Thanks for the video. Sorry you had to put up with high horse comments of some of the viewers. When people act that way I'l like to publish their school transcripts to knock them down several rungs. But more to the point. I ordered one and it came with zero instructions except for the screen print on the SWR board. So, your video has given me enough clues that I can assemble the darn thing. Thanks again. Mike aka KC2WVB
"This masonry bit will do." I don't often laugh out loud when watching RUclips videos, but you caught me by surprise. Your toolbox must look an awful lot like mine if you think that way. Nice work.
I did see one mistake you made in regards to FT37-43. You wired it in backwards as the board pcb diagram was wrong according to the schematic. Would have been nice to see the T106-2 wiring. The video speed was so high even after reducing the speed via Utube. And a clear voice over as what you were doing. The varicaps are very cheap and will burnout with any high voltage across them. You can do a lookup but I would not recommend anything above 1watt. All in all I enjoyed the video even if it was going at the speed of light!
Not sure what went wrong on yours Alex. My kit worked great! The peel and stick labels helped make the holes in the right place. A sharp drill bit made it a lot easier. My circuit board was accurate. Some kits had an incorrect trace I think. The knobs worked OK when you use the provided long screws and spacer nuts. Fun to build! The swr dummy load circuit works well with the Yaesu 817nd when tuning. It takes at least 1 to 2 watts to get the red led to function. Then it dims as the antenna is tuned down to a perfect 1:1 swr. Good luck and thanks for the video! 73 de N4UVR
Cory - It looks like you got yours tuner to work. I also have the same tuner. I thing that did not come with the kit is the instructions on the number of turns for the larger tori for the inductor taps. Did you get any instructions with your kit? If so, could you share them with me? Thanks in advance. 73 de N7TES
@@johnsherrill6411 , Some instructions I dug up show the number or turns between each tap. plus the 10nturns at one end What is not clear is if the 10mturns are at the end that goes to te junction of the tuning capacitors, or the other end. My kit did not come with instructions, I had to dig them up online. And the ones I found are far from the best. Wayne WA2YNE
i have just built one of theses and it works real well, i tested from 2mHz-30mHz, i couldnt get it down past 1:1.2 at 4mHz and divisables of 4 but evey thing else was spotless, some things to watch out when making it,#1. dont believe the size of the holes on the sticker, ie. the mounting screws on both pots are 6mm on the stickers(too big) and #2. the knobs on the pots are the wrong ones but i did what you did with washers and long screws, i also fitted SO239 along side of the bnc plugs, jus paralleled but plan out where the mounting screws go, but what fantastic value for money, it also shows how a "TOONER" works! THANK-YOU! big T/U+SUB.!.
Nice drilling technique. Pro-tip: I normally grip the work piece under my chin and drill towards my neck. Well, I used to, before the "incident". I know this is an old video now but well done for giving it a go with the tools you had to hand. "This masonry bit will do" 👍👍
Of course the SWR circuit is wrong. One lead of C1 goes to T1 (GND) but the other lead of C1 is wrong, please disconect it from T1. It should goes to the node R4 with D1 (catode). In this way, the SWR circuit should works lighting the led. Regards, EA4AON Javier.
Adding one component at a time may take you longer but you will end up with a clean project and you need a good pair of micro cutters, not scissors. Good video though, more than I can say about the trollers.
I would love to help you troubleshoot this project. Watching you trim your component leads with a pair of Fiskars was excruciating, but you got it done! The SWR bridge is simple. I see scads of comments here, so I assume you were properly guided on your way. Did you get it on the air? What's your callsign? Thanks, Jonathan W0XO
Hi Alex, from what I can see in your video, it appears that the T1 coil is wired in reverse. the 5 turn primary seems to be connected to the 2 turn secondary, try reversing the leads.
Although the circuit board is indeed printed that way, the schematic for this tuner however shows that the Primary has 2 windings and the Secondary has 5 windings.
Thanks for sharing. Sorry that it didn't perform correctly. Did you check continuity of the toroid taps? If you didn't scrape all the way down to bare copper before tinning and cutting the taps to length you may have opens in that inductor.
The toroid taps seem to work fine, as far as I can tell. The problem was the circuit board which is used to tune for lowest SWR. I don't need this part because I use the built in meter on the radio or use an analyser, so I wasn't really bothered by that.
