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write your own review of the MFJ-986.
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KC8Y
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Rating: 3/5
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Jan 7, 2012 13:30
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new ones definitely not like old ones
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I definitely agree with what AD4GB had said...I bought mine over 17-yrs ago, and had to only greese the inductor-tuning bearings twice. The person (now SK) who I purchased it new from, totally & fully checked it out even before he sent it; the unit had no loose connections/wires and just had to recalibrate meter...
As of about 6-months ago, because of my disability, bought bigger tuner with a crank-arm for tuning..
I'm selling my MFJ-986 (which still works perfect) to my ham-long time friend...
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AD4GB
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Rating: 3/5
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Jan 7, 2012 10:02
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New ones not as good as older ones
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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This is the second one I have owned. The first one I bought used at the Huntsville AL. Hamfest back in 1993 and I loved it! The roller ind. was smooth and stable, I used it for several years, I wish I had kept it. I sold all of my gear due to a divorce, so after a 8 year absence from ham radio I bought another one new in the box expecting it to be as good as the first one, WRONG!!! the roller ind. binds, it is unstable and the quality is poor. Wish I had my old one back! What happened MFJ??
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DL1TTX
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 22, 2011 07:55
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That's it
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Nothing to complain , easy to handle, matches any peace of wire,
even a titanex GP 160/10 on 160m ( twin com feed )
My noisy Automatic - Tuner is now for sale.
( not a MFJ )
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W3MIL
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Rating: 5/5
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May 18, 2011 14:54
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GREAT TUNER
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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This tuner is a great tuner i have used this tuner with a number of antennas and i have to say it is a very good peace of a equipment its a work horse i'v run full leagle power through it with a number of dipoles/antennas and it tunes great every time not one problem NOT ONE for me no regrets , as for those who cant seem to get there SWR to zero well maybe you need to be looking at you antenna or dipole sounds to me like somthing is not 100% there just some humble advice from a HAM .
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AC8DE
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Rating: 3/5
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Apr 25, 2011 08:40
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Tunes about anything, Good Value
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I really gave this a 3 instead of a 4 for one reason; Power Handling Claims from MFJ.
I bought mine used from a local club member on the cheap. This one still has the pea bulb in the meter. - S/N 22982. I pulled it apart to check it out as he said he had it in storage for “some time”. It was practically new inside with no wear marks on the inductor. The feel of the roller inductor’s adjustment knob is much smoother than the new ones I have tried on the shelf at R & L. I got no jumping of SWR as I tuned it under power, so indeed the roller inductor is in great shape with no perceptible wear on my used unit.
The differential capacitor is simpler to use compared to the traditional separate input/output capacitors. My old tuner used separate capacitors. I found the differential capacitor nice for a daily use basis and made tuning much quicker. Of course, it doesn’t allow you play with minimizing capacitance like you can on a traditional tuner, so just a bit of flexibility is sacrificed. This isn’t that important to most, but worth mentioning. Note I do not have an antenna requiring a balance feed line, so I did not test it in its balanced feed line configuration.
Tuning: It tuned all bands from 10M to 160M easily. I can get all bands down below 1.02:1, as measured with a calibrated Telepost LP-100A. I noted it will tune anything I have, including my narrow banded 160M antenna, which is horribly reactive anywhere away from resonance. It took 83% (133 of 160 turns) of the inductor and a setting of 7 on the capacitor to tune 160 at a reactive part of the antenna. Pretty good. The only nitpick for tuning is that the capacitor has a relatively small knob (1-1/8” dia.) and had good friction to hold position, so making small adjustments takes some getting used to. A larger knob of perhaps 1-1/2” would help by reducing torque and require more travel and still not cover the numbers up on the faceplate. But even with this nitpick, I’ll give it a 5 in the tuning category.
