Nice review, the only extra advice I can give, I have made one myself a couple of years ago, is: first listen to the radio and in the "work" position turn the dials for maximum noise, than switch to "tune" and you will not be far off :-)
I exchanged the 1K resistor and diode positions on the circuit board and added a .1 ufd capacitor from the diode's cathode to the bottom of the sense toroid and mine works a lot better now. Without the cap, the LED is seeing RF. With the cap, the LED is seeing DC, much better.
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Hello, Why 0.1uF and not 0.01uF? When you say bottom of the sense toroid you mean the ground connection of the toroid? The circuit you describe is added to dummy loads to get DC and with the help of a digital volt meter convert DC to Watts, am I right? 73 de Luís, CT2FZI
Nice review. This assembled tuner costs less than the kits I've been looking at and appears to be surprisingly well made. The beauty of the SWR bridge is the radio never sees higher than a 2:1. A very important feature for radios like my QDX and truSDX that have no high standing wave protection. 73 de NM9X
My 1st ATU was a 2 coil Z Match in 1985. I still use it. My experiment with a single coil air wound Z Match was 100% successful. I made a qrp version with a toroid but it was only good for 50 watts due to the toroid mix I used. They are a bit fiddly to adjust at first but if you turn both knobs at once in conjunction with each other it is much easier to get a quick match. Cheers VK5LB
If the limiting components are the dummy load resistors, just increasing their wattage should increase power capacity, but the caps they use are also low voltage which can be subject to very high voltage depending on the antenna load. An interesting alternative would be to use a nanoVNA instead of the “Tune” switch so you could know why the antenna is out of tune and tune it using very low power.
I paid more for Emtech's ZM-2, which is a similar z-match tuner. But there are differences. I like the fact that that the ZM-2 can feed balanced line (i.e. dipoles), meaning no need for a balun. It also has all the controls on one side rather than front and back. It comes in BNC and SO-239 versions. It's also rated for 15 watts, while this one is only rated for 5. That said, if your budget is tight, you'll probably be happy with this one.
@@forgetyourlife Yes you can but you are "grounding" one side of the line to be common with the input "ground". So the line is no longer balanced. A shame as it is link coupled. See LY2H's video on adding balanced line posts to this unit.
Great video, I just had one of these tuners arrive minus the manual, and here on the video is the manual, thank you. Do you know if this tuner can work with doublet antenna and ladder line feed, if so how? 73 Marty
I am wondering if a Xiegu G106 would stress it out since the Tune is rated at 5 watts max. The Xiegu G106 is advertised as a 5 watt radio, but actually performs at about 7 watts out of the box into a bird meter and dummy load.
The design is probably similar, I have a hard time thinking that anything coming from AliExpress at that price point is an original design. It does work very well though.
Guessing in TUNE mode, those resistors form a resistive bridge. This is fairly common for QRP antenna matchers and VSWR indicators. One very good thing about these resistive bridges is that VSWR should never be higher than 2:1 when in TUNE. So, you can safely "tune" your antenna without damaging your QRP transmitter. Very effective way of quickly and safely getting a good match.
You are absolutely correct. The better SWR bridge is on the 4SQRP antenna tuner - which is a kit - that has two LEDs. One is green and one is red and as the VSWR is minimized, the red fades and the green grows brighter.
If you mean a ladder line, the answer is yes. But this unit has a design flaw, one side of the output is grounded. The ZM-2 has a switch, which lets you operate both coax and balanced lines. The transformer output is balanced. Putting a QRP 1:1 balun (choke), wound bifilar, on the output will do the trick.
I have this tuner, awesome product will tune almost anything. Use LOW for 50 ohm coax like when using a unun or high for a long wire right to the tuner without a unun. Also works awesome with CB. I ordered it for the exact uSDR radio that you have but still waiting on the radio. Wish it had PL259 instead of BNC...
Another option to tune if your LED is not firing at the beginning. I have my IC705 connected to the tuner and from the WSJT-X app I click the Tune button and watch my SWR meter. Then turn the tuner knobs as tune option is ON in WSJT-X will allow you to tune down to 1:1
For a slightly faster match try setting the tune control first as that is the more important one then the load control then bounce between the 2 for final optimization. Once you "know" the antenna dialing in the initial approx settings on a manual ATU for just a final little optimisation can be so quick that the cost/complexity of an auto-atu is hardly justified.
