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Reviews For: MFJ-993BRT TUNER, AUTO, REMOTE, 300W, 1.8-30 MHZ

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : MFJ-993BRT TUNER, AUTO, REMOTE, 300W, 1.8-30 MHZ
Reviews: 16MSRP: 299.95
Description:
Description: Remote IntelliTuner is mounted in a durable hard plastic case that measures 9 1/4" x 3" x 14 1/4". Covers 1.8 to 30 MHz, uses heavy duty 16 Amp / 1000 Volt relays in 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 matches 6-1600 Ohm antennas.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Product.php?productid=MFJ-993BRT
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00163.4
AE7NM Rating: 2021-12-08
Quality Issues Resulting From Design Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This tuner works OK. the problems reported by some other reviewers may be caused by misunderstanding the manual.
My copy arrived with issues. The first was that the wire input insulator was loose. This seems to be a common problem. I think that the problem is that the nut that secures the insulator cannot be tightened without cracking the insulator. The insulator then vibrates loose during shipping.
The other, more vexing, problem was that the power connection from the bias t circuit to the circuit board was not reliable. This remote antenna tuner is made from the circuit board of a desktop tuner--minus the meters and display--mounted in a weather resistant housing. There is additional circuitry for input protection and a bias tee sort of kluged together and unsupported. The bias tee output is connected to the existing coaxial power input on the circuit board buy soldering it to the PC lug on the rear of the connector. Except on my copy, it wasn't soldered. There was a wire with blob of solder pressed against the power connector, but it was only held in place by the stiffness of the wire. Since the other end of the kluge was connected to the radio UHF connector, connecting or disconnecting the coax to the radio (thus wiggling the kluge because the UHF connector is mounted on the flexible case) could cause an intermittent connection. It took me a while to discover this; I soldered it and now it works.
Another thing, the connections to the tuner match neither the sticker on the case nor the illustration in the manual.
The tuner sometimes takes a very long time initially finding a matching solution, so be patient. It only takes a few seconds once a match at a nearby frequency has been stored. I am using this tuner with a troublesome, poorly designed OFC dipole flagpole antenna; i think that it is doing as well as can be expected.
DL1BAZ Rating: 2021-01-31
Tuner ok, no problem with tree but beware of Bias Tee Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Sits in the garden for about five years now and still works well.
Tunes 10 mtrs of vertical wire (in a tree) from 80 to 10 meters in seconds.
A good point is that you dont need an extra cable to feed the tuner with 12V because of the included Bias Tee (MFJ 4117)
BUT: Dont leave the Bias Tee with no antenna/no transceiver connected but power on. It means you get a short und will start a shack fire very soon.
KY8D Rating: 2020-10-29
Useless near trees Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The MFJ-993BRT remote auto-tuner has proved a complete waste of money. At issue is its inability to ever forget a remembered setting short of my going outdoors, removing the cover (held on by annoyingly loose screws and nuts) and manually pressing a trio of buttons in combination. Buttons which all face the wrong way, so that a dentist's mirror must be employed. All while standing on a ladder. A completely idiotic design.

I had bought it for tuning a random long-wire antenna which I call the Giant Coat Hanger. It is 146m of insulated wire that runs closely past several trees, over some others, and through part of one tree also. Nowhere does any tree touch copper, since I employed DX Engineering's preium insulated wire. And where the wire passes through that one tree, here I guarded it from abrasion by a short length of Nylon tubing. In addition to ceramic egg insulators, precautions all more than plenty enough. Still, though, the environment proximate to that wire changes season to season. And if it should rain, then day to day. And because of this, the auto-tuner's aggravatingly insistent memory function cripples functionality. On this account, the damn thing is useless.