Power Handling: First let me say that I was never under any delusion that this was a 3000 watt tuner, not should anyone be. Physics are physics. A 3KW tuner must be BIG due to the size and spacing in the air capacitors. I have a 1KW PEP amplifier. This tuner handled a full 1KW PEP power CW tune across all but the 160M bands. I found that on 160M on a CW tune, I could make the capacitor arc at about 400 watts PEP. On two-tone, it took 500-600 watts PEP. I measured the variable air cap and found the spacing to be .119”, which is typical for such a tuner and just slightly smaller than the spacing on the equivalent Palstar unit, which is .125”. If you bother to read the “Understanding Power Ratings” on page 1 of the MFJ manual, they do give a disclaimer saying, “Most typical 1500 watt tuners remain able to safely handle 400-600 watts CW, and 600-900 watts PEP SSB.” Earlier in that part of the document, they say that the MFJ-986 is a 1500 watt OUTPUT tuner and 3000 watt input. (You figure that statement out, as it makes no sense to me.) This prompted me to call them and discuss power rating with their technical support who confirmed that “perhaps” 600-700 watts on the lower bands (160M & 80M) is about as much as one could expect. This is a good honest answer. This all makes sense considering the reactive nature of most 160M antennas and many 80M antennas. Since they call it a 3 KW tuner on its front plate, I’ll give it a 2 here as this is misleading at best, although I don’t think any but the newest ham would ever believe this rating on the faceplate.
Meter: The cross-needle meter is of good size and with a white background. I had to calibrate the meter, but again, mine is not a new unit. After careful calibration, I found that the meter is not perfectly linear when below 50% of range. Nor can it be calibrated correctly across all bands, but this is typical of analog meters even in well known high dollar units. It varies by well more than 10% in power readings, especially when I got above 15M. I calibrated it for a trade off so it read about 5% high on 160 and 80, but about 10-12% low on 12M and 10M. The meter is not as good as a high quality stand alone SWR meter, but it is acceptable. The readings are plenty good enough to keep you out of trouble if this is your only SWR meter. I’ll give it a 3 in this category, as its performance here is typical.
Construction: Compared to a Palstar which I consider the benchmark in construction quality today amongst tuners, it is of considerably lighter weight construction. It doesn’t have the same fit and finish as a Palstar. Internal components are not nearly the same quality caliber either. But we have to keep in mind the price point of this tuner for a new one, which is $220 less than a Palstar AT2KD (43% less), which would be the right tuner to compare it to feature for feature. It has a nice compact size front panel, compared to the Palstar, but it is far deeper at nearly 16” due to its rather long capacitor and inductor, which could be a problem if you have a shallow shelf. And since I’m making the Palstar comparison, it is important to note the Palstar will handle 6 meters as well and the MFJ will not. This tuner will handle a balanced feed line output, where the Palstar will not, as the Palstar requires an external balun. The turn counter is connected to inductor/handle assembly via pulleys and an o-ring belt, so it drifts slowly out of calibration. Every now and then you have to turn the inductor all the way down and hit the reset next to the meter every now and then to keep it calibrated. Not a big deal for most, although the o-ring will need replaced every now and then. The capacitor’s plates feel stamped like most as you can feel sharp edges on the plates which didn’t get any work before assembly. Sharp edges reduce the voltage capability of an air capacitor at power. It may help to improve the low band voltage capability if I disassemble the air cap and debur the plates carefully with fine steel wool, but that is a time intensive job. And I might not gain a thing doing this. I’ll give the MFJ a 3 in the construction category.
Value: As always, this is where the MFJ gets a leg up on most other products. Keep in mind that this tuner sells new for about $290 retail. I have to give it a 5 for that, taking everything else into account as it is a high value.
Support: Compared to Palstar, you will find it quite difficult to get through to MFJ at times. But considering the wide variety and sheer number of MFJ components out in the field and hence the number of people calling in, this is not surprising. One has to hit redial on the phone repeatedly for several minutes to get through on most days. Once you are through your wait on hold is usually not too long. They are very helpful and fully support their equipment. I’ll give it a 2 in the support department due to lack of phone lines, as this is a known ongoing frustration with MFJ.
Modifications for older units: These mods apply to my older unit only and were fixed on the currently shipped units. First modification - I replaced the stock pea bulb with a LED replacement. These are available from MFJ for $4, plus shipping and are made to fit the meter. Current versions come with the LED lighted meter standard. Second modification and WARNING – This older version tuner has a small female power jack, requiring a male plug. These can be shorted out VERY easily by accident. I replaced this before putting it into service with the more typical female power jack with male pin as found on most of my other gear. These cost about $1.50 each. This is to prevent accidental shorting out if the plug if it is pulled out with the power supply running. MFJ figured this problem out some time ago, therefore the current version DOES USE the now more common female connector with male pin. So this problem will only apply if you buy a used older version tuner, which is a simple modification.