When you said it was inexpensive, you weren't kidding... $35 Canadian is a pretty darn good price. I will picking up an inexpensive SDR radio to get started after I pass the exam and that tuner will save me some money for sure.
I have one of these. It's ok. The problem I'm encountering is that the SWR bridge isn't properly calibrated. If I tune for minimum SWR, then flip back to "WORK", the SWR on my radio is pretty high. And the inverse case: I can tune for minimum SWR using the radio (with the tuner in WORK) and get 1:1, then switch the tuner back to TUNE, and the LED lights up brightly as if the SWR is high. I'm going to open it up and see if moving the windings on L1 helps. update: No luck. I'll have to look at the schematic a bit more.
Hi Morten I bought on, it works great. I have made an upgrade. I put a 9:1 inside and add a wire terminal and a switch on the back. Now I just need to field test it. 73 - Jimmi oz4hj
Why a 9:1, when the unit tunes 25 to 2500 Ohm. The 9:1 is 50:450 Ohm. Just more loss. A better addition is to make a small 1:1 choke, wound bifilar at the output. Then it can tune both coax and ladder line.
It’s closer to 10:1 mark, than 3:1. It’s not possible for even the designer to provider a range definitively due to the unlimited combinations of complex impedances one might find at those ranges.
This looks the same circuit as is used in the QRP GUYS 40m-10m Multi-Z Tuner I would crack it open and look everything over to make sure all is proper ! I might even add a couple of binding posts on the back so as to use balanced line ! Just for the parts that this machine is made from is worth the money ! This I think a fine tuner !
It is an interesting device, looks great, but losses seem rather huge. I picked one up and did a comparison between this Z-match and a ZM-4 (similar to ZM2-) I built from the designs, seems to be consistent across the 40m-10m that this z-match is able to match SWR 1:almost 1 (on either/both, depending on band, hi-z and low-z) as can the ZM-4, however the ZM-4 once matched outputs min of 8.5w with 10w from radio, but this little z-match struggles to output 3w with 10w from radio. With 5w from radio takes this output to about 1w (or about 4.8w from ZM4). Might be just fault in mine but somewhere it's losing a lot of power, dodgy torrid mix, bad winding or something else perhaps.
Thanks for the video. I've often wondered about these low cost tuners. How did it work out in the field? Were you happy with the contacts/signal reports you received using this tuner?
Please help me! I ordered the Z-Match Antenna Tuner DIY kit on Aliexpress, but there are no assembly instructions in the package. In principle, mostly is clear there, but I need the parameters of the toroids. I would be grateful for any help.
This is likely a knock off of the original Emtech ZM - 2 QRP Tuners ! Which work flawlessly ! First tune for maximum receiver noise, then switch to Tune, key the transmitter, and I've found if it is possible, to use both hands simultaneously, then adjust the variable Caps, while watching the L.E.D. ! Once it goes dark, you're good to go ! As stated in the video, if the L.E.D. refuses to dim, then switch the fixed capacitance into the circuit, and tune as before ! Tuning for maximum noise will actually get you very close to the lowest SWR ! EASY PEASY ! Caveat Emptor ! Obviously, if these are knock offs, it's hard to tell what you'll get ! 👍😉
Very Affordable Hf Match tuner.....Industry standard 50 ohm TX, Tranceiver, Coax & Antennas are usually considered as Low Z operation & using a Matcher Between all 50 ohm equipment is Rare....You should have Demoed the Performance into a typical Reactive & Higher Z termination Load to Evaluate it's Most useful application....Nice Description & "Open Cover" review.....
@@LB0FI ok. I will try then. I have good swr on my Cb radio's ,Band " D " which covers 26.965mhz till 27.405mhz. Band E however has the swr on the world wide calling channel / frequency : 27.555mhz a bit too high . Swr: 1.7. And I want it lower. To get my antenna down and up over and over to adjust the top for swr is obviously a lot of work. On TH-cam there are only Ham radio video's with these chinese antenne tuners / autotuners etc. I am quite new to all this,and learning as I go. Lately I look a lot at these antenna tuners . Anyway, Thank you for the reply.
@@tomtwist1081 Okay, let me rephrase. an SWR of 1:1.7 is nothing to worry about. Both from a radio standpoint and a user standpoint. A CB antenna is probably a compromised high Q antenna, , see what I am doing here, I am assuming, and if it has an SWR of 1.7 at the band edges that is nothing to worry about. Actually, if you manage 1:1.7 on the band edges on such a large band with a compromised high Q antenna I would be happy. I would actually be happy with that curve with a dipole as well on such a wide band.
