| KB2WVO |
Rating:  |
2016-01-02 | |
| not so happy |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
will i ordered the 207... 1st one came in .. i ran a sweep on my 80m dipole to confirm the 207 was working...
no way will my 80m dipole give no higher then 2 on the swr thru 1.5 to 30mgz...
sooo sent it back to AES and they sent another one..
guess what.... SAME....
MFJ says send it back we will repair or replace.. sooooooo now another month .... and who knows if will be fixed or replaced..
i wouldnt buy one of these again.. nor will i buy anything MFJ or its related companys..... |
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| N7KOB |
Rating:  |
2014-07-29 | |
| MFJ Needs better Quality Assurance |
Time Owned: N.A. |
I purchased the MFJ-207 with the intention of using it for field day this year. The plan was to get it a few days ahead of time and make sure I could work it properly to help tune my 'hamsticks' in the field, then use it the rest of the summer with portable antennas as I go camping.
Upon powering it up, the swr stayed at 2, across the entire range.
The device was never tested before it shipped. The PL239 connector inside was never connected. MFJ suggested that I do the soldering myself, I'm okay with that, if it solves the problem. However, after soldering the SWR would only vary between 1.7 and 2 across the whole band for my antenna, however with an SWR meter and transceiver, it definitely peaked at infinity, so there were other issues with the analyzer.
MFJ Customer Service is helpful, you actually get to talk to a real person. It still took me a week to get the return label from them, however, and we'll see how long it takes to get the device repaired or replaced. I can pretty much guarantee that using it for my summer camp outs is pretty much out of the question for this year.
My only experience with this product or any antenna analyzer, is the non-functional analyzer I received, I'm giving the three for the review because of the willingness of MFJ employees to help remedy the situation for me.
UPDATE: The defective item was recieved on June 26, my original post here was on July 10, here we are in the waning days of July and MFJ has yet to fix and return the defective antenna analyzer, though they claim they will be getting to it this week sometime. I was told the same thing last week as well.
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Earlier 3-star review posted by N7KOB on 2014-07-10
I purchased the MFJ-207 with the intention of using it for field day this year. The plan was to get it a few days ahead of time and make sure I could work it properly to help tune my 'hamsticks' in the field, then use it the rest of the summer with portable antennas as I go camping.
Upon powering it up, the swr stayed at 2, across the entire range.
The device was never tested before it shipped. The PL239 connector inside was never connected. MFJ suggested that I do the soldering myself, I'm okay with that, if it solves the problem. However, after soldering the SWR would only vary between 1.7 and 2 across the whole band for my antenna, however with an SWR meter and transceiver, it definitely peaked at infinity, so there were other issues with the analyzer.
MFJ Customer Service is helpful, you actually get to talk to a real person. It still took me a week to get the return label from them, however, and we'll see how long it takes to get the device repaired or replaced. I can pretty much guarantee that using it for my summer camp outs is pretty much out of the question for this year.
My only experience with this product or any antenna analyzer, is the non-functional analyzer I received, I'm giving the three for the review because of the willingness of MFJ employees to help remedy the situation for me.
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| KQ6BC |
Rating: |
2010-09-04 | |
| Good Value |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I don't know how anyone could make something better for near the same price. You connect it to your antenna and adjust two knobs to find the lowest SWR. Reading the settings from the dials gives you an approximate frequency. If you want to know the more exact frequency you connect a counter or your rig to the frequency out jack. If you have neither a freq. counter or a radio, you probably didn't need the antenna. Yes, it's a good idea to verify the build quality before you use it, but I would rather do that than pay three times as much for it. |
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| EA2BSN |
Rating: |
2010-04-01 | |
| Good but a frequency meter is a must |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Reasonably priced SWR analyzer, however a frequency meter is a must as the printed scale is not accurate. I have added to mine a frequency meter so it is much easier to use now, it has been a very easy work and the frequency meters fits like a glove in the MFJ-207, the frequency meter is “The Digital Dial” by Hendricks QRP Kits.
