Saturday, 28 August 2010

Tuning up

Here is my LDG IT100- my latest purchase- is an auto ATU that connects to the Icom 706 that I use mobile. Its a compact unit- you can see my mobile phone on top to give an idea of its size.
It is now living in the boot of my car and seems to work well. Its capable of tuning my 20 metre whip on both 18 and 7mhz, of course that whip won't work well on those bands but it gives an idea of the capabilities to the ATU. Basically as long it it gives me full band coverage on the whips I will be happy.
It came with a connecting lead for the 706 (about 15cm long, I had to extend it to about 1.5 metres) and a short patch lead to go between rig and ATU.
Although the ATU instructions say that the unit can be used mobile there are no provisions for any sort of mounting bracket, I have managed to mount it in built in plastic tray that sits in the Volvo boot.
In a quiet shack you would notice this ATU as the relays clatter quite loudly, not a problem mobile of course particularly as its in the boot!

The quality of the unit seems OK, but is does seem similar to the sort of construction of MFJ equipment in other words not really up to the standard of the likes of Yaesu, Kenwood and Icom.
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4 comments:

  1. Paul M0PCZ29 August 2010 at 16:56

    Hi Kevin, very interesting as I have a 706 Mk1 in the mobile, do you have any other antenna's and if so what can they tune with the atu ?

    73 Paul.

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  2. VE9KK 29 August 2010 at 22:48

    Hi Kevin do keep us posted on how the unit does on Eham they are rated at 4.6 which is not to bad at all. I have the LDC antenna switches both the DTS-4 and 6 and they are working great. They were rated at Eham at around 4.4 and the 6 position at a 4.0.

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  3. GW0KIG30 August 2010 at 12:15

    Hi Paul and Michael

    The ATU will tune the 20 metre whip on 40 metres and 17 metres, I haven't tried the other bands as yet but the indications are that it will deal with a wide range of mismatches.You have to remember that because it uses a system of locking relays each time you QSY you need to tune up again (just one button press on the 706). Retuning normally takes a second or so as the ATU has memories built in.
    I will keep the blog updated with my experiences of the unit, so far I am pleased with it.

    73 Kevin

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  4. G4NKX30 August 2010 at 22:26

    Hi Kevin

    I have a couple of LDG tuners - both work very well and find they are more flexible and tolerant to wider impedance mis-matches than built - in ATU's.

    73's Peter

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