You should keep your tuning cycles very short (transmit and tune, wait, transmit and tune further) if you’re exceeding 5watts. While you could melt the polyvaricon capacitor, and it does happen, it’s also based on the fact that the resistors in the tuning indicator bridge will heat up very quickly in tune mode.
I have had 3 of them and all worked fine, Amazon has them for $43 in US , if you have Prime you get free shipping if you use a 9 to 1 UNUN don't assume you need to use the high impedance switch on the back, try the low position to, I could tune my antenna on high but checking the low position it actually tuned better, it is a good value and well built , happy with mine for sure 73 J
The switch on the back is not for High/Low impedance, it for High Bands/Low Bands. This is a QRP version of the E-Zee match. The original had 80 - 40 m low bands, and 20 - 10 m for high bands. But it will work with the WARC bands as well. The Chinese manual got it wrong.
I imagine that switch on the back adds capacitance to one of the capacitors. That is what it does on my ZM-2. Center adds nothing. Low adds 250 pfd and high adds 500 pfd. That extends the matching range. Whether that is needed depends on the antenna not the high versus low ham bands. If I cannot match well with none, I try the others.
A 'tuner' does not 'tune' your antenna. It will simply match the cable-end+antenna (whatever impedance this may be) to 50 ohms for your rig. You will see a good SWR on the rig. Depending on your setup, heavy losses may occure due to mismatch in the feeder cable between tuner and antenna - so only a fraction of your power will go to the feed-point of your antenna.
@WolfgangKMeister a tuner tunes out the reactance of the whole system including the antenna allowing maximum power to be transferred into the now resonant system, losses are only in the feedline which at hf are very small ,using balance feedline would be a good option to use as there's very little loss even with high swr
I just bought this tuner. When my swr’s are almost 1:1 and I switch it to “work,” my swr’s go to 3:1. Can someone help me figure out what’s wrong? Thanks in advance.
@@LB0FI That’s not the problem. I’m using an swr meter after this tuner. The swr’s go to 1:1 and the light dims. Then I switch to ‘work,” the light is very bright again, and my swr’s Jump back to 3:1 again.
An SWR meter after the tuner will not measure correctly. In order for it to give a correct measurement you need to put it between the radio and the tuner. If so, you could keep the tuner in work mode and tune for the reading of the meter.
Yes sir. I don’t think we were ever on the same page. Of course I put antenna, tuner, swr meter, then radio. When I switched to “work,” the swr meter went back to 3:1 and the antenna warning light came on the radio. What I’ve done, was opened up the unit, voiding the warranty, and re soldered everything that I could get to. The unit works properly now. I’m saying this for the people who bought this and have problems. Maybe you got a good one, or I got a bad one returned from Amazon. Regardless, this is what I’ve done, and it works now.
Thanks for the video. I use exactly the same setup for qrp, a usdx just like yours and the same z-match tuner. They work very well together. 73 de ZS6AKW
It is nothing but a variable-capacitor, Inductor and variable-resistor. Of course it's cheap.. .it should be about $1 from china.... Radio Shack used to sell these for $5
I believe the word you are looking for is "saying". Also, yes I am reaching an age where I start understanding and sounding like Al Bundy. I too have my Polk High School moments. Thanks for commenting though, and enjoy your weekend.
@@LB0FI No... A I Artificial Intelligence. And no, just sayen is something we use in the south... Better look them both up. No in fact its slang for just saying.... Thanks
My Chinese QRP Z_Match Tuner has just arrived and works well, except ... The left-hand capacitor has a break in the track between numbers 7 & 8. They have used the cheap variable capacitor that used to be used in transistor radios, so I suspect I got a faulty one. I have sent the seller a message and we'll see what he says, otherwise, I'll be testing out the Ali Express complaint process. 73 Ed DD5LP.
First, your English is really great. Thank you for the video.
Second, I’m really impressed with the design.
Thanks for the compliment on my English, having lived in the US absolutely helps. Also, it really is a great design.
Nice review, the only extra advice I can give, I have made one myself a couple of years ago, is:
first listen to the radio and in the "work" position turn the dials for maximum noise, than switch to "tune" and you will not be far off :-)
Thanks for the advice, I will certainly be trying this.
Exactly what I do with my Z match. Best way to do it!
