| KG6WLS |
Rating:  |
2008-05-17 | |
| No Problems Here |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Why is there the MFJ bashing? Well, hams need something to complain about. ;-)
I've had this analyzer for three years now, homebrewed many antennas with it, and it has been beaten around at Field Day. No problems or hick-ups. Best investment for the home brewer (or tuning those AWFUL MFJ antennas, HI), and the price is right.
Good for the money IMHO.
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| N3OX |
Rating: |
2008-05-17 | |
| Invaluable tool; Just learn its limits. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've had my MFJ-259B for many, many years, probably around eight years at this point.
I've measured hundreds and hundreds of capacitors and inductors and adjusted several dozen antennas over the years with this thing. I've used it as a dip meter to check traps and a signal generator to measure beam patterns.
Only once did I have trouble with my unit, and it was more or less my fault. I walked across the carpet and shot a spark to the antenna I was testing. Turns out the front end diodes don't like that. A few $0.40 parts and some careful soldering and a calibration run later, I was back in business.
MFJ's signature mechanical construction might be cheap by commercial test equipment standards, but I've never found that to be an operational limitation. I've heard all about MFJ's poor quality control on solder joints, etc, but it's never shown up in my shack, and if it did, I'd solder it.
It won't measure extremely high or low impedances, but one can generally work around that. It suffers if you have strong RF fields near the frequency of interest but any reasonably priced broadband vector voltmeter would have that problem. It's not particularly accurate at the limits of the impedances it will measure, but it will tell you within a few ohms if your antenna is 50+j0 or 14-j36 (yes, you have to sweep frequency manually to infer the sign of reactance), and that's an invaluable thing for an antenna experimenter.
As far as I can tell, most of the comparable instruments out there are double the price or more. Would I buy another MFJ-259B today? Maybe, but my eight-odd year old one is still chugging along measuring complex impedances to enough accuracy for me.
Maybe it's off by 15%; I have absolutely no idea of the absolute accuracy of this instrument and I have no doubt it would fail a head-to-head accuracy test against any Agilent network analyzer at ten times the price or a piece of ham gear at twice the price.
But it's not twice or ten times the price. It costs what it costs. And my unit has certainly proven its worth to me over the years.
Does MFJ make "Mighty Fine Junk?" Perhaps, but I really have to think, given my experience with their stuff, that you should put an emphasis on the "mighty fine." It's not perfect, bulletproof, commercial quality gear but a lot of us can't afford that, or at least don't want to drag it outside in the rain to figure out why our $%(# 30m matching network isn't working anymore ;-)
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| PE1NPG |
Rating: |
2008-05-17 | |
| Great tool! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Why always the MFJ bashing?
They make affordable equipment at amateur prices.
My 259B works great. The are better tools on the market, but not at this price. You get what you pay for, and I'm happy with it. Never had a quality problem this unit, neither with my 949E and 929 autotuner (super unit!) |
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| KB2NAT |
Rating: |
2008-05-17 | |
| Mine (perhaps not all) works pretty well |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Although it's true that many MFJ products tend to come in kit form when they're not kits, my analyzer seems to function well. Although basically credential-less, I noticed that the analyzer did seem to match swr readings with the other meters I have (MFJ's...they all may have the same errors, of course). It accurately found a cable discontinuity problem (I thought it was an antenna issue) and it has been a huge help in setting up portable dipoles, mobiles, and long wires. I am pleased with mine, even though it may be unique in that it does work well. For the money, it is well worth a look, at least. |
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| K1FPV |
Rating: |
2008-05-17 | |
| For the price, you can't beat it! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Why do so many people here compare apples to oranges? I've had my MFJ-259B for at least 5 years now and it has served it's purpose well. It works, maybe not quite as accurate as more expensive equipment, but for the average ham, it is fine!
I find it disturbing that some folks on here buy the inexpensive items, then complain that it doesn't have the bells and whistles the more expensive items have. If you want and instrument to do what an AIM 4170 does, then spend the money and buy one!
Even with transceivers, people buy the low end rig, then complain it doesn't do this or that. Come on guys, be fair with equipment reviews. For what you pay for the MFJ-259B, you get a good piece of equipment! |
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| N4KC |
Rating: |
2008-05-16 | |
| Apples to anvils comparison...again! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Guys, you simply cannot compare the 259B to the AIM 4170. The latter is north of $500 and still requires a computer to operate. That's a lot of stuff to haul to the backyard or up the tower!
I hear the 4170 is a fine instrument and I want one someday, but for the way I typically use an analyzer, the 259B does a fine job. And for half the cost!
Six months ago I was about to post a review of the 259B and give it a 3. When I wiggled the coax connector, the impedance and SWR jumped all over the place. I had to massage it to make sure there was a good connection before I could trust what I was seeing. Well, I say to myself, after buying and using a dozen MFJ products with no trouble whatsoever, maybe I finally had myself a dud.
When I got a chance to open it up and take a look, all appeared to be fine. Despite what others have reported, the soldering looked solid and professional. Continuity between the connector and the board was okay. The connector itself was tight.
I buttoned her back up and swapped patch cords. Same deal. Wiggle the connector, the readings bounced all over the place. Dang! But just before tearing back into the box (and posting that mediocre review), I tried a third patch cable. She worked fine.
Yes, two bad patch cables. Dadgum $3 jumpers on the bargain table at the hamfest!
Don N4KC
www.n4kc.com
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| EI3JK |
Rating: |
2008-05-16 | |
| GREAT PRODUCT |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have my one around two years,and I have to say that this analyzer rocks!! It has saved me countless trips up and down ladders.Just connect it to the antenna and tune the antenna for the best possible swr and your done.Great for tuning home brew antennas also. |
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| NO9E |
Rating: |
2008-05-16 | |
| Indispensible |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Some diodes fried in mine when it was connected to one antenna and there was transmit on a nearby antenna. Suddenly all antenna work became do much difficult. Autek RF-1 was not a good substitute especially that it's adjustment became scratchy. It took MFJ 3 months to fix my MFJ259B for about $65, and I am glad to see it home.
NIMH batteries inside last a long time. It takes 2-3 days to charge them, not a problem. |
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| K7UNZ |
Rating: |
2008-05-16 | |
| Product Update? |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Have only had it a few days, so can't really give a good evaluation at this point in time, although it does seem to work just fine.
The main reason for my comment is to mention that there may have been some "updates" to the design, although it's still designated 259B.
For example, the power switch on mine is a RECESSED round button, that should preclude the accidental power-on problem.
The second is that there is a removable panel over the battery compartment, which requires only two screws be removed to access.
About the only thing I might "complain" about is that the display seems a bit on the dark side, but maybe I'll discover an adjustment for that (hi).
Looking foward to a lotta years use out of this thing.....
73, Jim/k7unz
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| 9A5AZI |
Rating: |
2008-04-17 | |
| Good instrument! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I am buy a MFJ-259b one year ago and he help me to making my first home made copy of klm kt 34xa and i was very happy for this good job.
Two week ago my power reducer from 24 to 13.8 are going out of use and 24 volt are going in MFJ.Swr and reaxtance dont work.
I am contact via e-mail at Mfj in USA -i living in 9a country- and they are help me how i repair a problem a few minutes later.
Very nice and very profesional for MFJ company and specyali many thanks at mister Richard and his team. |
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