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Reviews For: Yaesu MTU - Mu tuning units

Category: Filters, RF: bandpass, duplexer, lowpass, highpass, RFI/EMI

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Review Summary For : Yaesu MTU - Mu tuning units
Reviews: 15MSRP: $400.00
Description:
The Ultimate Low-Band DXer RF Preselection Filter: YAESU’s Exclusive µ-Tuning!
On the lower Amateur bands, the signal voltages impinging on a receiver can create noise and Intermodulation effects that can cover up weak signals you’re trying to pull through. So YAESU’s engineers developed the µ (Mu) Tuning system for the FTDX9000, and it’s now available as an option for the FT-2000. Three modules are available (MTU-160, MTU-80/40, MTU-30/20), and these modules may be connected externally with no internal modification required! When µ-Tuning is engaged, the standard VRF (Variable RF Preselector) system is bypassed, but the fixed Bandpass Filters are still in the received signal path. The µ-Tuning filters utilize a stack of large 1.1” (28 mm) Ni-Zn Ferrite cores, driven through a silver-plated coil assembly by a precision stepper motor. The resulting high Q (typically over 300) provides a very steep resonance peak near your operating frequency. The peak may be adjusted away from your frequency, for even greater protection from a specific station, and a graphical depiction of the µ-Tune filter alignment appears on the front panel of the transceiver.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=102&encProdID=66EA91711DFB68C03DED4AD35153E12C&DivisionID=65&isArchived=0
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
25154.3
N2TU Rating: 2011-01-07
Super Q multiplier Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is a tremendous add-on to the FT series of Yaesu radios. Some of us will remember the Q multipliers of yesteryear. This is the current day, on steroids, version. It does a fantastic job of eliminating out of band noise and in combination with the DSPs, contour control and bandwidth control allows the op to dig signals out of the crud. Once you learn how to use the combination, you'll have another tool to deal with QRM, QRN and spurious noises on the bands.
NB5VO Rating: 2011-01-07
Quack Radio Product Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Quackery is what this trick box is. The only thing this thing does is make noise when tuning so you think something is happening, and attenuate your signal by several S units when enabled. This tuner was expensive and I could have gotten a good antenna tuner for that price. After spending numerous hours and every combination of filter combinations I concluded that Yaesu made this as a Quack product like people made Quack medical products in the 1800's that had switches and buttons on a box that made noise and didn't do anything. You can read QRZ forum and one expert says it won't do any good for 99.9% of the people using this.
http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?p=1753920
Yaesu doesn't tell you this and uses words such as "Most advanced" "Tremendous Value" "Superior RF preselection" "Profound Advantage" "Unmatched RF selectivity" etc. The only thing profound about this is the price for a black box that doesn't do anything. This box however will make you laugh if you got one of these, so it is good medicine under the right conditions (Your wife won't laugh however). Although the expert above says that only 0.1% of users will benefit from this fraud tuner, I haven't found the 0.1% yet no matter how much I tried and I tried alot. The built in DSP, roofing filters, work "Profoundly Better" than this thing of black box Quackery, super over priced garbage.
W1TXT Rating: 2009-02-19
My first impression....Wow! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
For the FT-2000 and FT-950 owners that have been wondering about the MTU units and if they're worth the money, make a difference, etc...the answer is definitely YES.

I put 80/40 (it also works on 60M) in-line this morning with an FT-2000...a significant difference. Nearby signals just disappear when the MTU is engaged. Best of all, the audio doesn't change as it does with filters, etc. The signal strength does drop a bit but that's documented in the manual.

I've done the latest firmware upgrades to my FT-2000 which made "some" improvement IMO, but not as much as many operators are claiming. The MTU on the other hand, makes the FT-2000 a true contest grade radio and is very easy to use.

I'll pick up the other two MTU's in months to come.
K5VY Rating: 2008-12-15
GREAT PRODUCT- WORTH THE MONEY Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I own three MTU's for my FT-2000, and three in my FTdx-9000MP. It took about six months for me to really learn how to use them to the best advantage. I found the reduction of near strong signals close to the weaker signal I wanted was very desireable. Makes my operations on the lower bands much better and easier. I work SSB mostly, but the help in CW is remarkable.
W6PSA Rating: 2008-12-14
MTU 80/40 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The MTU units are expensive, but so is the hobby. When I use the DMU2000's band scope, it is evident that these filters work to remove most of the band noise. These filters remove QRM (interference), but not on stations 2 kHz away. In my opinion, the MTU is an adjustable 6 kHz roofing filter on steroids. This filter is 5+ times more effective than the VRF feature in the Yaesu-FT2000/950. The VRF will remove one s-unit of noise when centered. The mtu-unit will remove 5+ s-units of noise when centered. Finally, this filter is great on 40 meters. The MTU removes most of the interference received from the Foreign Broadcast stations. This is a great accessory, but don’t buy it, unless you can afford it. The MTU is effective, but over priced for most Ham’s (weekend warriors).