I exchanged the 1K resistor and diode positions on the circuit board and added a .1 ufd capacitor from the diode's cathode to the bottom of the sense toroid and mine works a lot better now. Without the cap, the LED is seeing RF. With the cap, the LED is seeing DC, much better.
Hello,
Why 0.1uF and not 0.01uF?
When you say bottom of the sense toroid you mean the ground connection of the toroid?
The circuit you describe is added to dummy loads to get DC and with the help of a digital volt meter convert DC to Watts, am I right?
73 de Luís, CT2FZI
Nice review. This assembled tuner costs less than the kits I've been looking at and appears to be surprisingly well made. The beauty of the SWR bridge is the radio never sees higher than a 2:1. A very important feature for radios like my QDX and truSDX that have no high standing wave protection.
73 de NM9X
My 1st ATU was a 2 coil Z Match in 1985. I still use it. My experiment with a single coil air wound Z Match was 100% successful. I made a qrp version with a toroid but it was only good for 50 watts due to the toroid mix I used. They are a bit fiddly to adjust at first but if you turn both knobs at once in conjunction with each other it is much easier to get a quick match. Cheers VK5LB
I really like this little thing, most of all because of it's size.
It's super cheap and looks well made. It takes longer to tune than an auto tuner, but it's perfectly practical for a pota or sota trip.👍🤠
I am certain that I can tune faster with a bit of practice.
*THANK YOU*
You're welcome!
I wondered about this unit. Thanks for digging into it. 73
Thank you! It's a good tuner.
If the limiting components are the dummy load resistors, just increasing their wattage should increase power capacity, but the caps they use are also low voltage which can be subject to very high voltage depending on the antenna load. An interesting alternative would be to use a nanoVNA instead of the “Tune” switch so you could know why the antenna is out of tune and tune it using very low power.
I paid more for Emtech's ZM-2, which is a similar z-match tuner. But there are differences. I like the fact that that the ZM-2 can feed balanced line (i.e. dipoles), meaning no need for a balun. It also has all the controls on one side rather than front and back. It comes in BNC and SO-239 versions. It's also rated for 15 watts, while this one is only rated for 5. That said, if your budget is tight, you'll probably be happy with this one.
The one here is rated for 10w and you can use balanced line with a red/black binding post on the BNC port no problem.
@@forgetyourlifeYupp!
@@forgetyourlife Yes you can but you are "grounding" one side of the line to be common with the input "ground". So the line is no longer balanced. A shame as it is link coupled. See LY2H's video on adding balanced line posts to this unit.
Looks good! Can't wait to see how it does on a POTA.
I’m hoping to take it out in the next couple of days.
Excellent video and full of info. I was so weary to pull the plug on one but now I'm going to order it. Thanks for the vid.
You are in a lot of luck, because if you look down in the description there are actually some coupon codes there right now.
Great video, I just had one of these tuners arrive minus the manual, and here on the video is the manual, thank you. Do you know if this tuner can work with doublet antenna and ladder line feed, if so how? 73 Marty
You can just use a binding post adapter, and that would work fine.
I am wondering if a Xiegu G106 would stress it out since the Tune is rated at 5 watts max. The Xiegu G106 is advertised as a 5 watt radio, but actually performs at about 7 watts out of the box into a bird meter and dummy load.
It might be an issue, but it might also be okay. I am not going to recommend you do that, but I would do it if I still had that tuner.
Thanks Morton looks similar design to the famous ZM-2 but in a much better tin box which can sit flatter along side the radio when portable. vk5cz ..
The design is probably similar, I have a hard time thinking that anything coming from AliExpress at that price point is an original design. It does work very well though.
Hi looks like you got a great little work horse there. Good job 73
Can’t wait to take it out portable.
Guessing in TUNE mode, those resistors form a resistive bridge. This is fairly common for QRP antenna matchers and VSWR indicators. One very good thing about these resistive bridges is that VSWR should never be higher than 2:1 when in TUNE. So, you can safely "tune" your antenna without damaging your QRP transmitter. Very effective way of quickly and safely getting a good match.
You are absolutely correct. The better SWR bridge is on the 4SQRP antenna tuner - which is a kit - that has two LEDs. One is green and one is red and as the VSWR is minimized, the red fades and the green grows brighter.
Yes. A very clever design.
Nice addition to the qrp go bag. Nice video. 73
Absolutely, and it was also really inexpensive
Can I connect a two-wire cable directly to the BNC socket?
