HELP! With buying a new hf tuner

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kd9iwc
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2018 8:18 pm

HELP! With buying a new hf tuner

Post by kd9iwc »

I am in the market to buy a new tuner and im not sure on what to buy between brands and what exactly i need. There is palstar, mfj, ha8du, ldg and so many more. Also there are t-type, l-type, balanced, differential so with all this im not sure. I do know that i run lmr 400 to a balun 1:1 to a 1/2 wave multi fan dipole(not sure if all that is correct) and i could put ladder line on it one day and get rid of coax. Also know that ha8du tuners have the ladder line and coax pl-259 connectors on the back of tuners on which ever way u wanted to go. Anybody have a review or heard about ha8du tuners? Can't wait to here some feedback on this post. Thanks to all 73's
ku3x
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2012 5:43 pm

Re: HELP! With buying a new hf tuner

Post by ku3x »

Want a good tuner? Depending on your power level, get either the MFJ 929 for up to 200 watts or the MFJ 998 for legal limit.
Stay away from the LDG tuners. They are slow, noisey and are limited to only 800 ohms. There are other reasons to stay away but no use listing them here.
If you are going to change to parallel feeders, just add a good Guanella 4 to 1 current balun behind the tuner and run a very short run of coax from the balun to the back of the tuner. Make sure you do your homework on the lengths you need to shoot for when cutting the parallel feeders. You DO NOT just cut it to a random length and expect it to be usable.

Barry, KU3X
www.ku3x.net
W3ATT
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2015 6:42 am

Re: HELP! With buying a new hf tuner

Post by W3ATT »

I agree with Barry about the mfj tuners. I've been using them with no problems. I also, however, use an ldg at1000pro2 which has worked excellent with a multi band doublet with 600 ohm balanced feed line and a Balun Designs 1:1curent balun outside the shack. Instantaneous tuning just like the mfj auto tuners.

You should probably decide now if you'd like to add an amp some day and buy the tuner for it now. No big deal to run barefoot though a higher power tuner until you get set up with an amp (maybe you already have one.)

For your fan dipole, just about any tuner should do.
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