The post I made about the mAT-705 antenna tuner was a bit rough on the unit in retrospect. I regretted the purchase because the mAT-705+ came out shortly thereafter and answered my issue of having to pull the thing apart in a rather perilous manner to replace the battery by adding in a USB-C rechargeable battery. But what they took away with this design is perhaps the most important piece of my personal puzzle.
They removed the power switch.
Sure, I’ve seen complaints online that people forget to turn it off and then the battery runs out and you have to change it in the field, which again, is perilous. But that power switch is its own kind of superpower. To quote from their product site:
When the frequency does not change, the user can directly turn off the power without affecting the use. In order to save power to the greatest extent, the tuner directly uses switching control power. Does not consume any power when shutting down.
http://www.mat-tuner.com/mAT-705.php
That means that the other day when I was messing around in the yard, that I was right. Once things are tuned, I can turn off the power and, well, it’s good! For digital field operations, this is pretty sweet as anything that reduces power consumption is by it’s very nature a good thing. It’s a little puzzling that they pulled the switch from the design when adding the rechargeable battery, but then again, there’s only so much real estate in that tiny box and the size is part of the attraction. I don’t have the plus model, but I think I might have deeper buyer’s remorse with that one. And this little revelation after reading a post over on OH8STN has me thinking that I might be happy with where I am. After all, the performance of the tuner is great and the size and weight are selling points for me.
This tuner is the essence of ham radio. It’s a compromise. It tunes perfectly and quickly. It works really well with the IC-705. But the compromises are all over the place and are obvious after a little time in the backyard, I think.
More updates as I get more time in the field soon.