Note: Discontinued for now. The variable capacitor we were using in the Pico Tuner is no longer manufactured, so any restocking of the Pico Tuner is dependent on if and when we find a suitable replacement component.
Pico Tuner Kit - End Fed Halfwave Tuner
Review video from Peter VK3YE - also check out his book!
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End fed half wave antennas are understandably popular for portable operating. Our Pico Tuner is the smallest 10 Watt rated tuner for these antennas. The Pico Tuner is a single-band tuner that can be configured to operate on any frequency between 7 and 30 MHz (40 m - 10 m).
The Pico Tuner uses high quality components for low loss operation. Building is easy with clear online instructions. We also supply a test resistor to allow you to set up the tuner before attaching your antenna. The Pico Tuner uses an isolated link coupling arrangement with floating antenna terminals for best performance - as recommended by antenna expert Tom, W8JI. The Pico Tuner pcb incorporates strain relieved attachment points for the the antenna and, importantly, a counterpoise. We recommend a counterpoise length of 0.18 wavelengths. Unlike many 5 Watt end-fed tuners which use film dielectric capactitors, the Pico Tuner uses a rugged 200 Volt ceramic trimmer in parallel with a specially selected 200 Volt high Q surface-mount RF capacitor to give a 10 Watt rating - ideal for KX-3 users. Click here to download the instructions.
The Pico Tuner is designed to be fed with RG-174 co-ax and this is also strain relieved on the PCB. The RG-174 co-ax is not included in the kit.
This guide shows how to solder the 0805 capacitor - it is actually quite easy!
Don't Miss Out on these Great Options
- Add neat enclosure kit for your Pico Tuner (product option above)
- Ready-made RG-174 co-ax cables. Details here.
- Antenna wire. Low cost and premium options.
Specifications:
Power rating - 10 Watts
Bands - any single band 7 - 30 MHz.
PCB size - 18 x 57mm (0.7 x 2.25 inches)
Weight - 3 grams (<0.15 oz.) approx.
Ideas for Experimenters:
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If you don't like surface mount capacitors, you can use the test resistor holes to mount a leaded capacitor (not supplied).
- If building your Pico Tuner for 10-12-15 m you could leave out the 100pF capacitor and just use the trimmer. You will have to use more turns on the toroid to resonate it of course. As a start try 21 MHz - 22T, 24 MHz - 18T, 28 MHz - 16T. These values based on trimmer set half way (~25 pF).
- If you replace the toroid with a T50-10 mix (not supplied) and just use the trimmer, the Pico Tuner should work on 6 metres. Try 9 turns on the toroid as a start.
- While the Pico Tuner is designed as a single-band tuner, multi-banding is possible. I did the math and 12m-10m, 15m-12m, 17m-15m look possible (trimmer in parallel with 100pF). If you don't install the 100pF SMD capacitor (or use a lower value padding capacitor) other possibilities arise.
- I have also included a second set of SMD capacitor pads on the Pico Tuner which would allow experimenters to install additional padding capacitance to allow the use of bands lower than 7 MHz. Bear in mind that in such cases, the tuning range will be reduced.
Also available from our international agent(s):
16 Reviews Hide Reviews Show Reviews
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Fine della Fed Pico Tuner
The kit looks good, I installed without any difficulty following the online instructions Richiards. I just bought another antenna for 20 meters, Endfed, coupled with the tuner and all went well, the ratio of standing waves were immediately 1: 1. Immediately made a connection with a station of Markyate our dear colleague PAUL gave me as a report cw 589 with only 4 w. great Richiards
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End Fed Pico Tuner
Great little tuner, works well and is easy to tune my antenna. Keep up the great work.
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Pico tuner for NVIS
What a handy bit of kit this is. It was small and fiddly for stubby fingers, but once the wife's tweezers had been liberated from the bathroom, assembly was a breeze. I wound this for 40m and set it up as an NVIS antenna for inter-G deployment. Using it with the army green stealthy antenna wire also from Sotabeams, it sits in my hedge about four inches from the top (so I don't hit it with the hedge trimmer) and is about five feed above ground level. Initial tests are positive with the FT-817 running 5w. I was going to get more for other bands, but decided the pico for NVIS is grand and the adventure tuner is probably better for multi band portable use.
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Pico Tuner
Great kit from SotaBeams, easy to assemble with instructions online. I chose the 40m coil winding and tuned it with the trim cap on 7.150 MHz. Works well with just 7m of end fed wire and a counterpoise, ideal for portable use. 73
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Stealthy, functional tuner.
Despite holding my licence for many years, I've never been too hot on soldering. I was expecting the worst! The instructions are clear, precise and easy to follow (even for someone like me). The only tricky part was made considerably easier with an antenna analyzer. Although I could never afford one, the perks of belonging to a local radio club (Tiverton Radio Club in my case) resulted in being loaned one for an hour. I've set mine up on 20m but since I live in a shared house I've had to be a bit invented as I couldn't just drill a hole in the wall. The tuner sits below the window trickle vents with the antenna and counterpoise running through the vents to the outside world. Works a treat (and the tuner doesn't get wet!) My advice.....Buy one!
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A really elegant and clever design!
I haven't used it on the air yet, but this is a really fun circuit to build and a great evening project. The instructions are clear and straightforward and the one tiny SMD component wasn't actually that scary to fit. The rest are a doddle. Once aligned, it gives a 1.0:1 SWR with the prescribed lengths of wire... Very impressive and not at all difficult to set up (assuming you have an analyser). Another great product from Sotabeams!
