So cheap... update 07/19/22
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Remember that cheap ATU100 EXT antenna tuner I tried out for $37[1]?
Figured I better give an update.
It arrived in a reasonable amount of time. It looked perfectly fine. I
took the cover off and examined the innards--mostly just to verify it
wasn't an empty shell. Check.
It powered up and held a charge. Check again.
Find a crappy "manual" online (crappy in the sense of usage
instructions, not technical details. People build these from kits, so
lots of details are out there, but not a clean, simple users manual.
Anyway, I determined that it was dead simple to use: one press on the
only button would reset the tuner, a long press would put it in TUNE
mode. Both "RESET" and "TUNE" would appear on the screen, along with
other details when it was working.
Tried it out with the G90... and nothing. No response to the RF in. No
attempt to tune.
Searched around online and found a video of another person trying out
a similar cheap unit. They described a problem with the SO-239
connectors being loose and of low quality. By loose, I mean the center
pin hole comes out. Sure enough, mine had this same defect.
While examining things, I also noticed that there was some shielding
missing inside. I put that in place, and soldered on some nicer SO-239
connectors... and presto! It started working. I've tested it on
multiple radios across bands from 80m to 10m, and it seems to do the
job quite well.
So, while not an off-the-shelf item, it wasn't too hard to make it
serviceable. And since it's a ham radio item, I guess I really can't
complain that I had to do some soldering. Especially for $37.
[1]
gopher://zaibatsu.circumlunar.space:70/0/~tfurrows/phlog/2022-04-26_soCheap.txt
