas. Lots' of memories and fast tuning. Easy set up and simple to use. Takes batteries so can be used anywhere. |
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| VE2TH |
Rating:      |
2018-06-17 | |
| Ten years of fun... |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Yes, this month, I'm using this one for ten years, and many years to com, doing portable all summer long, with no issues, it never failed.-
I wanted to share my experience with all who would like to buy one but are not sure if it is a good buy or not.
I use it with various wire antennas, this one is a winner, because it far exceeded my expectations. It is much better than expected, and it is a great companion to my Yaesu FT-817ND.
It works with four internal AA Batteries.so no separate power supply is needed. The Z-817 automatically powers up at the start of a tuning cycle, and goes into an ultra low-power sleep mode when tuning is completed.
Each complete tuning cycle are memorized and stored in flash memory,which is great to recall the previous tuning parameters in a fraction of a second.-
It's a real wide range tuner. So I decided to try something I was sure it won't match. So I tried an extended double zepp 2 X 10 meters, or 2 X 33 ft in an inverted vee configuration, apex a top fiberglass mast at 32 ft, feed with 43 ft of 450 open line.
Before testing this antenna with the transceiver, I decided to try it with my antenna analyser RIG- EXPERT AA-54) just to see how it will tune and at the same time to see what the results would be. So I plugged the analyser into the tuner in place of the transceiver. Results ?? awsome, unbelievable, so I repeated these tests again on each bands, yes it is true, it match very well and rapidly like a tuner should do.
Now with the FT-817ND in line:
Plug into the tuner with a double banana jack with bnc adapter connector. It tunes to 1 to 1 from beginning to end of each bands from 40 thru 6 meters, except 30 meters. Why not 30 meters, ?? So I suspect the 43 lenght of my open line, because it was resonant on 30 meters, so I changed the lenght of the line using qanother longer one but not resonant on any band, and... BINGO!! it works flawlessly. Now 8 bands to play with.
The only bands you have to push the tune button on the same band (and it is normal) are: 10 meters if you go from SSB to FM around 29.6 & repeaters frequencies, and the same for 6 metes from SSB down the band to go up into the repeaters frequencies 52/53 MHz. Both cases it tune so rapidly you do not realize it.-
Oh! it comes with a more than complete 23 pages manual, and it can be use with any QRP transceiver up to 20 watts of forward power.
It has 2000 frequency memories when using with the FT-817 OR ND model but only 200 memories with another QRP transceiver brand.-
It is a real keeper, 9.3 ounces without batteries you won't notice in the bag. 1.8 to 54 MHz coverage Tunes 6 to 600 ohms and 24 to 2400 ohms with optional balun.
Results on the air ? Very good, in fact no différences between this portable antenna and the regular one at home, so it is fun to be able to have good all band antenna when portable and more fun to be able to go on any of the 8 bands, especially during summer months, because there is a lot of Sporadic E propagation on 15-12-10 and 6 meters, single/double/sometimes triple hops like yesterday on six meters with Europe.
See you on bands,
72/73 Michel VE2TH
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| KT4EP |
Rating:      |
2017-04-17 | |
| No problems over 4 years |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Well, one problem as I was working JT65 today. I Thought it was a bad coax, but a problem on the female so-239 ANT on the tuner. The nut on the inside that holds the so-239 to the chassis was loose and the ground side was erratic. Easy fix and back in business. How it got that way, I do not know as I seldom touch the tuner except to press the tune button. Bought Nov 2012, changed the batteries DEC 2014 and again today. Tunes my 160ft inverted from 6 to 160 meters.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by KT4EP on 2012-11-01
I should have bought this tuner last year when I bought my 817nd. It tunes everything I connect to it. Nothing against my two MFJ tuners, but this little tuner goes hand in glove with the Yaesu 817. It's very easy to set-up, instructions are clear, and it appears to be of quality manufacture. |
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| WB7VTY |
Rating:      |
2017-03-23 | |
| Surprisingly Great |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| First off, I gave the Z817 a 5 because it far exceeded my expectations. I havent owned it long enough to speak to its reliability, but in terms of operation and capability, its much better than expected, and it makes a great companion to my Yaesu FT817nD. I will say up front Im not a fan of autotuners. I have found they have limited range compared to the manual tuners I have used. The Z817 is a stand out. It has matched everything I have thrown at it. I went mobile with it using a tram magmount with the long version of the MFJ hamsticks for 80,60,40,30, and 20 meters. It matched them all anywhere in those bands with the exception of 80. The 80m hamstick is very narrow but the 817 will give it a useful bandwidth of about 150 KHz, so no complaints. At home I have a Off Center Fed Dipole cut for 80 meters. It has no choke for 15 meters etc. Just the 4:1 balun and fed with coax. 30 and 15 are problems for the autotuner in my 590SG. I have to use the manual tuner and its a push. Not so with the Z817. The Z817 will match all HF bands 80 - 10 with the OCFD with no trouble at all. Today I thought, OK, now Im going to give it something I KNOW it wont match. For field use with my FT817 I typically use a 58 foot wire and counterpoise connected to a MFJ 16010 wire tuner. I was wrong. I stuffed the banana plug on the end of the wire into the center pin of the Z817, clipped the counterpoise wire to the ground stud on the Z817, and much to my shock, it matched the wire on every HF band from 80 through 10. Also, this tuner has a bypass function so you can take it out of line. I mention this because I have never seen this advertised and you wouldnt know it unless you read the manual before you bought one. Another great design feature is that it uses latching relays so there is no current drain on the batteries when it is idle. It interfaced to the FT817 just as simply as advertised. I have used the poor thing to death in the last week trying to find one of my antennas that it wouldnt match and the 4AA batteries dont appear yet to be slowing down. The Z817 has matched every goofy thing I have thrown at it, has exceeded all my expectations of it, works as advertised plus the bypass feature, and is an outstanding combination for the Yaesu FT817nD in my opinion. I was at first very unsure of whether I should buy an autotuner. After using the LDG Z817 at home, mobile, and portable in the back yard for the last week, I am now convinced it was a great purchase and a great value for the price paid. It was about 5 dollars less than the manual tuner I was looking at. Assuming it proves to be reliable, which I have no reason to think otherwise, I highly recommend it. If you have any questions I would be glad to answer them. Just shoot me an email at my QRZ email address. 73, Joe, WB7VTY |
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