TGXL or Palstar HF-Auto: which tuner

Gord-VA7GP · June 14

I have 3 HF transceivers, which I periodically rotate into usage . Each one can also transmit through my Collins 30S-1 amplifier. My antennas are generally resonant, which is to say <2:1. I am in the market for a tuner though, to cover all eventualities and handle disparate rigs and various power levels.

The 30S-1 nicely gives me my Canadian-limit SSB of 2250W PEP, ICAS. But generally I use other modes, at lesser power. RTTY may be 750W CCS, for example.

As I consider these two tuners, I'd appreciate thoughts and input from others.

As I see things:

TGXL

+ integrates (haha - mostly, except when updates break this) with Flex ecosystem

+ remote-able, with SWR and Power readouts

+ will react and work with my Heathkit and Kenwood stuff, no CAT needed

seems to be happiest with 15V. Who did this??? Another power-supply :-(
uses relays. In almost 50yrs of ham radio, the most-common failures I've experienced are relay-failures.
Costs more, but I have a plan…

HF-Auto

+ purely, and simply reactive, radio-agnostic. Will RF-sense and work with my Heath and Kenwood

+ kind of acts as a an extension of my antenna-system … will provide a match, capably, no matter what frequency is fed into it, without operator intervention. Maybe I am OK without any monitoring and control in the tuner, instead continue with my LP-700.

+ I have fantastic experience with roller-inductors lasting > 1/2-century

+ costs less. And I currently can remotely monitor Power/SWR with my LP-700. But I don't do this often, because "things just work".

no internet-ability, no monitor or control when operating remotely
Matching will necessarily take longer as the analog inductance and capacitance is rotated through it's range.

Because the TGXL offers SWR/Power monitoring, I'd sell my LP-700 (and 4 couplers) to equalize the costs.

It seems both are competent, both can handle my power-levels. I am biased to think about longevity and durability, which nudges me toward Palstar. But clutter-reduction and simplifying the shack is also a positive with the TGXL.

What does the Community think? Help me spend my $$$ 🤣

Gordon, ve7on · June 14

It is simply user preference. I have both and have not used the HF Auto since I got the TGXL. The reason for that is the TGXL tunes faster. As you stated above, they both work well and each have their strong points.

Gordon, ve7on

David Decoons, wo2x · June 15

if you go HF Auto route, DO NOT run high power with tuner in bypass. The bypass contacts on the HF Auto relays cannot handle the higher current when in bypass mode.

I had an HF Auto and now TG XL SO2R. Both should be trained initially so that as you QSY, the tuners will use the closest memorized tuning solution.

I still use the LP700 with four sensors with the PG XL and TG XL. I have remote view ability of the LP700 software and I can see amp gain.

K1ESE · June 15

I've got both.

The TGXL is relay-based. It is almost instant when switching between memorized solutions. Great for switching bands and antennas. It is the best relay-based tuner I've used and it finds matches more often than most relay-based tuners.

The TGXL is not an automatic tuner. It's a semi-automatic tuner. It only tunes when you click or press the TUNE button, not when SWR is high. I found this annoying, but after using it a while, I may actually like that better.

The HF-Auto is a component-based tuner. It is a C-L-C design but uses a split rotor capacitor so that it just has two major components. This is the same as the Palstar manual two knob tuners. Since it tunes with stepper motors, it's slow. It's fully automatic and can retune when SWR creeps up, even if you don't want to. The third-party software does an OK job of controlling the tuner.

The HF-Auto will match more than the TGXL or almost any tuner on the market. If you have wire doublets fed with open wire line to an external tuner, that's important.

Having both is great. Whenever I get frustrated that the tuner I'm using is imperfect, I switch. Then, when the imperfections of the second tune bother me, I switch back.

73,
John K1ESE

Gord-VA7GP · June 23

Thank you, everyone! I'm grateful for owners-of-both sharing their experiences. Now it's a matter of shaking the piggy-bank to see what falls out 😂

TGXL or Palstar HF-Auto: which tuner

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