I would think so. I can't see why you couldn't
If you mean a ladder line, the answer is yes. But this unit has a design flaw, one side of the output is grounded.
The ZM-2 has a switch, which lets you operate both coax and balanced lines. The transformer output is balanced.
Putting a QRP 1:1 balun (choke), wound bifilar, on the output will do the trick.
Can one see the LED in bright sunlight?
That is a very good question. As far as I remember the LED is bright, but I have sold this tuner, so I have no way of checking this.
I have this tuner, awesome product will tune almost anything. Use LOW for 50 ohm coax like when using a unun or high for a long wire right to the tuner without a unun. Also works awesome with CB. I ordered it for the exact uSDR radio that you have but still waiting on the radio. Wish it had PL259 instead of BNC...
I need to use it more, but first I need something other than hamsticks on my car weather.
Another option to tune if your LED is not firing at the beginning. I have my IC705 connected to the tuner and from the WSJT-X app I click the Tune button and watch my SWR meter. Then turn the tuner knobs as tune option is ON in WSJT-X will allow you to tune down to 1:1
For a slightly faster match try setting the tune control first as that is the more important one then the load control then bounce between the 2 for final optimization.
Once you "know" the antenna dialing in the initial approx settings on a manual ATU for just a final little optimisation can be so quick that the cost/complexity of an auto-atu is hardly justified.
When you said it was inexpensive, you weren't kidding... $35 Canadian is a pretty darn good price. I will picking up an inexpensive SDR radio to get started after I pass the exam and that tuner will save me some money for sure.
I think it’s the cheapest good tuner you can buy, but I might be wrong on that.
I have one of these. It's ok. The problem I'm encountering is that the SWR bridge isn't properly calibrated. If I tune for minimum SWR, then flip back to "WORK", the SWR on my radio is pretty high. And the inverse case: I can tune for minimum SWR using the radio (with the tuner in WORK) and get 1:1, then switch the tuner back to TUNE, and the LED lights up brightly as if the SWR is high. I'm going to open it up and see if moving the windings on L1 helps.
update: No luck. I'll have to look at the schematic a bit more.
Could be common mode current on the coax feedline. Have you tried to insert a choke between the transceiver and tuner?
Hi Morten
I bought on, it works great.
I have made an upgrade. I put a 9:1 inside and add a wire terminal and a switch on the back.
Now I just need to field test it.
73 - Jimmi oz4hj
What a great idea!
Why a 9:1, when the unit tunes 25 to 2500 Ohm. The 9:1 is 50:450 Ohm. Just more loss.
A better addition is to make a small 1:1 choke, wound bifilar at the output. Then it can tune both coax and ladder line.
Nice video, thanks !
Looks nice, what’s the range on it ? 3:1 or 10:1….
I haven’t tested it in that matter yet, so I wouldn’t know more than what’s on the sticker
It’s closer to 10:1 mark, than 3:1. It’s not possible for even the designer to provider a range definitively due to the unlimited combinations of complex impedances one might find at those ranges.
The label on the top of the unit says 25 - 2500 Ohm.
That would be 1:2.0 for low impedances, and 1:50 for high impedances.
It might tune an EFHW.
This looks the same circuit as is used in the QRP GUYS 40m-10m Multi-Z Tuner
I would crack it open and look everything over to make sure all is proper !
I might even add a couple of binding posts on the back so as to use balanced line !
Just for the parts that this machine is made from is worth the money !
This I think a fine tuner !
It is an interesting device, looks great, but losses seem rather huge. I picked one up and did a comparison between this Z-match and a ZM-4 (similar to ZM2-) I built from the designs, seems to be consistent across the 40m-10m that this z-match is able to match SWR 1:almost 1 (on either/both, depending on band, hi-z and low-z) as can the ZM-4, however the ZM-4 once matched outputs min of 8.5w with 10w from radio, but this little z-match struggles to output 3w with 10w from radio. With 5w from radio takes this output to about 1w (or about 4.8w from ZM4). Might be just fault in mine but somewhere it's losing a lot of power, dodgy torrid mix, bad winding or something else perhaps.
@@vk3krl yes, sounds like yours is faulty.
I demand a QSO !! Can you call Arizona?? lol thanks for the vids
I can absolutely call Arizona:)
Thanks for the video. I've often wondered about these low cost tuners. How did it work out in the field? Were you happy with the contacts/signal reports you received using this tuner?