Alex's Tech Videos Sorry after I Checked the schematic online I saw that the toroid wasn't your issue. Glad the tuner itself is performing. Tinkerjohn W5CYF has a video up for this same kit and used his Antenna Analyzer to check the performance of his. So I didn't see if his LED functioned as a sweet spot indicator either.
My hand tools also often get the walkies. Eventually I usually find them hiding in the most obscure places. They must conspire when I'm out and about! SWR Crct not workie? LED in backie? For the price, I can't see how I could go wrong even with some flaky components. After all, I are a HAM! It'll be great with my uBITx-V6 and/or QCX transceivers. With care, even my soon to be IC-7300. TNX for posting your build. It'll be a good rainy-day project........ 73 OM
I was watching this to build the kit that I have, so how many turns per side does the first torrit take. I also need help with the adjustable one as well
Thanks for posting the video of construction, but I feel that it was lacking in testing technique at the end. It would have been nice to share your testing with a rig. Perhaps if you join a radio club, you may be able to get some help testing the assembled kit. What rig were you proposing to use this with? I don't feel that your rating of the kit was justified. The kit would be used by an Intermediate level Radio ham with at least a 10 watt licence. You don't seem to have one.
Nice vid, it shows how this work is done. 2 things I like to tell: -the variable capacitor ist small & cheap, but they dont work for many years. Unlike the larger versions with air as dielectricum it has plastic foil between the metal. By moving the axis the foil get stressed and lastly it get destroyed (experienced this by the old 2 or 6 transistor radios). So if one has a larger plastic box and a usual variable capacity from an old radio it can better be used -when I see your fingers and the machine with the drill I remember how often I saw in my job (education, also metal and wood) blooding hands at our apprentices. Better to fix the box in a vice.
I bought what I believe to be the same kit from a different vendor. It came with drill templates but no instructions. Does anyone have a link to instructions?
Hi, thanks a lot for sharing. I also purchased the same Kit, but I have troubles to understand the circuit layout, particularly the connections to the tuner capacitors (which have three legs labeled O-G-A). Neither in the schematics, nor in the pictures I am able to see from where to where I have to solder the cables (I could not figure it out from your video too)... any advice where could I find a more complete diagram?
+Torsti Ehojoki The variable capacitors have two stationary set of plates and one common to the moving plates. The center tab on one cap goes to the input from the trx and the center tap on the other cap goes to the antenna output connector. The remaining four tabs are all common together and connect to the starting winding on the toroid. Also the other end of the toroid stops at tap # 12 on the rotor switch and not ground. Hint: Solder a wire to the center connection on the rotor switch before attaching the toroid taps. Makes it easier if done prior. The center connection will connect to ground per the schematic. Hope this helps! 73 de N4UVR
I built one and it works ok, but let down by poor quality components, especially the rotary switch and the crappy knobs on the capacitors. I had to replace the switch almost immediately, as it had an internal breakdown. And get yourself a cordless Dremel!
One hopes that with the money you made off this video you invested in some decent hand tools like a sharp set of drill bits and sharp wire snips. Scissors are a miserable fail. Also, thanks for the intervelometer speed of the video. You could title it "The Keystone Cops build an Antenna Tuner". ~love and kisses, Chief High Horse
To Alex, I'm trying to make head and tail out of the schematic's... On the large toroid one of the ends goes to groung on the trancieve side (right) and the other goes to the tuning capacitor? Thanks EW.
The basic layout is www.comportco.com/~w5alt/antennas/notes/t-network.gif so yes, one end goes to ground but the other can go to either trx cap or ant cap since they're connected anyways. Hope that makes sense. Alex.
I recently assembled one of these. The build is horrible and took much longer than it should have. IMPORTANT FYI: The SWR circuit is labeled wrong on the PCB. It should be flipped around. Compare the schematic to the PCB. It is labeled wrong! Another reviewer noted to use 3 turns and 9 turns for more sensitive pickup (works with 100mW QRP transmitter). Yeah. This kit has horrible instructions and a PCB that is very badly designed. It's not a bad kit of parts - but LOTS of deficiencies on the build. I've already re-written the instructions, with much-needed construction tips, and am designing a new PCB to replace that crappy one. I'm also making a new front label (in English) and drilling guides.
