mAT-Tuner mAT-125E Automatic

Antenna Tuner
Reviewed by Steve Ford, WB8IMY
QST Editor
wb8imy@arrl.org

As I lifted the mAT-125E automatic antenna tuner out

of its box, I noticed something odd about the back
panel. Rather than offering a dc power jack labeled
12 V or something similar, the jack was labeled
CHARGER. A glance at the instruction sheet revealed
that the mAT-125E is powered by two rechargeable
lithium batteries. A battery-powered antenna tuner is
useful for portable as well as home-station applications.
latching relays, once it has found a match,
Portable use also increases the potential for rough there is no need for it to stay powered.
handling. To address that possibility, the rugged
enclosure is a block of sleek, black aluminum with a For HF operating, I presently use a 66-foot-long,
minimalist approach to ergonomics. The front panel inverted-V dipole antenna fed with 450  windowed
features an SWR indicator consisting of bright LEDs ladder line, a 4:1 balun, and a remote automatic
labeled 1.5, 2, and 3, along with a fourth LED to indi- antenna tuner. One hundred feet of low-loss coaxial
cate when the tuner is powered up. A set of pushbut- cable snakes back to the transceiver at my station.
tons controls semiautomatic and manual tuning The remote tuner can find an acceptable low-SWR
functions. The back panel (see Figure 10) consists of match on frequencies from 40 to 6 meters.
little more than two SO-239 coaxial cable jacks (RF IN
and ANTENNA), a ground post, and the CHARGER port. I switched the remote tuner to the bypass mode and
placed the mAT-125E in the line at my station. In this
Using the mAT-125E configuration, the tuner would encounter high SWR
The tuner is rated for use from 1.8 to 54 MHz and on most bands, which was exactly what I wanted.
can work with impedance loads from 5 to 1,500 . With my transceiver in the CW mode on 40 meters,
Designed to work with typical HF transceivers, the I reduced its output to about 5 W and then closed the
mAT-125E is rated for a maximum of 120 W PEP SSB key. The mAT-125E instantly began tuning, its relays
or CW. If you plan to operate 100% duty-cycle modes, buzzing madly. Within about 2 seconds, it found a
such as FT8 or RTTY, you’ll need to reduce your trans- match that yielded an SWR of less than 1.5:1.
ceiver output to 30 W or less. I went to other bands and conducted the same tests.
Each time, the mAT-125E found a match within just a
Being battery powered makes the mAT-125E espe-
few seconds. The inductor/capacitor combinations
cially convenient to set up and use. You just connect
the coaxial cables from your radio and antenna, and
you’re done. Tap the PWR button and the tuner comes
to life with the bright glow of a green LED. If you do
nothing for 3 minutes, the tuner will automatically shut
down to conserve power. Because the mAT-125E uses

Bottom Line
The mAT-125E is a good companion for typical
100 W HF/6-meter transceivers. It’s able to
match a broad range of impedances, although
Figure 10 — The
loss increases at very low impedances. mAT-125E rear panel
and battery charger.

