Palstar manual tuner

The new AT2K watt antenna tuner covers to 6 Meters with a power rating of up to watts PEP and features a newly-designed, smaller roller inductor allowing the AT2K to tune 6 Meters without the need for the additional red button as on older models.

The updated design for the capacitors features lower minimum capacitance for improved high band performance, while maximum capacitance has been increased to pF for better low band performance. The Palstar AT2KD antenna tuner covers 6 to Meters with a power rating of up to watts PEP and is identical in all respects to the AT2K except instead of three controls, the tuner features just two to tune your antenna.

The AT2KD matches dipoles, center fed doublets, Verticals, end-fed wire, delta loops, beams, Windoms, Inverted V's and an optional external or current balun for balanced wire feeders can be purchased during check-out. The BTA features two tandem mounted, precision ceramic roller inductors for a truly balanced tuner.

The Palstar quality and features that Hams worldwide have come to expect is now available in a compact, low power affordably priced tuner, the AT watt antenna tuner. The first thing I did was to create a template for tuning. The Palstar tuners come with calibrated knobs for tuning, so repeatability was possible. I manually tuned each band, and wrote down the values on the new template I created.

I then started using the tuner… It is dead on for repeatably. Once a setting was noted, returning to it got me the exact same SWR, every time! The tuner has three knobs and four push buttons on the front panel. The antenna switch is broken up into a Direct, and a Tuned side. Each side has three positions, the Direct side, has Coax 1, Coax 2, and Bypass.

I use Coax 1 for my verticals, and Coax 2 for my dipole. I use Bypass for a dummy load. The capacitance control is a single large diameter knob, with a gear reduction device on it, and a pointer. The coil adjustment is a crank, and a turns counter. The combination of the two allow me to get to any band and obtain correct tuning in very short order. This makes being able to tune anywhere important to me.

So for MARS use this tuner is a winner. The buttons on the front panel are for power on and off, and control of the power monitoring features… This unit contains a full featured peak and average power meter, both accessible via a button press.

As expected, Input is for where your transceiver output goes, Coax one if for whatever antenna you want to put on your first coax, coax 2 is the same only for a second coax, Coax-Bal-Wire if for your balun, and openwire feedline, Bypass is just another switch position, and could be used for a third feedline to your antenna farm.

I use it for a dummy load. Power is just what you would expect, 12 Volts DC, center positive. A brief note, the tuner will tune, without DC, but you will get no indications on the meter of any kind, so you do need to apply 12 volts to use this tuner. The first thing I did was to copy the Palstar tuning template to my computer, and then fill it out. I tuned up on each band, then wrote down the values, and finally went to the template and filled in those values.

This allows me to get on tune, in the shortest time, and not mess with things when I want to change bands in a hurry.

It took about an hour to go through all the bands, tune carefully, and then write down each combination of numbers, and finally transfer to the new template you see on the left. I make small changes to the sheet in writing, then every so often reprint the page. If you have a tuner that has calibration marks you should do this, it saves time every time you change bands.

Click the image on the left, and you will be taken to another page where you can right-click and download it. This will save you the time of making a sheet for your tuner. Once you have it, you will need to mask my numbers and put in your numbers. I like the tuner, it matches my Elecraft gear in color and form, and it matches just about any antenna I can throw at it for the most part. If your antenna is even close to resonance this tuner will match it.

It does not match my GAP Challenger vertical, see review here , on Meters, but that is not surprising as the GAP is designed for 75, and has a cap in to, so things get very odd once you get very far off 75 meters. It does however match my BWD on , which is a bit surprising, as the BWD was never designed to operate on , but does a rather nice job with this tuner. There is an interesting comment on QRZ. COM regarding operation here , and why you should be careful using this tuner on You really only need to modify the meter end of the cable 4 connections.

As you might expect, calibration uses some equipment you might have to borrow. I found a Bird RF Meter to be perfect. The white backlight and increased operating range of the meter make a very good tuner even better IMHO.

K1GWW , May 25, You must log in or sign up to reply here. Show Ignored Content. Share This Page. Your name or email address: Password: Forgot your password?