Cheap Portable Tuner - The ATU-100

And don't forget "Cheerful"
🛒 ATU100 Antenna Tuner: bit.ly/3foSiMY
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[@barrykery1175]

Great video. For the price, that's not a bad little ATU, with the exception of having to fix it first. I purchased the ATU-10 which is the baby brother of the ATU-100. Like you, I had to do a repair. First off, all of the external hardware was only hand tight. Next, the little button that goes through the front panel had a tight fit and would hang up. I took the front panel off and used a deburromg tool to open up the through hole a tad. The next thing I have to fix was the display. It hangs loose on the wires. I put a dab of silicone on the PC board and used it as glues to hold the display in place. Reassembled the unit and I was good to go. It does a great job for the size. I wrote up a full review on my web page.I'm glad I purchased it. Thanks for posting this video. Barry, KU3X

[@temporarilyoffline]

Thanks Barry - I don't think the price is all that bad either. Not much more than building it yourself?

[@souta95]

I spotted these on Amazon back in December. I will probably get one eventually. Thank you for the video!

[@temporarilyoffline]

No problem!

[@JT-py9lv]

TO. I have one of these. Bought the tuner when they were about $49 shipped for the completed unit. For what it is, it works great. I can make a radio think that a 10m vertical antenna is on 80m. HOWEVER... I can only use about 20w at that match. But from 40m on up, it works WONDERFUL ! No it's not an LDG, Mat-Tuner or MFJ939. But the darn thing just works.

[@temporarilyoffline]

For the price of this thing, I'm very happy. There are a few changes I'd like to see, but that's how I am with EVERY product.

[@davep6977]

Great video. I was looking at a tuner for mobile. It was down to a coin flip between this and a MAT tuner 125e, I just ordered the MAT. Latching relays was a big selling point (I think I'd add a DC power in) But I like the read out on these. W9DLP

[@philipwells2793]

Many thanks for this.

[@temporarilyoffline]

Anytime!

[@RonanCantwell]

Great review. These look to be really good value for money if you don't mind doing a bit of quality control mopping up. 👍👍

[@temporarilyoffline]

I think the person assembling these doesn't know the end goal.

[@ATOMSHAMRADIO]

I own the yeasu matt tuner comes with cable plug and play works very well and built well👍⚛⚡

[@temporarilyoffline]

Cool 👍

[@HamTechRadioScannerDrones]

I had fun testing I have the ATU 40 qrp version on way .

[@temporarilyoffline]

I saw you did the qrp mod. A friend of mine has the 40 coming. Good stuff

[@TNRonin]

Sorry for the ignorance but will this unit time in the 11m area? I'm wanting to use an antenna that was shortened for the 10m area. Thank

[@guyhornbeck8940]

Thanks for the in-depth video. Can this tuner be used with QRP transceivers (less than 5 watts)?

[@temporarilyoffline]

The atu-100 can be modified to work with qrp rigs, or you can get the atu-10 or atu-40 and not need to do the mod. I think is a software mod only though.

[@Tocsin-Bang]

I built one from a kit, works great on all bands 80 to 10.

[@temporarilyoffline]

Nice!

[@G6EJD]

The tuning range will be referenced to some value say 50R so 10:1 would tune an antenna impedance of 50 to 500 ohms

[@temporarilyoffline]

Perfect

[@bigdaddyvu]

I picked one up on Amazon works amazingly. By the way do you live next to a freeway? I hear cars racing by.

[@temporarilyoffline]

There are cars out there, but it's a small town, so no freeway

[@ERICtheLATE]

When they are ordered, they can have specified to function under 5 watts, no internal battery, and even swap out the uhf connector for 2 wingnuts, one for counterpoise, one for random wire antenna. They can also remove the autotune by transmitting thru it feature.

[@temporarilyoffline]

Yeah, N7DDC did a great job on the versatility. The only change I would have made enough be to be more miserly with power, but that doesn't subtract from all of his excellent work.

[@ERICtheLATE]

@@temporarilyoffline It may be a bit power hungry cuz of relays holding good contact.

[@temporarilyoffline]

Yeah, you're right... great price helps overcome that though.

[@ERICtheLATE]

@@temporarilyoffline Add a cheap mag mount cb antenna from the local truck stop, and it is a nice lowkey mobile hf setup, without looking like a Nick Tesla experiment on wheels.

[@josempantaleon]

Hey nive video TO, Unfortunately IMHO the device didn't come off well, at all. The QC was very much lacking. That said the design seems pretty decent and if you were going to build it a a kit, then the quality will almost certainly be better. Thanks again good sir.

[@temporarilyoffline]

I agree. N7DDC did a great job creating it, the factory didn't know what they were making. I was able to fix it and I think I got a good deal compared to ordering the PCB and the parts separately. Now I have a platform to build off of.

[@cowboy6591]

At 3:50 in; You have to resolder the usb receptor PC_Board mounted connectors to the PC_Board. Over half the stuff I buy from Amazon, Banggood, Ali-express arrives with at least 2 cold solder joints and other miss-haps. That's why I buy "Kits" and do it myself.