It does it's thing and it is well built. It also tunes about everything.
Please help me! I ordered the Z-Match Antenna Tuner DIY kit on Aliexpress, but there are no assembly instructions in the package. In principle, mostly is clear there, but I need the parameters of the toroids. I would be grateful for any help.
I have no idea how to help you.
Can you run your liner with that
Liner?
Doesn’t know how to spell linear. Also a dumb joke. 😊
This is likely a knock off of the original Emtech ZM - 2 QRP Tuners !
Which work flawlessly !
First tune for maximum receiver noise, then switch to Tune, key the transmitter, and I've found if it is possible, to use both hands simultaneously, then adjust the variable Caps, while watching the L.E.D. !
Once it goes dark, you're good to go !
As stated in the video, if the L.E.D. refuses to dim, then switch the fixed capacitance into the circuit, and tune as before !
Tuning for maximum noise will actually get you very close to the lowest SWR !
EASY PEASY !
Caveat Emptor !
Obviously, if these are knock offs, it's hard to tell what you'll get !
👍😉
The Z-Match antenna tuner was invented by Lew McCoy, W1ICP, and Ed Wetherhold, W3NQN. I don't know if they are associated with Emtech.
Very Affordable Hf Match tuner.....Industry standard 50 ohm TX, Tranceiver, Coax & Antennas are usually considered as Low Z operation & using a Matcher Between all 50 ohm equipment is Rare....You should have Demoed the Performance into a typical Reactive & Higher Z termination Load to Evaluate it's Most useful application....Nice Description & "Open Cover" review.....
Thanks for commenting
Does this works on the 11 meter band as well?
I have no idea, but I would assume so.
@@LB0FI ok. I will try then. I have good swr on my Cb radio's ,Band " D " which covers 26.965mhz till 27.405mhz. Band E however has the swr on the world wide calling channel / frequency : 27.555mhz a bit too high . Swr: 1.7. And I want it lower. To get my antenna down and up over and over to adjust the top for swr is obviously a lot of work. On TH-cam there are only Ham radio video's with these chinese antenne tuners / autotuners etc.
I am quite new to all this,and learning as I go. Lately I look a lot at these antenna tuners .
Anyway, Thank you for the reply.
An SWR of 1.7 is actually good. Don't worry about it.
@@LB0FI 1.7 is not good, but acceptable.
@@tomtwist1081 Okay, let me rephrase. an SWR of 1:1.7 is nothing to worry about. Both from a radio standpoint and a user standpoint. A CB antenna is probably a compromised high Q antenna, , see what I am doing here, I am assuming, and if it has an SWR of 1.7 at the band edges that is nothing to worry about. Actually, if you manage 1:1.7 on the band edges on such a large band with a compromised high Q antenna I would be happy. I would actually be happy with that curve with a dipole as well on such a wide band.
When you tunning,your qrp send 6-7 watts. The tuner says 5 w máximum for tunning. No problem with that? 73
Those are Chinese watts, so no, not too worried.
Mine says 10w right on it.
You should keep your tuning cycles very short (transmit and tune, wait, transmit and tune further) if you’re exceeding 5watts. While you could melt the polyvaricon capacitor, and it does happen, it’s also based on the fact that the resistors in the tuning indicator bridge will heat up very quickly in tune mode.
I have had 3 of them and all worked fine, Amazon has them for $43 in US , if you have Prime you get free shipping if you use a 9 to 1 UNUN don't assume you need to use the high impedance switch on the back, try the low position to, I could tune my antenna on high but checking the low position it actually tuned better, it is a good value and well built , happy with mine for sure 73 J
Amazing quality for the money. I really like this little thing.
The switch on the back is not for High/Low impedance, it for High Bands/Low Bands.
This is a QRP version of the E-Zee match. The original had 80 - 40 m low bands, and 20 - 10 m for high bands.
But it will work with the WARC bands as well. The Chinese manual got it wrong.
@@tomtwist1081 Thanks for the input, I will look further in to this.
In my case my tuners operates in
l and h position has high and low impedance I don't know why it just does I only operate 40 and 80
I imagine that switch on the back adds capacitance to one of the capacitors. That is what it does on my ZM-2. Center adds nothing. Low adds 250 pfd and high adds 500 pfd. That extends the matching range. Whether that is needed depends on the antenna not the high versus low ham bands. If I cannot match well with none, I try the others.
Ce valoare au cele 2 cv-uri?