Is there any way to adapt this kit to handle higher output wattage? I am just starting to get into HAM and Electronics so don't know much about this. I want to make an antenna tuner for my FT-101E (around 100-150watts output power when at max).
In three words, yes you can. Change the variable caps by some caps from an old radio, air caps, a better tuner switch and a heavy rotating switch and you are done. It is even better for also low wattage, to change the tuner switch, cause the included switch is of low quality.
Guess you got instructions or some sort of diagram, I got exactly what you showed - except the label was folded in half inside the box. Not one damn piece of info, nothing on winding the coils, bupkis...
es bueno que difunda sus conocimientos,ya que es un fraude la informacion de la venta de este producto. le agradezco infininitamente la difusion de su video. gracias mil
No, it says 10 watts maximum in the instructions I found. And also says to not use more than 4 watts, or is it 5, while actually tuning. I have yet to assemble mine. Wayne WA2YNE
No wonder, it's not working. You build it up without any patience and perfection. As it seems, you have never learned how to do a precise Job. Sorry, a butcher will do it better. Never give less than your Best!!!!
Thanks for the video. Sorry you had to put up with high horse comments of some of the viewers. When people act that way I'l like to publish their school transcripts to knock them down several rungs. But more to the point. I ordered one and it came with zero instructions except for the screen print on the SWR board. So, your video has given me enough clues that I can assemble the darn thing. Thanks again. Mike aka KC2WVB
lol boomer
"This masonry bit will do." I don't often laugh out loud when watching RUclips videos, but you caught me by surprise. Your toolbox must look an awful lot like mine if you think that way. Nice work.
lol. It's full of odd drill bits, never the exact one I want though!
Thank God you were only drilling plastic!
I did see one mistake you made in regards to FT37-43. You wired it in backwards as the board pcb diagram was wrong according to the schematic.
Would have been nice to see the T106-2 wiring. The video speed was so high even after reducing the speed via Utube. And a clear voice over as what you were doing.
The varicaps are very cheap and will burnout with any high voltage across them. You can do a lookup but I would not recommend anything above 1watt.
All in all I enjoyed the video even if it was going at the speed of light!
Not sure what went wrong on yours Alex. My kit worked great! The peel and stick labels helped make the holes in the right place. A sharp drill bit made it a lot easier. My circuit board was accurate. Some kits had an incorrect trace I think. The knobs worked OK when you use the provided long screws and spacer nuts. Fun to build! The swr dummy load circuit works well with the Yaesu 817nd when tuning. It takes at least 1 to 2 watts to get the red led to function. Then it dims as the antenna is tuned down to a perfect 1:1 swr. Good luck and thanks for the video! 73 de N4UVR
Cory - It looks like you got yours tuner to work. I also have the same tuner. I thing that did not come with the kit is the instructions on the number of turns for the larger tori for the inductor taps. Did you get any instructions with your kit? If so, could you share them with me? Thanks in advance. 73 de N7TES
@@johnsherrill6411 , Some instructions I dug up show the number or turns between each tap. plus the 10nturns at one end
What is not clear is if the 10mturns are at the end that goes to te junction of the tuning capacitors, or the other end.
My kit did not come with instructions, I had to dig them up online. And the ones I found are far from the best.
Wayne WA2YNE
i have just built one of theses and it works real well, i tested from 2mHz-30mHz, i couldnt get it down past 1:1.2 at 4mHz and divisables of 4 but evey thing else was spotless, some things to watch out when making it,#1. dont believe the size of the holes on the sticker, ie. the mounting screws on both pots are 6mm on the stickers(too big) and #2. the knobs on the pots are the wrong ones but i did what you did with washers and long screws, i also fitted SO239 along side of the bnc plugs, jus paralleled but plan out where the mounting screws go, but what fantastic value for money, it also shows how a "TOONER" works! THANK-YOU! big T/U+SUB.!.
Nice drilling technique. Pro-tip: I normally grip the work piece under my chin and drill towards my neck. Well, I used to, before the "incident".
I know this is an old video now but well done for giving it a go with the tools you had to hand. "This masonry bit will do" 👍👍
I'll bet you stick it up your ass too. SHITHEAD!