If ever MFJ should inform me of their having addressed this disfunction (and likewise offer to take this one back in trade for at least 33% credit) then I'll be pleased to revise my several on-line reviews. Because, after all, it does work well enough sometimes, if only for short little spans after each tedious memory reset. Seriously, what were they thinking?
G4VGO Rating: 2017-03-09
Never Again MFJ! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After over five decades in amateur radio I have seen scores of antenna matching devices. Therefore I should have known better. I should have known the advertising and specs were too good to be true. My past experience with MFJ equipment has been about 40% positive. That being said, I still made the mistake of giving MFJ one more try. Result - TOTAL FAILURE. The remote tuner failed right out of the box. Last time MFJ failed right out of the box was an Ameritron amp that cost a couple of thousand dollars. Advice from a very experienced MFJ victim - RUN! Run to the competition because MFJ makes junk.
AB9UU Rating: 2016-08-30
Neutral Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Mine quit soon after I got it. Trying to resolve issue now. Acts strange. When plug power in without any antennas connected I hear it click on. But if antennas are connected even with no transmitters etc...it will not power up. MFJ told me to reset it. The buttons inside have no labels so how does one do that or adjust it like they say you can for target SWR. I am sending them a photo so they can tell me what buttons are what and I can try resetting it before sending it in for repair. Can't they mark it inside?
I also have a two 998s at home and at the vacation house. They work great.
N0MNW Rating: 2016-08-18
Adequate for my needs Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have had this tuner now for slightly less than a year and I wanted to give a report. When I got the tuner last year from HRO I put in the shack to play with. Internally the circuit board was shorted to ground thus I found out when the smoke came from the supply wire, I had a near fire. I did contact HRO who suggested that I contact MFJ for guidance but they did offer for me to exchange it. I decided to contact MFJ (big mistake) because HRO did not have any replacements and it took two months to get my unit. I did end up shipping the unit back to MFJ and they did fix the unit. After it was returned, the unit worked but I had a tough time to get the unit to tune to a decent level with sometimes the unit tuning to 3:1 or more. After multiple calls and emails with MFJ, I never got anywhere on this issue. MFJ suggested that I set the unit to tune at a lower SWR level and provided instructions to reset the tuner. The problem with this is the instructions were for the 993B that has the buttons and display on the front. The 993BRT has most of the buttons of the 993B inside the unit that are mounted upside down with no display to allow you to know what you are doing thus I do not know how anyone can make any adjustments with settings with the BRT. By the way the circuit board in the 993BRT enclosure is the same as in the 993B but without meters and display, this unit should be cheaper than the 993B. In fact the circuit board says 991, 993 and 994 thus my guess is the 994BRT and 993BRT are the same tuner but the more expensive 994 being set for more reduced settings. The way I can use the tuner so I can assure a good SWR match is to overshoot or undershoot the frequency I want by 50kc, tune at that setting, then move the VFO to where I want to work. In discussing this with MFJ they agreed this was a good method of getting the tuner to have lower SWR. I give the tuner a 3.0 and it is better than cranking my old manual turner
DL1EAL Rating: 2016-07-17
Behaves strange sometimes Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have this tuner in operation for nearly 4 years now. It tunes a "random wire" of 18 meters (59 ft.) in length and up on the roof top at 25 meters (82 ft.) above ground, fixed between the two elevator engine houses on top of our house and on top of the adjacent house. Due to local restrictions, this is the only antenna I can use, a "stealth antenna", which is just tolerated, without official permission. The 993BRT is an ideal tuner for this type of antenna. You set a transmit signal with 10 watts for a second or two, and it tunes to the lowest SWR it can find... mostly. Sometimes however it thinks, a SWR of 2.2 is good enough and stops tuning, although it had tuned the same frequency to a 1.5 SWR the day before. If I switch to a different band, do a tune, then switch back to the old band and let it tune again: SWR 1.5!
That also happens after a reset (power cycle) sometimes. To me, it looks like the tuning algorithm in the 993BRT's microcontroller is not just technically mature. But once you know how to outwit it, it works fine.
The tuner is mounted outside on the fence around our roof terrace. Tis fence is made of steel and connected to the house earthing grid, which I also use as a counterpoise for the antenna. Not ideal, but it works fine on all bands except 160m. I put a piece of thick plastic foil over he tuner, to add some protection against the heavy rains we sometimes have. So far I have not experienced any problems with corrosion or water ingress.
I am giving it a 4 because of the sometimes unpredictable tuning results. When it's service time is over, I will probably try the ICOM AH-4.
NG2O Rating: 2016-05-22
Works Fine for Me Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought a MFJ 993BRT to use with a Zero-Five 27 foot ground plane on the corner of my roof about 20 feet above ground. I mounted it right at the base of the antenna on the mast, and it seems to work fine. It has been up about a week. It tunes the vertical on 80 through 10 with no difficulty (SWR of 1.5:1 or less), with a small exception on 12 meters where I can't get the SWR below 2:1. I have to analyze that problem further. It won't tune the vertical on 160, but no surprise there. I gave it a four because it seems of less than robust construction. We will see how it holds up in the salt water environment here at the Jersey shore.
K8UMF Rating: 2016-02-06
Aggravating but works well! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This tuner has been an adventure! The first one was DOA but customer service quickly sent out a replacement and a free return shipping label. The replacement worked well but seemed to be erratic at times and failed within a few days. It turned out that the vertical antenna was not properly grounded which caused the failure and flaky antenna operation. In spite of my mistake, customer service again quickly sent out a replacement with free return shipping and the new tuner has worked very well. The rating of this tuner is a result of surprisingly good customer service and the lack of similar tuners at anywhere near the price and performance of the 993BRT.
K1BRA Rating: 2016-01-10
It was great for the one day it worked. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This tuner is for all intents and purposes an MFJ-993B tuner mounted in a weather sealed injection molded plastic case for outdoor use at the antenna feed point. Pretty much no redesign and only minor changes to leave out unnecessary components from the '993B (like the front panel LCD) and the associated firmware tweaks needed. Inside the case you'll find the MFJ-993B main tuner board with the control panel board mounted in an inverted position on top of the main board.

This design approach by MFJ is both good and bad. Good for MFJ because it allows them to repurpose an existing tuner design for remote use with very little cost on their part. Bad for the customer because the product could have been so much better. No thought whatsoever has been given to usability features of the MFJ-993B on which this tuner is based. Settings can't be readily changed and config operations like erasing tuner memory and resetting the tuner (which the manual recommends doing if the tuner is "not behaving properly or acting erratically" - a direct quote from the manual) are a total PITA. Doing either of these requires the removal of TEN case screws and holding down (up, actually) multiple front panel buttons mounted on an inverted control panel PCB with very little clearance. The reset itself required holding three of these buttons simultaneously while cycling power. A true exercise in dexterity.

Back to my actual experience with the product, my MFJ-993BRT worked for all of ONE DAY before it quit on me. Opening the case revealed a "burnt electronics" smell, although I couldn't isolate which component it came from.

My Rating is a "2 - Needs help" because:
-- Mine croaked after a day (-5 points)
-- It's functionally superior to alternatives. At this point, I don't think I'd switch to another alternative (+4 points)
-- Config operations like RESET and ERASE MEMORY are an exercise in futility (-1 point)
-- MFJ "cheaped out" and could have made made this product so much better by making it a full equivalent of the MFJ-993B (-1 point)