54 January 2020 QST www.arrl.org Reprinted with permission; copyright ARRL.

 Table 2 Tuners and Loss
mAT-TUNER mAT-125E Automatic Antenna Tuner Tuners aren’t panaceas for poor imped-
Manufacturer’s Specifications
ance matches and high SWRs. An
antenna tuner makes it possible to dump
Frequency range: 1.8 – 54 MHz.
the full output of your transceiver into the
Power handling: 0.1 – 120 W SSB/CW; 30 W maximum with continuous
digital modes; 100 W maximum above 50 MHz. antenna system, nothing more. The SWR
Matching range: 5 to 1,500 . match the mAT-125E found for my trans-
Tuning time: 0.1 – 5 seconds for full tune cycle; 0.1 second to recall memories. ceiver on 160 meters existed only between
Power requirements: Internal rechargeable #18650 lithium batteries. the tuner and my radio. Beyond the tuner,
Size (height, width, depth): 1.8 × 5.2 × 8.1 inches; weight 2.2 lbs. the SWR remained unchanged, and so did
the power loss from high SWR in the
mAT-125E Resistive Load and Loss Testing in the ARRL Lab coaxial feed line.
Untuned Load Power Loss (%) and Tuned SWR by Band (Meters)
SWR () 160 80 40 20 10 6* Not only does the SWR between the tuner
9.1:1 5.5 36% 21% 18% 6% 16% – and the antenna cause loss, there is loss
2.1 1.4 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.4 within the tuner itself. That’s why the ARRL
7.4:1 6.8 28% 19% 18% 18% 4% –
1.8 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.2 1.4 Laboratory always tests tuner efficiency.
3.8:1 13.1 10% 12% 13% 16% 18% – You’ll see the test results in Table 2. Over-
1.1 1.1 1.2 1.1 1.9 1.4
2.0 25 4% 7% 8% 9% 14% – all, the mAT-125E performed well, with the
1.1 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.6 greatest efficiency (lowest loss) occurring
1:1 50 2% 3% 3% 4% 6% –
1.0 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.0 1.1 with impedance loads greater than 25 .
2:1 100 14% 13% 10% 7% 2% – The Lab recommends reducing power to
1.7 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.6 1.1
4:1 200 1% 1% 1% 2% 1% – 50 W or so with low-impedance loads.
1.0 1.1 1.0 1.2 1.8 1.3
8:1 400 2% 1% 1% 1% 1% – Keep loss in mind when considering
1.2 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.4 1.2
16:1 800 17% 2% 2% 2% 2% – any antenna tuner that you intend to use
2.2 1.2 1.1 1.3 1.4 1.5 at your operating position. If you’re using a
*Our resistive load box is limited to a maximum frequency of 30 MHz and a nonresonant antenna that presents a very
maximum resistance of 800 . Efficiency tests were not performed on 6 meters.
high SWR, you can greatly reduce feed line
loss by placing the antenna tuner outdoors
at or near the feed point of the antenna. If a
that result in an acceptable match at a given fre- remote tuner is out of the question, be sure you are
quency are stored in one of 16,000 memory slots. using low-loss cable to at least keep SWR loss at
So, when you return to that frequency, the mAT-125E a minimum. With its battery-powered design, the
will find the match almost instantaneously. mAT-125E would make a fine remote tuner, but it
isn’t designed for outdoor use.
My final test presented the ultimate challenge: finding
a match on 160 meters — a band on which my That said, you could install the mAT-125E in a water-
antenna was about 190 feet too short. As before, I proof enclosure and still reap the remote benefits.
reduced output and transmitted a continuous signal. Given the low current requirements when the tuner is
The mAT-125E buzzed, hesitated, and then buzzed in its resting state (which is most of the time), you
some more. Just as I thought it was about to give up, may only need to recharge the batteries every few
the buzzing ceased, and the 1.5 LED glowed green. months.
The SWR meter on my transceiver agreed — the
mAT-125E had found an impedance match that The mAT-125E is intended for use with unbalanced
resulted in a 1.3:1 SWR. feed lines, such as coaxial cable. If you want to use it
with balanced lines (such as ladder line), you will
I could have chosen to operate the mAT-125E in need to purchase a balun and connect it to the tuner
semiautomatic mode (initiating tuning myself rather with a short length of coax — the shorter the better.
than having the tuner respond to the RF from my
radio), or even manual mode. I tried both modes, and Manufacturer: Hengshui mAT-Tuner Communication
they functioned well, but full auto is the most conve- Equipment Company, Hebei, China. Available from
nient, unless the tuner cannot find a match automati- Vibroplex, 1001 N. Broadway St., Knoxville, TN
cally. The tuner also offers a bypass mode. 37917; www.vibroplex.com. Price: $164.95.

Reprinted with permission; copyright ARRL. www.arrl.org QST January 2020 55