Does the FT-817 include an internal antenna tuner?
NO. You either use an antenna that matches the 50-ohm unbalanced input of the FT-817 or use an external antenna tuner such as the LDG Z-11 (http://www.ldgelectronics.com/z-11.html) or the EMTCH ZM-2 ATU http://www.emtech.steadynet.com/zmdesc.htm. The Z-11 is a fully automatic tuner that requires power; however, it has latching relays so that power is conserved. A pair of 9-V NiCad batteries in series will provide hundreds of tunings. The ZM-2 is a manually tuned unit. They cover 10-80 m with the Z-11 also covering 160 m. Both are good units. Price of the Z-11 is several times that of the ZM-2.
