On the Ten-Tec Omni VII mailing list, Bert, W0RSB, reported on his recent experience with Customer Service. He said,
Rig came back this past Monday, a day early. The auto tuner now appears to be working correctly. Unfortunately, the invoice simply says “Could not duplicate complaint.”
Maybe being manhandled by UPS or being poked and prodded by the service tech bounced something into place. At any rate, this exercise cost me nearly $200; if the problem comes back, I can buy a decent external auto tuner for little more than that.
I had a similar problem with my Icom IC-746PRO. I sent it in, and the service tech could not duplicate the problem, and when I got it back, it worked just fine. My guess is that it was a sticky relay that got unstuck with all the jostling during shipping. My bill was about $170, but for that, I at least got them to fix a minor problem with the LCD backlight as well as install all of the factory updates.
I never even considered buying an external tuner instead of getting the internal tuner fixed, but this is a really good idea. At Field Day, we used an LDG Z-11Pro that plugged right into the IC-746PRO and was tuned by hitting the TUNE button on the radio. Worked like a charm. Universal Radio sells them for $170. They handle a wider SWR range, too, than the internal tuner on this Icom. If the internal tuner ever goes out again, I’m buying an LDG.
w0hc says
When I bought my Yaesu FT-450 I ordered it without the internal tuner and instead bought an LDG AT-200Pro tuner. It was an open box item from HRO so I got it at a great price. I’ve never regretted that decision, as the LDG tuner works great, and I think I paid $200 for it.