Yaesu: Do I Need An External Tuner?

[WRVK753]

I’ve been mostly a 2-meter and 70-centimeter user, but I’ve purchased a YAESU FTDX10 and I’m going to set it up soon in my shack. The transceiver has an internal tuner. Do I also need an external tuner?

My use will be general Pota hunting, DX, FT8. Antennas will be wire.

Mike

 

[AK9R]

Depends on your antenna.

Most internal tuners in modern radios can handle an SWR of up to 3:1 which would be an antenna impedance of 16.7 ohms to 150 ohms. If your antenna's impedance is between those values, the internal tuner should handle it.

From the owner's manual:

 

[dimab]

that depends on what kind of antennas you will put up, and how they're tuned. need a lot more info
resonant antenna, won't need a tuner or internal tuner can clean it up
non-resonant, will probably need external tuner.

 

[spongella]

As an old-time ham, internal antenna tuners are the greatest innovation that have come along.

Erect your antenna(s) first and see if the internal tuner can handle the job. You can also go to eham dot net and look at the reviews for your radio, maybe someone'll mention how well the internal tuner works.

I've used manual tuners for many years. They've become quite expensive. Their advantage is letting you know when for some unknown your antenna goes out of tune since you, the op, spin the tuning (indictance/capacitance) dials.

Enjoy your FTDX-10.

 

[n3pm]

I found both of my FTDX10 radios to have a low tolerance for reactance when the internal tuner is trying to find a match. The power will start reducing earlier than expected.
Even using combinations of resistive dummy loads , I saw foldback begin at 2.5:1. The internal will match 3:1, and fold your power back in the process.
The most tolerant internal tuners here are in a TS590 and Elecrafts.

Mike N3PM

 

[WRVK753]

Thank you all for replying. This information helps. I'll try it with the internal tuner, if it lets me down I'll look for an external.

Cheers
Robert M. ("Mike") Brown
KX4YZ and WVRK753

 

[kk9h]

A few years ago I bought an Icom IC-7100 to use for portable operations which include vacations, POTA and volunteer events, etc. It does not have an internal antenna tuner so I bought an LDG Z-100 Plus with the Icom interface cable that allows it to plug into the 7100 and they work wonderfully together. The 7100 supplies power to it and the “Tune” button on the radio conveniently activates the automatic tune operation. One of my portable antennas is a 40-10 meter end fed which does not include WARC band coverage and the measured SWR on those bands is typically 5:1 or more. The Z-100 is able to find a match on each band making them at least useable. Not an optimal situation, but at least I can make contacts. Ideally you would want to use antennas that don’t present an SWR greater than 3:1 so the antenna tuner in your radio is all you need, but I’m sure LDG and other manufacturers offer matching interface cables for Yaesu radios if you need them.

73, Don KK9H