[@temporarilyoffline]

Exactly, I was not impressed with the build quality.

[@phildurall7466]

Nice review TO! :) It looks like a larger battery could be used. You didn't happen to see how long it was functional for on a charge did you? Since the relays do not look like they are latching, that would mean that the current draw would be constant during operation .... right? 73, KF6IF

[@temporarilyoffline]

It lasts about 2 hours. They are non-latching relays. It's a great design and there are lots of mods out there for it.

[@dildohorn2282]

@@temporarilyoffline Wouldn`it then be a good idea to put an external power supply to it? Should not be too much of a problem? Do you know by any chance how powerful this external powert supply needed to be? 5V and ??? Watts? Thanks!

[@temporarilyoffline]

@@dildohorn2282 It would be great to put an external power supply on it. I would replace the internal battery and match its ratings perit's ratings. The ratings should be written right on it.

[@dildohorn2282]

@@temporarilyoffline Ok, I will open it and check. I think it will be 5V. 1 A should be enough too. Cuz the batt is not that big. I will report back how it worked out.

[@temporarilyoffline]

@@dildohorn2282 looking forward to it

[@FUNKLABOR_DL1LEP]

crazy. its in original a kit with full documentation, made from hams for hams. and you take it apart to study the construction 👍😏

[@temporarilyoffline]

This is a great design. You're right it is made for hams by hams too. I think this particular version is "borrowed" from the original designer and mass produced by somebody that didn't know what it was. I love this little thing and see lots of potential. I hope the original creator is doing well with all the current events too! I need to do a followup to mod this to ATU-10 specs so I can QRP with it.

[@FUNKLABOR_DL1LEP]

@Temporarily Offline Ham Radio Yes, only by viewing Your vid I got on the atu 10 (I build one atu100, sold it with a ft817, bought a new kit for my ft817ND) and will soon check out the atu10. will soon show some tests here on YT. 73s Jens

[@temporarilyoffline]

Looking forward to your test results!

[@johnwest7993]

As a QRP, minimal energy kind of guy who was going to use the tuner for 5W applications but wanted it to be able to handle my 45 W amp, just in case, I was really not pleased to find that the relays in the tuner I bought were not latching. Depending on the match, those relays could be a large part of my energy usage. I will likely build a duplicate of the ATU using latching relays for most of my applications. Thank goodness for open-source projects. Those designers are to be thanked and appreciated.

[@temporarilyoffline]

Yeah, I think its a great idea if you want to learn about ATUs without spending a lot of money... but I 100% agree that it could benefit from Latching Relays. I'm not sure why they don't use those in desktop tuners also.

[@johnwest7993]

@@temporarilyoffline, I'm sure decent latching relays are more expensive than standard relays. The mechanical mechanism has to cost more than just a relay coil.

[@lmamakos]

@@johnwest7993 probably need to re-work the software to handle latching relays and come up with some way to reverse the polarity of the voltage of any given relay coil. Just swapping out the relays is likely the easy part.

[@joeblow8593]

Interesting. Bad soldering joint to the power connector, that's not good. Nice and compact, perfect for the IC-705. However to get at the battery it's is a real cluster - if you have to change it a year or so down the road. Also non latching relays a negative. I'd say give it a go. It is certainly cheaper than the MAT-705 tuner at $229...

[@temporarilyoffline]

Yeah. Check out some of the options for this device, you can get just the board for liek $30 and then have fun with better battery and case options

[@RonanCantwell]

The ATU-10 has latching relays but is a bit more expensive as a result.

[@dangermandave67]

How much does it weigh? I'm thinking this could be handy on a SOTA activation with a uSDX. But if it's heavy, I would be better off just taking my G90.

[@temporarilyoffline]

13.45oz with the dust caps I added. Not heavy at all. If you're getting it for the G90, make sure to get the ATU-10 or the ATU-40, this tuner will not kick in without sufficient RF. You could also put this in a non-metal case and remove the battery for some added weight savings. There are some nice ones on thingiverse.

[@dangermandave67]

@@temporarilyoffline I was going to use it with my FX-4C, which only puts out 10w. It probably won't work. Bugger.

[@temporarilyoffline]

@@dangermandave67 the ATU-xx version (qrp) will work... or if you are a tinkerer, you can edit the firmware on the ATU-100 to work.

[@muppetpaster]

The white goo might become conductive over time....Big problem on a lot of stereo amps.

[@temporarilyoffline]

Yeah, this version of the tuner wasn't put together by someone that builds electronics.

[@dildohorn2282]

You need the MCLR cable with the pickit 2.

[@temporarilyoffline]

#ProTip!

[@AliReza-zx8km]

Nice..............

[@temporarilyoffline]

Thanks

[@FEPLabsRadio]

I got the board. No case, no power. By the time I had opened the box, it was so long, I didn't even try to get them to make me whole. I've had the board for this for like 3-4 months. Just nothing else.

[@temporarilyoffline]

From banggood? There are a ton of different variations of this now, kit, 10w, 40w, 100w, 5x5, 7x7, etc.