Of course the SWR circuit is wrong. One lead of C1 goes to T1 (GND) but the other lead of C1 is wrong, please disconect it from T1. It should goes to the node R4 with D1 (catode). In this way, the SWR circuit should works lighting the led. Regards, EA4AON Javier.
Dig it, and the music. Thanks for your time and effort.
Adding one component at a time may take you longer but you will end up with a clean project and you need a good pair of micro cutters, not scissors. Good video though, more than I can say about the trollers.
I would love to help you troubleshoot this project. Watching you trim your component leads with a pair of Fiskars was excruciating, but you got it done! The SWR bridge is simple. I see scads of comments here, so I assume you were properly guided on your way. Did you get it on the air? What's your callsign? Thanks, Jonathan W0XO
I built one also, I had a problem and diagnosed the rotary switch, I replaced it and it worked fine now. Bad connections inside the switch.
Hi Alex,
from what I can see in your video, it appears that the T1 coil is wired in reverse. the 5 turn primary seems to be connected to the 2 turn secondary, try reversing the leads.
Although the circuit board is indeed printed that way, the schematic for this tuner however shows that the Primary has 2 windings and the Secondary has 5 windings.
Was the string you pulled out of encloser supposed to be the seal for the cover? maybe vaseline it and push into groove as a watertight encloser?
Thanks for sharing. Sorry that it didn't perform correctly.
Did you check continuity of the toroid taps? If you didn't scrape all the way down to bare copper before tinning and cutting the taps to length you may have opens in that inductor.
The toroid taps seem to work fine, as far as I can tell. The problem was the circuit board which is used to tune for lowest SWR. I don't need this part because I use the built in meter on the radio or use an analyser, so I wasn't really bothered by that.
Alex's Tech Videos
Sorry after I Checked the schematic online I saw that the toroid wasn't your issue. Glad the tuner itself is performing. Tinkerjohn W5CYF has a video up for this same kit and used his Antenna Analyzer to check the performance of his. So I didn't see if his LED functioned as a sweet spot indicator either.
My hand tools also often get the walkies. Eventually I usually find them hiding in the most obscure places. They must conspire when I'm out and about!
SWR Crct not workie? LED in backie?
For the price, I can't see how I could go wrong even with some flaky components.
After all, I are a HAM!
It'll be great with my uBITx-V6 and/or QCX transceivers. With care, even my soon to be IC-7300.
TNX for posting your build. It'll be a good rainy-day project........
73 OM
I was watching this to build the kit that I have, so how many turns per side does the first torrit take. I also need help with the adjustable one as well
Thanks for posting the video of construction, but I feel that it was lacking in testing technique at the end. It would have been nice to share your testing with a rig. Perhaps if you join a radio club, you may be able to get some help testing the assembled kit. What rig were you proposing to use this with? I don't feel that your rating of the kit was justified. The kit would be used by an Intermediate level Radio ham with at least a 10 watt licence. You don't seem to have one.
Nice vid, it shows how this work is done. 2 things I like to tell:
-the variable capacitor ist small & cheap, but they dont work for many years. Unlike the larger versions with air as dielectricum it has plastic foil between the metal. By moving the axis the foil get stressed and lastly it get destroyed (experienced this by the old 2 or 6 transistor radios). So if one has a larger plastic box and a usual variable capacity from an old radio it can better be used
-when I see your fingers and the machine with the drill I remember how often I saw in my job (education, also metal and wood) blooding hands at our apprentices. Better to fix the box in a vice.
I bought what I believe to be the same kit from a different vendor. It came with drill templates but no instructions. Does anyone have a link to instructions?
That must be one dull drill bit ;-) I take that back, just seemed to me I get through plastic faster then that and I do not :-)
Where did you order the Kit from,BTW nice build......
Hi, thanks a lot for sharing. I also purchased the same Kit, but I have troubles to understand the circuit layout, particularly the connections to the tuner capacitors (which have three legs labeled O-G-A). Neither in the schematics, nor in the pictures I am able to see from where to where I have to solder the cables (I could not figure it out from your video too)... any advice where could I find a more complete diagram?
+Torsti Ehojoki The variable capacitors have two stationary set of plates and one common to the moving plates.