Overall: I’ll give this tuner a 3 overall, a 4 on performance and a 5 on ability to tune a load. The ridiculous marketing claim of it being a 3 KW tuner hurts the overall rating. If I put the power claim out of the equation, I can give it a 4 overall. It should be called a 1.5 KW tuner to be more accurate. From a daily use standpoint, I think most hams with a 1 KW amp or even a full 1.5 KW will be happy with this tuner, unless you are a big 160 meter fan or have a highly reactive 80M antenna and want to run legal limit.
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W5VK
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Rating: 4/5
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Jan 24, 2011 10:32
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OK FOR ME
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I read the comments...... bought a used one anyway. The ham I bought it from said it worked OK. I did clean inductor roller and contacts on antenna switch, put lubricant on switch points.. just maintenance. It's always worked fine and tunes quickly. I ran around 500 watts thru it. Most of the problems I've had w/ MFJ tuners (I've used many different models) I caused by not following directions (usually dumping RF into circuit before tuning at low pwr).
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K0PD
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 14, 2010 11:01
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Works Good for me!!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I bought this tuner new from a friend i've bought from before Albert Mercado N3YV who i knew from a previous buy could be trusted. I have a early model Pal Star 1500AT from when they first started up and it work's great but have always wanted to try out the MFJ986 tuner.Don't expect a technical opinion from me but i will give you my experience with equipment and this is no different.
To sum it up as far as advertised mine definitely lives up to MFJ's claims.It tunes fast and works as good as my Pal star . Here are some things i've noticed. First off the counter is not centered as the numbers are usually slightly elevated.Every thing moves very stiff but after all it is new and do seem to be getting easier to move with use. It could stand to have the front leg's taller as the roller inducter is set to close to the base of the tuner so for easier access i've elevated the front of the tuner.Now these things mentioned are not as important as whether the Tuner performs as advertised, and like i stated earlier it definitely does that. So from my experience i would certainly suggest if your seeking a tuner that is easy to use and works great buy it.And yes mine is the newest model...
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PA7KK
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Rating: 1/5
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Oct 21, 2010 10:53
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Disappointing
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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With the MFJ-986 I could not tune to zero on 20 meters. I assume HF went to places inside my house where it should not be as my central heating, which has a CPU, crashed every time I was on the air. I had to reset the CPU time and again.
MFJ (More Frustrating Junk) delivers poor quality as my friend also cannot tune to zero with the same model. He also complains about the paint that is falling of the tuner. You cannot simply paint aluminum like steel. They ought to know that.
The inductor coil it seems has a silver coating. Silver not like gold, corrodes. After a while the small roller on the coil does not make contact anymore on some places, as the corrosion layer insulates. But it can be cleaned. I did it with contact spray and an old towel. You can expect strange meter readouts after a while when you don't clean the inductor. I had the old inductor coil.
The soldering is bad, not done properly.
Sometimes the meter fluctuates. At first I thought my antenna caused this, but a SWR meter of Daiwa showed no fluctuations. To me it was clear, the MFJ-986 was fooling me.
I wished they had used regular bolts and nuts to fasten.
The power readout was not correct. I think the model left the plant without calibrating.
Instead I bought a Palstar AT2K and went from hell to heaven. What a relief to experience the quality, design and finish of this product.
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K8TAH
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Rating: 2/5
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Oct 7, 2010 10:17
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Not much tuning range
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I purchased one of these on eBay and hooked it up to my G5RV antenna. I have loaded this antenna with my MFJ-949E for many years with no problem. When I tried the MFJ-986, I could match fine on 10, 12,15,and 17 meter bands. The roller inductor was at the end limit and could not go any lower in frequency that 18 Mhz without running out of inductance.
The quality of construction was fine, but I guess I need a regular two capacitor tuner on this antenna. Sold it to a chap in VK land who is happy with it.
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W6AG
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 20, 2010 13:36
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Great Tuner byr Beware!
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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This tuner worked flawlessly for me for months; but then I decided to go for a Dentron to feed a new open line antenna. Anyway I sold it on Ebay to some guy named: 'fasteddie.'
That name should have scared me off, but he won the auction, and paid, so I sent him the Perfect tuner. His first day he fed a KW amp into it and forgot to hook on some sort of load, so the selector switch was fried, and maybe other parts as well.
He then had the nerve to claim it was defective when he got it, and Ebay forced me to refund his money and he sent it back. I have a picture of the (removed) switch, and I wish I could upload it here; but I will put it on my website here:
www.redblanchard.com/986.jpg
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