Yaesu ATAS 120 Review

[Happy_Hamer]

I owned the ATAS 120 for about 2 months and after less than 1 month the antenna stopped tuning during a rainy day. I took a can of compressed air and was able to dry it out. After it was dried, it tuned fine. Next rain, same thing, stopped tuning! Dried it out again and started thinking, this thing is going to corrode. NEXT DAY, (yes it rains quite a bit in the midwest at times) it stopped tuning AGAIN.

BUMMER

If you see a cloud in the sky,,,,,,,,,, TAKE COVER!!!!!!!

THEN TAKE THE ANTENNA OFF AND WRAP IT IN A BLANKET AND PLASTIC BAG!

CODDLE IT TILL THE RAIN STOPS. WIPE THE CAR DRY AND THE ANTENNA MOUNT AND WAIT FOR A FEW HOURS TILL THE ROAD DRIES AND YOU WILL BE JUST FINE =)

When it gets wet, its done.

If someone says the WORD rain, this thing stops working!

It is a mobile antenna, you can't expect it to handle the outdoors can you?

How can a mobile antenna be so prone to failure when used outside as a mobile?

I have a High Sierra Sidekick and a Tarheel II, both of them blow this ATAS 120A away,,,,,, RAIN, SLEET, or SNOW!

My kid now uses the ATAS as a throw toy for the Chocolate Lab.

Used it with a Yaesu FT-100D and Yaesu FT-857D

 

[TonyV225]

LMAO!! on the fetch toy for the Lab I often looked at these antennas I held off and now am glad I did.

 

[dxhound]

I have the atas120a and 857d in my bronco. Its been in snow at -15 deg on the beach for a few weeks a year and always outside in stormy florida and mine has yet to have any issues. I had intermitten problems when first installed, all I did was turn the tune power up 2 watts on the 857 and never had a single problem after that!

 

[tomsrig]

ATAS120 antenna

I have the ATAS120 antenna on my 2007 Tundra connected to a FT-857 xceuver, and it has worked flawlessly now for 8 months - rain or shine.

The only area of difficulty I encountered was my own stupidity in not reading the manual thouroughly. I started tuning it, and expected it to respond immediatly, so I kept pushing the tune button and ended up getting the logic all confused.

But after I figured out the problem - the manual clearly says to wait for the antenna to respond - it has worked as advertised.

I have worked Europe, Asia, and many points in between using the ATAS120. Signal reports during decent propagation times have been S3 to S8. I got a S6 in Bulgaria, and S7 in Spain. And in the U.S. I mostly get S5 to S9 or better when propagation is decent.

I'd recommend this antenna to anyone with a Yeasu FT-897 or FT-857 radio that has the tuning feature for this antenna built in. When using those radios, you do not need a separate tuning box. That's a nice thing because I don't like my dash cluttered. I mount the radio head on the windshield using an appropriate window mount. The radio is under the drivers seat, and the cable is run from there to the rear of the truck where the antenna is mounted.

One thing to really keep in mind..... provide a very good ground connection to the vehicle, or you will get all sorts of bad performance, including erratic tuning behaviour, especially when it rains.

 

[RatsoW8]

Same here...I had two of the newer "A" models with the weather boot and never had a single problem with either.

 

[928bolo]

I had (well I still have) the 120A and had no problems with it (2yrs). If you have a ft-857 or ft-897 this is a very convenient antenna and it does work.

I now use a Tarheel II and a TurboTuner. Just as convenient and is a better antenna. However it cost about 3x as much.

 

[W1MSG]

I have had the ATAS 120A on my Explorer for a few months now and not a single problem. I have a FT-857D and the combo works Great. Rain or shine it works and now that the weather has been getting cold ( single digits ) it still tunes up just fine.

 

[K1MIZ]

I have had the ATAS120 for a few years now hooked to an 857D on my ford exploder and has never had any issues. Except one time the tip was touching a twig on a tree branch over my truck and wouldnt tune. Other than that i live in new england and my weather varies from -20° to 105° year round and never had an issue. I think your problem was failure to follow instal instructions.

 

[johng1970]

Glad you posted this!

I just bought a FT-857D for my truck. I looked heavily at antenna tuners, and bought the one a friend has. I thought why not get a different tuner, because my friend's tuner does everything but 6 meters. Reading on the ATAS 120, I thought it kinda sounded like instead of getting a tuner, I could
use the ATAS 120, but after reading on various places it seemed as if Yaesu couldn't make a decent antenna tuner. I have a Tarheel-II on order to go with a MFJ auto-tuner. (I know, not needed as much with a screwdriver, but.... I made the decision on the tarheel after the antenna tuner....

I owned the ATAS 120 for about 2 months and after less than 1 month the antenna stopped tuning during a rainy day. I took a can of compressed air and was able to dry it out. After it was dried, it

I have a High Sierra Sidekick and a Tarheel II, both of them blow this ATAS 120A away,,,,,, RAIN, SLEET, or SNOW!