The center tab on one cap goes to the input from the trx and the center tap on the other cap goes to the antenna output connector. The remaining four tabs are all common together and connect to the starting winding on the toroid. Also the other end of the toroid stops at tap # 12 on the rotor switch and not ground. Hint: Solder a wire to the center connection on the rotor switch before attaching the toroid taps. Makes it easier if done prior. The center connection will connect to ground per the schematic. Hope this helps! 73 de N4UVR
Dude, You`re cool! 73 :)
Very Helpful, thanks es 73
Do you tune the LED for maximum brightness, or minimum brightness?
I built one and it works ok, but let down by poor quality components, especially the rotary switch and the crappy knobs on the capacitors. I had to replace the switch almost immediately, as it had an internal breakdown. And get yourself a cordless Dremel!
thanks for sharing this build....73 :)
One hopes that with the money you made off this video you invested in some decent hand tools like a sharp set of drill bits and sharp wire snips. Scissors are a miserable fail. Also, thanks for the intervelometer speed of the video. You could title it "The Keystone Cops build an Antenna Tuner".
~love and kisses, Chief High Horse
To Alex,
I'm trying to make head and tail out of the schematic's... On the large toroid one of the ends goes to groung on the trancieve side (right) and the other goes to the tuning capacitor? Thanks EW.
The basic layout is www.comportco.com/~w5alt/antennas/notes/t-network.gif so yes, one end goes to ground but the other can go to either trx cap or ant cap since they're connected anyways. Hope that makes sense.
Alex.
That cleared up my concern with the tuning caps. I had connected them the same way as the picture. It was more luck than judgement. Thanks.
I recently assembled one of these. The build is horrible and took much longer than it should have. IMPORTANT FYI: The SWR circuit is labeled wrong on the PCB. It should be flipped around. Compare the schematic to the PCB. It is labeled wrong! Another reviewer noted to use 3 turns and 9 turns for more sensitive pickup (works with 100mW QRP transmitter). Yeah. This kit has horrible instructions and a PCB that is very badly designed. It's not a bad kit of parts - but LOTS of deficiencies on the build. I've already re-written the instructions, with much-needed construction tips, and am designing a new PCB to replace that crappy one. I'm also making a new front label (in English) and drilling guides.
Is there any way to adapt this kit to handle higher output wattage? I am just starting to get into HAM and Electronics so don't know much about this. I want to make an antenna tuner for my FT-101E (around 100-150watts output power when at max).
in a word "no."
In three words, yes you can. Change the variable caps by some caps from an old radio, air caps, a better tuner switch and a heavy rotating switch and you are done. It is even better for also low wattage, to change the tuner switch, cause the included switch is of low quality.
Guess you got instructions or some sort of diagram, I got exactly what you showed - except the label was folded in half inside the box. Not one damn piece of info, nothing on winding the coils, bupkis...
Same
es bueno que difunda sus conocimientos,ya que es un fraude la informacion de la venta de este producto. le agradezco infininitamente la difusion de su video. gracias mil
Thx for sharing this Vid!!!!
73
HB9FVF
can't beat health and safety lol
shame nice video but it is not clear how many turns you use the video is too fast, especially when you finish the reel :-(
Instructions in English (sorta) here -
m1kta-qrp.blogspot.com/2014/05/comments-on-chinese-atu.html
Thanks for the link Ted. Very helpful.
Wrong capacitor connection !!!
this can take 100watts?
No, it says 10 watts maximum in the instructions I found.
And also says to not use more than 4 watts, or is it 5, while actually tuning.
I have yet to assemble mine.
Wayne WA2YNE
jee , het hoefde zeker niet netjes hi hi hi
if you *WATCH TILL THE END* it did *NOT* work.. why upload if its shit ??
Unnessasary you did the video very fast,it was irritating for eyes,better you shortened the video in between
This has to be one of the worst videos I have ever seen regarding kit building.
Rather a useless critique, you give no reasons as to why it's so bad.
No wonder, it's not working. You build it up without any patience and perfection.
As it seems, you have never learned how to do a precise Job.
Sorry, a butcher will do it better.
Never give less than your Best!!!!
Exactly how not to do this build.
The video has no purpose to be shown like this. It is a nontechnical presentation of a technical matter. Dont waste time watching this...
+Bibhuti Mandal Well, I admit it's a bit fast, but it helps to see what I will be doing if the kit arrives - Thanks for the upload :)