Vertex Standard FT-950

FT-950

Operating Manual

Vertex Standard Co., Ltd.

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