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Reviews For: MFJ-994BRT TUNER, AUTO, REMOTE, 600W, 1.8-30 MHZ

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : MFJ-994BRT TUNER, AUTO, REMOTE, 600W, 1.8-30 MHZ
Reviews: 31MSRP: 399.95
Description:
Remote IntelliTuner is mounted in a durable hard plastic case that measures 9 ¼" x 3" x 14 ¼". Covers 1.8 to 30 MHz, have heavy duty 16 Amp / 1000 Volt relays and are a highly efficient L-network. It also includes the MFJ-4117 BiasTee Power Injector to send DC/RF down your coax.
Handles 600 Watts SSB/CWpower level and is said to matche 12-800 Ohm antennas.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Product.php?productid=MFJ-994BRT
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00313.1
NZ5F Rating: 2018-02-28
Updated review Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Started having issues with it after two months limited use. Initially tunes fine on all bands with my 400’ long loop (resonant at 3 MHz) even on 160m and as you get above about 100W goes haywire with SWR readings.

Just decided to give up and sell it as mechanics special. I don’t want to deal with HRO or MFJ with this piece of equipment. Wish it would have worked for me. It is too bad. It is my last MFJ purchase for sure.
SA3AYF Rating: 2018-01-27
Works great, whats the problem ? Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
All kind of devices made to tune a piece of wire or metal to a frequency where it is not resonant, is without any exception a compromise.
Nothing will ever replace a resonant antenna.
Period.

But, with this in mind and using common sense (if you´ve got a license you should have, at least, basic skills and knowledge) this is a quite useful piece of gear.
It will NOT tune a 10 inch antenna and turn it into a 4-square or 6-element monobander, but it WILL tune a reasonably long wire and handle it´s rated power just as good as any other tuner IF you r.t.f.m. and follow common sense in providing RF ground.
I use this tuner to tune an endfed inverted V for 160m attached with it´s apex up in my 50' tower and a decent ground to work against.
No problems what so ever.
Being in Stockholm, Sweden, it have gotten it´s share of rain, snow, ice, freezing temperature and harsh conditions and passed with flying colours.
I have an ACOM1000 driving it up to it´s 600W limit.
No problems at all ! :)

Now, I repeat, you must handle this as any other antenna and use good feedlines, wires, grounding etc.
Your 6-element beam is not going to handle 1,5kW on a RG-172 either, and you expensive whatyouhave-roller-inductor-superfluxcapacitor-tuner costing more than your car will not tune a fishing lure to 1.0:1 SWR on top band 160m either.
Common sense and care of detail is needed, but with that in place, this gives you a very competent tuner for the price asked.
There is no automatic tuner, remote or indoors, that will handle this power and range at this price.

Yep, maybe you get what you pay for, but I am happy, and so is my rig :)
AD8Y Rating: 2016-05-18
Two of them working well, survived Cleveland winters Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Needed a small amount of outboard inductance to match 5/8 vertical on 40 meters; other than that, two of them have worked fine. I'm using one for the vertical, one for a 105' doublet on 80-10 meters. That one won't match on 160 meters but I didn't expect it to. The units have survived multiple Cleveland season changes without difficulty. The Bias-Ts also have worked fine.
KF6BKH Rating: 2016-02-08
Works great Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I needed a remote tuner for one of my antenna projects and went with this unit. Before installing the tuner and after reading about possible quality issues with MFJ, I opened the case to look inside, every thing looked fine and well made. I have been using this with my Omni 7 and Hercules amp for almost a year and can say it has worked as it should.
K0LTD Rating: 2015-01-27
4th time charm Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Well, after my last reviews.. And now have bent sent my 4th unit.. All works now..
WB4RHQ Rating: 2014-09-17
Great Remote Tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this tuner for a couple of years and have been pleased with it. It is mounted at the end of 100' of coax feeding a 170' long wire antenna. Occasionally I have to remove the power and restart it, but thta is only about once a month. I have not seen any of the issues mentioned by others.
KA4KOE Rating: 2013-11-14
Unreliable, bad for tubes Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Antenna tuner stopped working on 40m. It will hunt for a bit and then stops between an SWR of 3 to 5. Lots of noise on receive. Unreliable and not good for my Johnson Valiant transmitter.
JP1LRT Rating: 2013-10-26
My 3rd peport Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is my 3rd report.

After finish repairing , already 1year passed.

Last month, suddeny , my MFJ-994BRT became only 40m band tuner. I can not use any other band.

Today, my 994BRT dead..... No mostly dead.
I found that my tuner can do with below 20w.
But if I use this tuner above 20w, can not tune....

I give up to use my MFJ-994BRT.

VK5ALX Rating: 2013-08-02
Should have known better Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Someone else has mentioned the shoddy workmanship. I too had cut away sections of the plastic cover in order to attach a pl259 plug and to loosen the binding post. Does no one at MFJ ever do a final check before shipping their products?

I have had it for a while but used it for the first time last night when I took it to a club meeting. Connected it to a 9 metre long vertical but no way would it tune 80 metres. I have a different brand at home which, with the same antenna tunes all band from 160-10 mtrs
I notice today from the spec sheets that the impedance range for this model is 12-800 ohms whereas their 200w and 300w models tune from 6-1600 ohms. I couldn't find this info when I looked at buying it.
I wonder if there is any way to modify the beast to obtain a similar spec. Maybe just suck it up and use it as a expensive door stop.
GW4DVB Rating: 2013-06-29
Oh Dear !!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Only had this tuner for a week.

Input SO239 was mounted at an angle on the side of the box making the termination of plug and coax near on impossible once the ATU had been mounted.. Also Long Wire terminal swiveling lose on side of casing..

Not Recommended !!!