I suspect something is lost in translation here, but 2CV? Like the Citroën?
A 'tuner' does not 'tune' your antenna. It will simply match the cable-end+antenna (whatever impedance this may be) to 50 ohms for your rig. You will see a good SWR on the rig. Depending on your setup, heavy losses may occure due to mismatch in the feeder cable between tuner and antenna - so only a fraction of your power will go to the feed-point of your antenna.
Thank you for stating the obvious. How many tuner videos have you used this phrase on?
@@LB0FI relax, the link of this video was posted on Facebook, therefore the same comment.
@WolfgangKMeister a tuner tunes out the reactance of the whole system including the antenna allowing maximum power to be transferred into the now resonant system, losses are only in the feedline which at hf are very small ,using balance feedline would be a good option to use as there's very little loss even with high swr
I use an EFHW antenna. No tuning ;-)
Thanks for letting me know.
I just bought this tuner. When my swr’s are almost 1:1 and I switch it to “work,” my swr’s go to 3:1. Can someone help me figure out what’s wrong?
Thanks in advance.
You gotta tune the light to go as dim as possible. Just as I do in the video.
@@LB0FI
That’s not the problem. I’m using an swr meter after this tuner.
The swr’s go to 1:1 and the light dims.
Then I switch to ‘work,” the light is very bright again, and my swr’s
Jump back to 3:1 again.
An SWR meter after the tuner will not measure correctly. In order for it to give a correct measurement you need to put it between the radio and the tuner. If so, you could keep the tuner in work mode and tune for the reading of the meter.
Yes sir. I don’t think we were ever on the same page.
Of course I put antenna, tuner, swr meter, then radio.
When I switched to “work,” the swr meter went back to 3:1 and the antenna warning light came
on the radio.
What I’ve done, was opened up the unit, voiding the warranty, and re soldered everything
that I could get to.
The unit works properly now.
I’m saying this for the people who bought this and have problems.
Maybe you got a good one, or I got a bad one returned from Amazon.
Regardless, this is what I’ve done, and it works now.
Also, after re soldering, I did put the unit into the “work”mode, and fine tuned it further.
Thanks for the demo. I just purchased one, waiting for the rain to stop. 73 K7WHN
I hope you like it!
Thanks for the video. I use exactly the same setup for qrp, a usdx just like yours and the same z-match tuner. They work very well together. 73 de ZS6AKW
They absolutely work well together.
Looks like a PIA. There are certainly MFJ manual tuners that are easier to use.
Wow, you're as positive as always.
@@LB0FI Have fun with your tuner. I am just stating my opinion.
8:53 @@vladtepes481 are you thinking 8010 lw atu
Warning, if you look inside you could find out that the design was copied from people who originally built the z-match. Thanks for the video!
As far as I know this is open source hardware.
I am not a lawyer. I just wanted to point out that the Chinese manufacturer did not invent this design.
That is a very good assumption. But again, it’s open source hardware.
Yes, open source: github.com/cebarobot/Z-match-Tuner
@@LB0FI Thanks!
It is nothing but a variable-capacitor, Inductor and variable-resistor. Of course it's cheap.. .it should be about $1 from china.... Radio Shack used to sell these for $5
Okay.
Rubbish. This is a well built Z-match tuner. It is a well known and functioning design.
There is for sure no variable resistor.
Sounds like AI. Just sayen....
I believe the word you are looking for is "saying". Also, yes I am reaching an age where I start understanding and sounding like Al Bundy. I too have my Polk High School moments. Thanks for commenting though, and enjoy your weekend.
@@LB0FI No... A I Artificial Intelligence. And no, just sayen is something we use in the south... Better look them both up.
No in fact its slang for just saying.... Thanks
@@jimw7ry I got that actually. And thank you for your comment.
I noticed your swr reading said 5+ watts output. Mine is only saying 2. Guess I got a dud radio.
Have you checked your PA bias?
@LB0FI I did. I cranked up the PA Bias to 255 and am now getting 4 watts. Will see how long it lasts.
My Chinese QRP Z_Match Tuner has just arrived and works well, except ... The left-hand capacitor has a break in the track between numbers 7 & 8. They have used the cheap variable capacitor that used to be used in transistor radios, so I suspect I got a faulty one. I have sent the seller a message and we'll see what he says, otherwise, I'll be testing out the Ali Express complaint process.
73 Ed DD5LP.
impressive - vy 73 de DL8CY