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write your own review of the MFJ-259B.
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KI6OSH
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 12, 2012 20:44
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No complaints
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Bought this back in June 2011 and have used it frequently. Just installed a Mosley mini 32-A 10-15-20 meter beam and this sure helped quite a bit. No problems so far.....great buy for the money. I'm fairly new and this is a must have, for sure.
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VE4TTH
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 8, 2011 13:54
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Get one! You need it!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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After reading the bad reviews, I still ordered mine and figured I would rely on my technical abilities to spot or prevent any mishaps. When it arrived I opened the unit up and closely inspected it for ANY signs of potential problems. I saw none, zilch, nada! So I reasembled it with a set of batteries and now 2 months later I have loaned it out to half a dozen local ham buddies, all of whom have nothing but praise for just how easy and fast it makes tuning an antenna. This was my experience as well, and I find myself "tinkering" with my antenna a lot more than I would have if I didn't have this analyzer.
I chose this unit, over the next one up that also worked on 70cm, because right now, I just don't do anything now or in the forseeable future on that band to warrant the extra cost.
Read the instructions!! then after you've played with it, read the instructions again! I was having what I thought of as an issue with the unit. After a short while the needles would drop to 0 and it would flash a three letter PWR message. I though OH OH, what did I break? It turns out that it goes into battery save mode if you don't turn the dials and fiddle with it for a while. The battery save mode can be turned off when you first power it up, or just press a button to wake it up when it does go to sleep to save energy.
Sure their are bad reviews, but I have learned over the years that sometimes the error in a product, is in its inability to withstand human intervention. That being said, it is prudent to closely inspect ANY item that is of sufficient complexity, for damage resulting from the "gentle" handling of carriers. You will save yourself a lot of grief, and keep your blood pressure in check.
Peter
VE4TTH
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N4WEQ
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Rating: 0/5
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Dec 8, 2011 06:08
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Fire Bomb
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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• An hour after receiving the 259B, from UPS, I opened up the carton and unpacked the unit.
• Heard something inside rattling.
• Took the cover off and gave it a couple good shake. Nothing found.
• Installed (10) Duracell AA batteries.
• Turned the unit on and connected to my VHF antenna. Unit worked okay. SWR looked great. Turned it off.
• Connected it to my 20M dipole antenna and turned the unit on.
• Smoke started rolling out of the case. I thought it would catch on fire before I could get the (10) screws out and the case open. Talk about a HOT potato.
Finally got to the battery case and with a screwdriver popped one of the cells out. The whole plastic battery case was melted.
Anyway, the good news is the boys at HRO Atlanta are going to make it right. They are going to provide a full refund along with return postage and even reimburse me for the blown battery cells.
After this experience I'm not sure if I will ever purchase a MFJ product again.
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AF4BH
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Rating: 2/5
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Dec 1, 2011 22:45
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LOL!!! First Impression
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Just arrived today from Gigaparts. They had a pretty good sale price during the black Friday week. Anyway, I opened the Gigaparts' packaging and took out the white rectangular MFJ-259B box. As soon as I grabbed the box, I heard something rattling inside.
Not Good!
On the bottom of the device, there was a red label apparently affixed by a QC individual. It was done on 9/22/2011.
Anyway...
I opened the battery compartment and there sat a lone screw washer. I picked it up and got ready to put it back together, but the rattling did not end.
I had to open the rest of 6 screws before I found an aluminum screw sitting on the bottom of the case. I extracted the screw and examined where that came from.
Oh well, I think that the screw and the washer are free gift from MFJ. So I actually paid less for more!
I am waiting for my rechargeable batteries to arrive so I can't tell if the thing actually will work or not.
MFJ, why did you do this to me? I really want to give you a 5 but you have determined to disappoint me. Sigh!
p.s. I'll post a follow up after my initial use. Good luck to you all new owners.
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KE4SWC
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 1, 2011 20:21
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Works fine
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Bought it from gigaparts on sale. Tested it with a dummy load right out of the box - worked fine. Compared it to an older 259 on my Buckmaster OCF dipole and the readings were the same and as I expected.
Works as advertised. Fit and finish are fine.
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N6WBL
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 22, 2011 21:37
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Great product
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I use this portable quite a bit when using my Mini-Buddipole, and I have a lot of extra parts for trying different configurations. This allows me to get setup and tuned quick and easy. Always spot on when I double check with the radio's SWR meter. There are fancier options for a bit more, but I like that the MFJ is ready to go as soon as you power it up. And the analog meters help with quickly dialing in where its resonant so you can adjust. Picked mine up on sale and have been very happy with it ever since. One of my favorite pieces of gear.
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K9DH
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 14, 2011 16:25
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Good product but be aware
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have owned the MFJ-259B for several years (>5).
I have enjoyed using it; but thought I would pass along this short story:
While trying to use this Analyzer, it gave me readings all over the place. Using fresh batteries did not help. I discovered a bad solder joint had opened on the connection between the SO-239 coax connector and the circuit board. When I gently compressed the fittings, the unit worked somewhat better. There was only a blob of solder connecting that SO-239 to the board and it appeared to be a cold-solder joint.
Moral: If this happens to you - get a screw driver and a solder sucker and you may fix the problem - mine works now. 73s!
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KJ4OHT
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 21, 2011 08:11
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Excellent product !
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I bought this product brand new from one of the dealership a couple months ago. Too bad, it was a defected one as all the needles went only 2 directions... all the way up or all the way down. I called and talked to the MFJ tech. and they said it shouldn't be like that... Anyways, I got a new replacment a few days later and this one worked fine.
After reading the instructions, I tested and fine-tuned all my CB's antennas back down to SWR 1.1 to 1.2 instead of the meter from the radio or other SWR meters. You see all the REAL numbers instead of just needles. Then my 2m roof top, glass mount and my homemade HF dipoles with 70cm/2m/6m/20m/40m all-in-one antenna. Every freq. are in between SWR 1.1 ~ 1.4 range. I thing without this antenna analyzer, I can't get this accurate reading for my CB & HF radios. Besides, I also have a Yaesu 120 self-tuned antenna, b4 you can only tune it only by the radio and without knowing what the SWR is...
but now you will say " Wow, that's the reading" I think keeping one of this analyzer handy shouldn't be a wrong move unless they don't want to get an accurate reading on their antenna.
The only thing I will say bad for this analyzer is if you run on batteries for portable works, you better keep another extra set. Anyway, great item and should be get higher than 5 !
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KC0MQY
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 30, 2011 08:05
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Excellent device
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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Recently upgraded my crusty old 259 to the 259B. Build quality is excellent, worked perfectly right from the box, and the B model has some nice additional features. This is as close to an indispensable item as there is in my shack.
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N3WAK
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 9, 2011 15:03
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Outstanding!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've owned my MFJ 259B for about two years. This device makes tuning your coax-fed antenna relatively effortless. I also keep it in the shack hooked to my back-to-back Alpha Delta antenna switches (which permit me to switch between 3 transmitters and 4 antennas). At TX position 4 I have the 259B attached with a short coax jumper. This permits me to effortlessly and quickly check the SWR on each of the 4 antennas each morning, before I operate. A great product! It's also kind of interesting to use it to show where my various antennas are resonant--for example, my 160 meter inverted L also has an exceptionally low SWR at 51-53 mHz, which I wouldn't have known otherwise. One of the other raters described this as "invaluable." I quite agree. 73, N3WAK
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