[@Martin_PA0KGB]

what is the max it can take on FT8?

[@temporarilyoffline]

I ran it for an hour at 125w with no issue. This version (though there is a software fix) actually has trouble at lower power.

[@afleak]

I have one, would really like the latching relays future mod? anyone?

[@temporarilyoffline]

Look up the Elecraft T1, that already has them. The relays aren't part of the tuned circuit, just mechanical. Sounds like a pretty easy mod.

[@RonanCantwell]

Check out the ATU-10 for latching relays - bit more spendy but designed for QRP use.

[@aldewitt9]

Is this a kit or a finished product?

[@temporarilyoffline]

This is "finished"... you can get this device in lots of configurations. And pretty cheap too

[@j.d.-alawyerexplains5064]

@@temporarilyoffline Interesting. I don't understand how it keys the radio to tune. I must be missing something. My IT-100 had an ACC cable that did that.

[@temporarilyoffline]

@@j.d.-alawyerexplains5064 You're not missing anything. It doesn't do that. I press and hold the button to get into tune mode and then I key the radio to provide a signal to tune with.

[@Critical-Thinker895]

According to the site it's only up to 55MHZ so 160 failing wasn't surprising. Be aware that several reviews are concerning. Here is one of them, "The 2.2µH inductor heats and smoke appears after few tens seconds of transmission. The size of the tore is probably not enough big to sustain the power."

[@temporarilyoffline]

The quality control has gone down noticeably since I reviewed mine. I think we are on the 3rd or 4th wave of clones now. The original design is great l.

[@sleeve8651]

My screen goes dark on transmit, then if I reboot it the screen stays lit, then many times kills itself ? With no instructions, I wonder if this is an attempt at prolonging battery life ? Does anyone have similar issues ?

[@temporarilyoffline]

Good question - is the antenna tuned when this happens

[@sleeve8651]

@@temporarilyoffline It's really rather strange ! It seems regardless of using CW, or AM, the first attempt to tune, results in the display going dark ? Power it back up, and I typically have to use AM then it will display power SWR and Efficiency ! I have used it with a blank screen, and believe that as long as the power switch is in the On position, it stays tuned, as evidenced by receiver noise changing once turned off ! I am tempted to disassemble the tuner, an maybe give it the shotgun solder technique, and hope to get lucky and fix a poor connection, as alluded to in other post ! Also saying that these tuners are funny about grounding ? pertaining to this style of tuner ? Sorry to sound vague, but that's about all I have ? I should say that I am using it with a 25 Watt 10 meter only radio, that obviously would not come close to exceeding it's 100 watts rating ! I'm thinking, a poor connection somewhere ?

[@temporarilyoffline]

@@sleeve8651 If returning it isn't an option, I'd be down for the learning experience!

[@sleeve8651]

@@temporarilyoffline Well....I will try and keep you informed, should I make any progress ! I failed to mention, that I run a similar tuner in the mobile, and it seems to work O.K. !

[@ksink74]

TO got the Chinesium.

[@temporarilyoffline]

Some good. Some bad... Some a good starting point. 👍

[@craftsman123456]

Can it tune a IC705

[@temporarilyoffline]

Would work fine with a 705.

[@craftsman123456]

I worded that wrong. Won't tune the 705. Not enough power out. At least for me that is

[@temporarilyoffline]

@@craftsman123456 I have gotten it to tune with lower power, there is an "ATU-10" model and there is a mod for this model to get it to kick in at lower power.

[@salat]

​@@craftsman123456 You can change the minimal power required to tune by changing the firmware settings via a PIC programmer - see N7DDC's gh page/in the PDF manual.

[@ERICtheLATE]

@@salat Nice Idea!

[@muppetpaster]

4:10 meanwhile you torn up the connector completely...

[@temporarilyoffline]

It had it coming.

[@daveN2MXX]

I built one of these...I have found it to be unreliable and therefore totally useless. I had high hopes for it, thinking that it might have similar capabilities compared to the internal tuner in xiegu radio....but it won't even tune with many radios without the QRP "mod" because of the automatic high-swr power roll-back protection feature of many radios. I wanted to use it as a remote tuner at the base of a vertical....but in that use case, it doesn't work with my Icom 7300, it occasionally works with my Yaesu 891, and almost never works with my G90.

[@johnwest7993]

Same here, although I planned on mounting it up on the mast of my portable vertical antenna. It looks like a lot of control and power wiring is in order as well as some serious mods. I may build my own ATU and just use this open-source project as a starting point. It's a good idea, but a bit too simple, and doesn't solve the problems you mentioned. Fortunately I have some toroids, latching relays, and silver mica caps in my parts bins to play with. I just need to take a look at the firmware and see if I can work with it. Another winter project.

[@TheArtofEngineering]

I build my own crap 💩….. why would I buy crap? 😂😂 de VK2AOE

[@temporarilyoffline]

It is a great kit/project, but the builder here wasn't a ham. Maybe this is a cheap way to get all the parts?