Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: Miller AT-2500

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Miller AT-2500
Reviews: 13MSRP: miller AT-2500
Description:
Automatic tuner for HF bands, 2500 Watts
Product is not in production
More Info:
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00134.8
WR8D Rating: 2003-05-22
The best "ever" built Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I personally know hams that have used these for the past 12 years and they are still going without a problem. I have searched for the past 10 and finally found myself one. If you are looking at these new solid state jobs and want the best tuner ever built...well you better keep on looking. The book says "high power" will never damage this tuner. Its built like a tank. It will take your amp out of line if the swr goes over a value that you set. How many times have you been on the wrong antenna and keyed up and looked over and the amp was keyed? We've all done that. With this tuner you never have to worry about that again. All you have to do is set the inductor for each band...key 1 watt into it and it tunes automatically. You set the auto track mode and it will follow you on any band and keep you tuned with in excess of 2500 watts. Dang thats what i call "head room". Leave the auto track mode on and switch bands...set the inductor for that band then it tunes for you. I'm told now that these were high priced when they were made...i gave under 500 dollars for mine just recently. I also have another friend that got one for 500 bucks..So if you want with out a doubt the best ever made..i hope you can find one of these.
73
John WR8D
HA5CMG Rating: 2001-10-12
Better when modified with a ROLLER inductor. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought one from a Cucumonga California ham, whos has NOT disclosed that he had HOT switched it and the inductor selector SW. was badly burned and was not working in several positions.

So I had decided to modify it with one of my earlier model of HF tunable Mobile antenna INDUCTOR. (See; Hi-Q-Antennas website:www.hiqantennas.com)
Made the inductor for an appx. value of 110 uH and now it will cover the 160 M band as well.Used #12 silverplated copper wire to handle the power.
The inductor now tunes with a hand crank, but it is very realiable.

73, Charlie VE7BOC/W6


K6RUS Rating: 2000-07-30
Huge, Efficient, Hands Free, Hi Power Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I wanted an automatic tuner for my newly acquired Ameritron ALS600 solid state linear and my research came up with few alternatives, all expensive and most obsolete. The J.W. Miller was made by a division of Bell Industries and I was able to buy one of the last made, a 1996 model. I hesitated to buy this tuner because it is 17" wide but I decided that my linear and Yaesu speaker cabinet would fit nicely on top. Now my Yaesu FT847 is dwarfed along side this set up. The AT2500 is a marvelous piece of engineering, it tunes fast and is very quiet and you only need to select the band letter (D or E for me, 10-15-20), set FT847 mode to FM and if you are polite, reduce your Xcvr power, then press "Start", it rapidly tunes to the SWR setting you have selected. My linear wants less than 2.5:1, so I leave the tuner set to 2:1. It will also control your linear, if it is not a "no tune" type. It comes with a coupler-bridge that goes in the RF line, so make sure the tuner comes with one of these little boxes, or you will need to build one from the drawings in the manual. You can "tweak" the tuning if you wish, e.g. move one of the two dials a little and you will see the SWR meter move right on down to 1:1 although the linear did not seem to care if it was 1:5 or 1:1. I had fun, turning a dial and then pressing the "start" button, watching closely the knob will rapidly turn back. It remembers one setting for each band. It does not automatically tune though, unless asked although there is a "tracking" feature that can be utilized. I noticed that it required less re-tuning than the MFJ986 I was using before, I wonder why? Design quality, perhaps? The manual says for SSB, it is not desirable because it requires a constant carrier. I tested it on 80 and 40 meters, same great results. I also tried it with a Butternut H9V as well as the Mini-Quad, makes the linear happy with either. If you like "bells and whistles", it has 'em! Panel ights to say what it is doing, audible alarm (on/off) if it can't tune the selected SWR, e.g. you tell it you are on one band but tune your xcvr to another. In this case, it has a standard sequence it goes through in attempting to match the impedance. An exciting to watch exercise as one dial turns and then the other. Lots of features, multiple antenna connections/switch settings and push buttons for various features. The tuner's appearance and color goes well with the modern Yaesu line, except for size. Inside, the construction is clean and high quality, lots of room and not much to go wrong. It is reported that all of the components are standard, lots of DIP chips on the PC board and only two small motors. The manual is for both operators and techies, you could probably build one of these from the information in the manual. Too bad they are not still making these and it is very unfortunate that they did not make a much smaller model that would handle a third of the power. If I sell my linear, the tuner will stay as I like it better than the modern Yaesu FC20. If I buy more power, I will still need this tuner unless of course I sell my car and get the Yaesu Quadra system. So if you want power and be feee from twisting knobs, get a no tune linear and one of these but expect to pay about $750-$850, if you find one for sale. They sold for over a thousand bucks new like the no longer produced Ten-Tec model 253. I guess the market just wasn't there for expensive automatic tuners.