FT-950
Operating Manual
Vertex Standard Co., Ltd.
61
Using the Automatic Antenna Tuner
The Automatic Antenna Tuner (hereinafter referred to as the “ATU”) built into each
FT-950 is crafted to ensure a 50-Ohm load for the final amplifier stage of the
transmitter. We recommend that the ATU be used whenever you operate on the
FT-950.
Advice:
The ATU of the FT-950, being located inside the station, only adjusts the impedance
presented to the transceiver at the station end of your coaxial cable feedline. It does
not “tune” the SWR at the antenna feedpoint itself. When designing and building
your antenna system, we recommend that every effort be made to ensure a low
SWR at the antenna feedpoint.
The ATU of the FT-950 includes 100 memories for tuning data. Eleven of these
memories are allocated, one per Amateur band, so that each band has at least one
setting preset for use on that band. The remaining 89 memories are reserved for
the 89 most-recent tuning points, for quick frequency change without the need to
retune the ATU.
The ATU in the FT-950 is designed to match impedances within the range of 16.5
Ohms to 150 Ohms, corresponding to an SWR of 3:1 or less on the HF amateur
bands (6 m band: 25 Ohms to 100 Ohms, corresponding to an SWR of 2:1 or less).
Accordingly, simple non-resonant whip antennas, along with random-length wires
and the “G5RV” antenna (on most bands) may not be within the impedance
matching range of the ATU.
ATU Operation
1. Use the Main Tuning Dial knob to set the radio to the desired operating frequency
within the Amateur band.
2. Press the [TUNE] button momentarily to place the ATU in the transmit line (no
adjustment/tuning will occur yet). The “TUNER” icon will appear in the display.
Quick Point: The momentary press of the [TUNE] button will turn the tuner on,
and the microprocessor will automatically select the tuning point closest to the
current operating frequency.
3. Press and hold in the [TUNE] button for two seconds to begin automatic tuning.
The transmitter will be engaged, and the “TUNER” icon will blink while tuning is
in progress. When the optimum tuning point has been reached, the radio will
return to receive, and the “TUNER” icon will again glow steadily (instead of
