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write your own review of the MFJ 949E.
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KD4GID
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Rating: 5/5
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May 3, 2012 06:49
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Great Value
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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After five years, still pleased. Has worked very well at 100w into a random wire on 10-80m. About a year ago, well out of warranty, the SWR cross needle meter quit. One call to support led to me replacing the two diodes on the circuit board which were provided free of charge along with two spares. Great Support!
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K3IVB
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Rating: 5/5
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May 2, 2012 07:40
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Best Ever
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Beat Palstar hands down, best ever on all levels, price performance quality etc. Buy one and you will never need to buy another antenna tuner. It's that good and I owned them all people,trust me.
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KT0DD
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Rating: 2/5
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May 1, 2012 05:22
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Dealers - shake the unit before selling it!
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I bought mine and stored it for a year. I took it out to set it up yesterday and as I handled it, something rattled around inside. I took off the cover for inspection and found the plastic multi-meter support had a broken leg. I removed the support to glue the leg back on and found the mounting screw holes had all split while being installed. I discarded the whole meter support and just glued the multi-meter in place.
I'm still installing my attic antenna and am going to be a little nervous applying RF to the tuner. Martin Jun needs to really work on his quality control. It is piss-poor.
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G4WXF
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 7, 2012 17:11
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Easy to use-Does the job!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The MFJ-949E is a T-Match tuner, just like any other manufacturer’s T-Match tuner, but is of a lower build quality than some.
If you do some research you will discover not only the shortcomings, but also the strengths, of T-Match tuners i.e. their ability to tune almost any strange load (albeit with unfavourable LC ratios resulting in additional loss).
This is why commercial manufacturers love the T-Match design – it just about always works.
Over the last 30 years I have acquired many different tuners i.e. Z-match,T-match + 4:1 balun and a classic link coupled unit.
The best, in terms of RF efficiency and balance, was always the link coupled unit.
However, when making A/B measurements, using a pair of calibrated RF ammeters and various balanced loads, the MFJ unit comes very close to the the link coupled unit and, on some bands, is a little more efficient.
The same holds true when measured using various doublet antennas and overall I am impressed with this tuner’s performance.
The metering is accurate and easy to read, the build quality is of a reasonable standard, and the in-built 50 ohm load is very useful for transmitter testing.
For the money it does an excellent job.
MFJ manufacture niche products for a niche hobby market and all in all do a pretty good job considering the price. Their manuals are usually informative and run to several pages.
More expensive T-Match tuners don’t necessarily perform any better.
I have sold all my other tuners and now use a 949E exclusively to tune my doublet antennas.
If you are looking for a flexible tuner to use with your 100 or 200 watt rig then the 949E is most suitable.
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NB5VO
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Rating: 0/5
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Apr 6, 2012 12:33
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GOOD WAY TO BLOW UP YOUR FINALS!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Ok folks, they can't fool me. This is the deal. If you want to risk catching your finals on fire then buy this tuner to detune your radio. The problem with this is fairly simple. They use cheap friction contact capacitors. That means the electrical contact is wrapped around the shaft of the capacitor so when the shaft rotates high voltage is applied to the turning bushing contact. This causes arching and carbon build up of the contact area which eventually leads to open circuit and intermittent contact of the tuning capacitor. I only tuned 100 watts of course. This tuner worked fine for first couple hours of use. Borrow money to get a high quality tuner unless you don't care about your radio. And these days with solid state finals, they can blow out easily as you know.
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KB5QMG
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Rating: 4/5
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Jan 10, 2012 12:18
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Just getting started with it
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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First off let me state that my new MFJ-949E tuner is the first manual tuner I have used. So I am just learning this machine now. I was concerned some, having read these reviews, about the possible QA issues with MFJ. When my unit arrived, and I heard a rattling noise inside the unit I feared the worse. However, turned out to be a half piece of what appears to be a ceramic washer and one tiny silver bolt. I removed these items, and double checked the inside soldering and connections and all looked good. I assume these misplaced items were just that..
OK just used my tuner on 20m. Using less than 30w it is tuning up my g5rv just fine. The swr meter on my rig and the tuner match exactly..
The 949E seems easy enough to use.. I had a 6 yr old LDG-Z100 and it just finally quit matching to my satisfaction , so out with the old, and in with the new..
I will post back in a few months to let you know how things are going.. I was pleased to see how this unit was put together inside.. while inexpensive, the work looked just fine.. minus the two parts that seemed to belong to some other unit..
All in all at this time, I am happy with my purchase...
73 de kb5qmg
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N3LZG
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 1, 2011 08:08
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Everything I need to tune up.
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Picked up an MFJ-949E used at a hamfest in 2010 for $75. A very good bargain, in my opinion. The built-in antenna switch, balanced line connection, balun and dummy load are nice touches for anyone with limited space.
After owning this tuner for about a year, I am very satisfied with its performance. Connected to a 135' OCF dipole, I can tune most anywhere from 80-6m to 1:1. No problems or faults at all after over 1300 contacts+ in various modes and bands.
Only advice I can give is to make sure this box is well grounded and read the instructions... never touch the inductor switch while transmitting.
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K2OWK
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 29, 2010 21:27
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Dual meter reads UHF 6 meters
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This is my second review on this tuner. I would like to add the following. The dual power VSWR meter will operate on the 6 meter band when used as a through system. You can not use the tuner at this frequency, but the SWR meter works fine. I have a Yaesu FT-450AT and just for kiks I used the MFJ VSWR meter to see what it would do on the 6 meter band. It worked normal. I called MFJ to verify this use, and they said it should work fine this way. I now have saved the price of an SWR meter for the 6 meter band. I rate this as still a 5 as both a tuner and a wattmeter.
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N5HNY
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 31, 2010 21:36
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Very Useful
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I know MFJ has a reputation for so-so quality. I actually got my 949E cheap because the case was drilled incorrectly. I fixed the case and have been using this tuner for about 12 years. It's been behind a Drake TR-4 and Yaesu FT-102. Both putting out 250 to 300 watts. It's been running behind a FT-301D and now a FT-901DM and Dentron GLA-1000 running 300 watts. It's works just great behind my Icom 706 equiped with the 10 watt tuner modual. The 30/300 watt switch makes this easy. The lighted meter is nice but not needed. The built in dummy load and antenna switch are a nice touch. Random wire, coax, or balanced line with internal balun. It's tough and works great. You can't beat it for the money.
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W8FOP
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Rating: 4/5
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Jul 27, 2010 21:13
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Good for the money
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I'm using the MFJ 949E in the shack to tune a G5RV shorty, an end fed longwire and a ground plane. I have no problems tuning any of the three antennas within their respective bands.
I know MFJ has some quality control issues with some of their products however all seems good with my tuner.
My only complaint is the knob design with the notches. After turning the antenna selector switch a few times, the forefinger and thumb get sore. The photos of the tuners I've seen show a different design knob with a smooth (un-notched) area for your fingers to turn it. It appears that this design would be more comfortable to operate.
Basically, the design, performance and operation of this tuner are very good considering the low price. A plus is that MFJ is very dedicated to service if you have a problem.
All in all, I give this tuner a definite "thumbs up".
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