Today I had a chance to have a play with an LDG AT-7000 Tuner. Iniitally, I was sceptical.. but I must say – I was quite impressed at the end of it all.
I made up a YouTube video of me playing with it and various antennas etc.. plus all my comments are are in the video, I have included it down below.
Here are my thoughts in summary point form..:
Pro’s
- Very small
- tuned very well, anything I threw at it it tuned, and with good results. Some tuners I have seen will just give up and fail – like the ICOM AT-180 for example.
- cheap! I think in australia there is someone selling them in Sydney for circa $270 AUD – good price I think for what it does.
- The output of the tuner is 50Ω Unbalanced – perfect.. my AH-4 required to be connected RIGHT to the base of the antenna.. or as close as possibe (you can;t sit an AH-4 under your seat!)
- I can sit it inside the cab, right next to the radio.. so it is immune to issues relating to dust, water, vibration etc.
- it’s fool proof – just hookup both leads and away you go.. nothing to do!
- it’s quick to tune if you have used that freq/antenna combination before.
Cons’
- The manufacturers website says it is a discontinued model..? – nto the end of the world really in my books.. perhaps there is a newer better one..
- when you first hear it kick into action, it seems quite noisy – you get used to that quickly – if you go to a freq that has been used before it is VERY fast as it reads the L/C combination required from memory
For my mind I really was quite impressed and as you’ll hear on my Youtube Video.. I had hardly the best test conditions.
I didn’t get signal reports on every frequency.. I got a 5/7 – 5/9 from some other VK’s on 40 Meters but for my mind I just want a tuner to;
- Not fail tune
- tune just about anything I throw at it.. No tuner can make up for poor antenna choice in my mind
- Keep the SWR low on the Radio so it will pump max power up the stick, or coathangar.. or whatever.
Here’s the Video.. [click here to view in YouTube and in another Window - in High def]
