The DX Engineering 2025 Amateur Radio Products Catalog is only a few months away. As we lead up to its May release in time for Dayton Hamvention®, OnAllBands will be showcasing some of the new manufacturers and their products you’ll find inside.
Today’s featured amateur radio manufacturer is CG Antenna. DX Engineering is pleased to carry the company’s CG-3000 Remote Automatic Antenna Tuner, CG-CTU Tuner Control Unit, and BL-49 UNUN.
CG Antenna CG-3000 160-10M Remote Automatic Antenna Tuner
This weatherproof tuner works for long wires, verticals, dipoles and other amateur, MARS, or CAP operations between 1.6 to 30 MHz. Like the well-known legacy SG-230, this tuner is primarily intended to feed wire antennas or monopoles.
The antenna wire connects to the unit’s high-voltage standoff insulator stud. A UHF female SO-239 connects the station coax, and a ground stud may be used for a counterpoise or an earth ground. The tuner has an impedance range of 12 to 1,000 ohms with maximum power handling of 200W PEP SSB/40W FT8. The minimum required antenna length is 8 feet for frequencies above 6 MHz, and at least 26 feet for 1.8 MHz and up. With a small fiberglass pole and some wire, a good all-band antenna can be constructed within minutes.
The CG-3000 is automatically activated with a low-power carrier. Low SWR tuning results are stored in non-volatile memory, and new tuning attempts on similar frequencies are amazingly fast. The CG-3000 uses a Pi network design which has the advantage (as compared to L networks) of providing low-pass filtering to reduce spurious emissions.
The tuner has a four-pin connector on the bottom panel for the included 16-foot control cable to supply the required 13.8Vdc at 2A (power supply not included). An additional control cable is not required. The solid plastic clamshell case protects the tuner for all-weather outdoor use. Attached brackets and 2.16-inch-width U-bolts and hardware are included.
CG Antenna BL-49 UNUN
This outdoor HF antenna feedpoint transformer is particularly suitable for building an end-fed half-wave (EFHW) antenna. It’s built with heavy-gauge wire and a large toroidal ferrite core which handles up to 600W PEP over the entire range from 1.8 to 30 MHz.
The UNUN’s waterproof case is made from high-strength plastic and features a special valve to drain off condensation while preventing insects from getting inside. A stainless steel eye-hook at the top provides an attachment point for a support rope to handle the UNUN, antenna wire, and coax. Also on top is a stainless-steel stud and wing nut for the antenna wire. Another wing nut allows for the installation of an optional counterpoise wire or ground connection.
End-fed half-wave antennas (EFHW) are very popular because they are easy to hang in limited space installations while achieving multiband functionality with a transceiver built-in tuner or an external wide range tuner. In many cases the use of a BL-49 UNUN with a specific monoband wire length can achieve low or reasonable SWR on many harmonically-related amateur bands.
The radiation pattern of an EFHW antenna is similar to that of a dipole, and the 49:1 UNUN adapts to different end-fed wire configurations: antenna wire suspended straight and parallel to the ground, angled as an inverted-V or inverted-L, or run diagonally as a sloper, with the BL-49 UNUN feedpoint located anywhere from a few feet above the ground to hanging high from a support.
Experimentation is encouraged with this very adaptable and forgiving feedpoint method. See antenna texts and web forums for wire lengths known to provide the best results, such as 60-70 feet for 80-10 meters.
Also check out this article, “Feeding End-Fed Antennas,” by OnAllBands blogger Ward, NØAX.
CG Antenna CG-CTU Tuner Control Unit
The CG-CTU is a handy option for use with a CG-3000 Remote Antenna Tuner (above). It supplies the CG-3000 remote tuner with power and a way to trigger the tuning process remotely. It offers an ON/OFF power switch and a TUNE button, both with LED indicators. The device includes a 32.8-foot control cable—a four-wire connector cable assembly that links the CG-CTU to the CG-3000.
The CG-CTU includes a tuner interface and power connection for Icom transceivers (a 39-inch cable with a plug for the Icom tuner socket.) The tuner is supplied with power via the radio, and the tuning process can be triggered via the Icom transceiver’s TUNE button.
The CG-3000/CG-CTU combination also works with all other transceivers with an included connector cable that serves as a DC cable for connection to the station 13.8Vdc power supply.
Visit DXEngineering.com for more details on the lineup of CG Antenna products.