You can see the result here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDhl-QKUOII
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| KY6M |
Rating: |
2009-12-31 | |
| Works fine - Nice price |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I purchased this analyzer for $90- new. Additionally I purchased a used Frequency Counter off of Ebay for $40- (shipping included). So buying both together was much less than purchasing an analyzer with both built in. Works just fine in that combo. |
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| N7LYT |
Rating: |
2007-11-23 | |
| Simple and Rugged |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I've only had this for a few months, but I've used it almost daily. The first thing I did was pull the power on LED and route it inside to illuminate the SWR meter. I also changed the frequency adjust knob from a 1/2 inch to a 1 inch knob. It covers up some of the frequency scale but the trade off of having more control is worth it. I use it with a FT-857D and a Buddistick and it has significantly reduced my tuning time. I also like that it takes a 9V. |
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| GEIIM |
Rating: |
2007-08-28 | |
| A cheap alternative that works if you're willing to work a bit |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Let's face it - it's a $100 tool in the land of $250+ tools on the cheap end and $2000+ on the high end, so it's not going to do all the work for you but if you're like me you don't mess with antennas too regularly so you only need to use it from time to time and you don't want to have to go back and forth from rig to antenna to adjust the antenna. So this device is a compromise that if used right saves you tons of time and hassle. Here's what I've done to make this unit work great for me.
1. Glue/tape a needle to the bottom of the tuning knob so that you can get a finer view of your adjustments
2. Tape a post-it note over the scale.
3. Use your radio to find the points you want to to tune your antenna to on the 207. I needed to tune to 14.070 so I found that on the 207 and marked the post-it note so that the needle was right on that mark when on frequency.
4. Now I can go to the antenna and work on it and know when the antenna is tuned without having the run back and forth.
So a few minutes of work up front saves me hours for less than $100. And if you're working on a multi-band antenna, mark up all the freqs you want to tune too and you save yourself even more time.
As for quality, mine works fine. It's a solid metal case of good heft. I checked the internals and all joints looked good. I'm sure that there's been some problems here and there but then my Icom needed to go back for no xmit power repair after only 1 week so it happens to the best of them.
Never had a problem with MFJ products myself though some have complained about it. Seems to me that the most complaints come from those who buy cheap. Kind of like the ones who buy discount air-fare then complain about the crowded flights and poor service but ridicule those who would pay for first class. Let's face it, most hams home-brew, some for the learning experience and fun and some because they figure it's a way to save a buck and then complain about the results because they're not willing to invest the time it takes.
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|
| N5UV |
Rating: |
2006-01-25 | |
| Okay analyzer for the price |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I normally give 5s for anything that does it's job well. This analyzer, for the price you pay, is actually very good at what it does...which is basically get you in the ballpark of where your antenna should be tuning up. Don't try to compare it to a digital read-out version, because there is no comparison.
Only problem I had with this is that the solder connection is a bit weak for the center lead of the coax connector. I use my analyzer to check for my coax connector solder jobs by running a newly soldered coax jumper to a dummy load, then "sweeping" across the bands with the analyzer to see if there's a short somewhere. Well, one day I was doing that and kinda jiggling the coax and noticed that every coax jumper I had worked on that day was having intermitent problems with shorting. So, I resolder EVERYTHING again, took 2 hours to complete, then sweeped the coax and found that it STILL had the same problems. So I checked the box for potentional shorts, and sure enough...my constant jiggling of the coax connectors BROKE the solder connection to that center lead inside the analyzer. So I slapped some solder on, re-checked them, and everything was fine.
So, I give this a 4 only because the analyzer wasn't as heavy duty as a I thought...but to be fair, I was jerking the connectors around a lot, which I'm sure this analyzer wasn't really built to handle. But I'd rather only pay $70 bucks for something that I use maybe 4 times a year max, and just deal with the occasional QC issues than pay 3 times as much for something else...besides, we're hams, we should know how to at least fix some of the stuff we buy! |
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| VE3WGO |
Rating: |
2003-08-13 | |
| Great for Antenna Setup |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have owned the MFJ-207 for a couple of years, and was using it again during my latest dipole installation (including a new W9INN MPD-5c, which I'll write a review for, soon). The '207 unit is a great idea, and lets me tune the antennas right there on-site, without going in and out of the house to check SWR every time I make an adjustment. I glued a wire pointer to the frequency knob and put a few favourite frequency marks on the dial after calibrating with my receiver.
I also have the MFJ-208 VHF analyser, which covers 2 meters+. I tweaked the coil and tuning cap a bit to get more bandspread on that one and made a new overlay dial scale, so now it tunes from 140 to 152 MHz. I have never had any problems with either of these units. I treat them carefully, and they have been reliable. |
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| CT1FKC |
Rating: |
2003-04-20 | |
| good investment |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
For the price it´s great. it seems to be so exact as MFJ-259 and cost much much less.
it doesn't read frequency, but I have a frequency meter, so I could save my money in something that is only used 3-4 times a year.
it works as described. |
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