As you might remember…. I did mention it earlier that I sent my FT 897 packing to a new home … Well I also sent a tuner with it and the new owner was given the choice of a Yaesu FC-40 Auto tuner or the LDG Z100 Auto Tuner.
Above Picture LDG Z100 Autotuner
Above Picture Yaesu FC 40 Autotuner
Thanks to Universal Radio for the excellent product information on their website
The new owner thought that the LDG would work better for him and it seems he was right as his new station is getting great reviews on the airwaves and making lots of contacts… ( I am told…)
At home I was using my FT 450 with the Z100 into a 4:1 balun to the 43 foot S9 Vertical Antenna. When I sold the Z100 as part of the FT897 deal I had hoped that the build in Autotuner in the FT 450at would of been strong enough to keep the status quo in the shack. Unfortunately…. No Joy on 80m.
The built in Tuner worked great on everything between 6m and 40m but no luck on 80m. As we don’t have 60m (Yet) in Canada I can’t comment on that band… So now what to do???
Last night I took the FC 40 out of its box and proceeded to install it in the place of the Z100 and the 4:1 balun. I had read that several hams had had good luck with remote tuners such as the SGC, the MFJ and the ICOM. After an earlier email to S9 I was informed that although (to their knowledge) no one had tried it yet after looking at the FC 40 specs there was no reason why it would not work…
Well today I am pleased to inform you that it works… I’ve got back full coverage between 6m and 80m (can’t comment about 60m yet) and it seems to be functioning great. Due to where I have it all installed I might have an issue in the damper fall with control cable locations but for now it seems to be great. A longer control cable would allow me to route it better… but for now its working so will be ok for a test period…
All I had to do was attach the S9 to the binding post on the top of the FC 40 then attach the ground radials to the Ground binding post of the FC 40. I then ran the control cable in to the shack along side the coax run (and yes I had to remember to attach the coax to the FC40 as well) and then plug the control cable to the FT 450′s Tuner Plug. After that it was just a matter or going into the menu system and changing the Tuner Button from Internal to External Tuner and we were in business.
So far so good… I’ll let you know if anything changes…
73bob
Tags: amateur radio, Amateur Radio Autotuners, LDG Z100 Autotuner, S9 43 Foot Vertical Antenna, Universal Radio, Yaesu FC 40 Autotuner, Yaesu FT 450, Yaesu FT 897
