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Reviews For: MFJ-259B

Category: Antenna Analyzers

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Review Summary For : MFJ-259B
Reviews: 238MSRP: 259.95
Description:
HF/VHF Antenna Analyser
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/products.php?prodid=MFJ-259B
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
152384.2
AD5EM Rating: 2011-04-11
Handy Tool Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had mine for about 7 years and it's never had any issues. Makes tuning easy and I use it quite often to tune my MP-1 portable antenna. Works much better and quicker than guessing. Might not be laboratory quality, but it sure does the job I expect of such a product. I'd buy another one if this one ever dies.
K4CLL Rating: 2011-04-10
My first New One Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned a 249, and 2 259B's and all were great for tuning antennas. I just bought my first one new, and it is the most accurate one I have owned. Now they may not give identical readings to other equipment, but when you get SWR to the lowest point at your desired frequency, then you are generally good to go. I checked all my antennas with mine, and it is in agreement with frequency as well as lowest point of SWR. Tuning antennas is my main purpose for the 259B, but if you take time, and don't expect NASA accuracy for 200 bucks, it will do much much more.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by K4CLL on 2009-01-21

I agree with the fact that the battery holders could be better, and the 259B is not perfect. It does however, get the job done at a price far less than most others. I am able to tune my antenna, and when I hook it up, it is ready to transmit. It is not something I use alot, but it sure makes things easier when you need it. CLL
K2JX Rating: 2011-01-04
Very Good Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I don't know why so many reviews bomb this product except of course the ones with poor construction. That being said my copy of the '259-B is perfect. No loose screws or cold solder joints,it works as advertised.I don't know why I did not buy one sooner. I quickly set up a 2 meter beam on the bench, found out where my 6BTV vertical is resonant and discovered that the "factory" settings for my tri-band V-UHF vertical are pretty close.

The time I've wasted in my 35 year ham career using the cut and try method of antenna tuning has come to an end ! I would recommend this meter to anyone and if you "do" 440, you may want to spend the extra for that version of the 259-B. In my 25yr career in law enforcement communications I've used all kinds of expensive antenna system analyzers, like the famous "Site-Master" which costs over $10k.

No,the 259-B won't out gun a Site-Master but for less than $300 bux you have in your shack an analyzer that does the job, and it's pretty accurate for it's cost. One other note, you will be surprised at how good or bad your antenna system is or isn't ! I was. The instrument will also count frequency with less than a 10hz error across it's range, not bad.

So far standard alkaline batteries do the trick, and seem to last.I use MFJ's recommended wall wart when working on the bench. I figured they specified that wall wart and using a brand X may void the warrenty if the voltage regulators fail shorted. The 259-B manual has a big print section on using the correct power supplies, battery or adapter. One big note: keep RF from your rig away from this meter, ground any co-ax to remove static before connecting it to the connector on the top. And read the manual.

73/K2JX
K1KUZ Rating: 2010-10-27
Works great after a little help! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought mine new,and like all MFJ products I buy, as soon as it came out of the box I opened it up to take a look see inside! It was no different than any others, it had sloppy work inside, with cold solder joints that definatly would have caused it to not work properly.I cant believe they consider that quality checked! But after fixing the cold solder joints and thoroughly checking it for solder bridges and bad grounds I put it back together and It worked perfectly. I might note also that the freq output is actually just about dead on! I checked it with my TS 570. I was figuring it had to be off some! So I highly recommend you go inside and ckeck it over before you send it back. The solder side of the board is right there and easily accessable, so fixing their messes is not too bad. I know we should'nt have to do this, but they really are nice working units! even if you have to fix their work. Good luck with yours.
By the way, the callsign up there has been change to NK1V, I just didnt change it on this site yet. 73!
WB5MHA Rating: 2010-10-24
mfj junk Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
After 8 months owning this thing, sending it back again and again for warranty service (as it goes dead for no other reason than poor quality) I am tempted to take it to the range, dust it with a Chinese AK on full auto and send it back. I'm sure they will send it back with an invoice reading "tested, works fine." The assembly looks like it was done by eight year old slave laborers. The power switch is the cheapest part I have ever seen.

How do I fall for MFJ's line every ten or so years? My fault.

If you buy one expect problems like meters mounted upside down and random parts falling out.

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Earlier 0-star review posted by WB5MHA on 2010-04-26

Returned to MFJ, under warranty, when readout went ----- and meter did nothing. A month later MFJ returns it with a note "No problems detected in unit tested and calinrated" and "7.00 ck cashed"

They never bothered to cut the tape I marked then used to secure the bubble wrap. Just cashed the check and sent it back.

MFJ seems to have good ideas, horrible quality and zero customer service. Why don't they go the way of the Yugo?
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Earlier 0-star review posted by WB5MHA on 2010-03-31

Following ten years avoiding MFJ products (returned for warranty repair: repaired incorrectly, cold solder joints throughout, forgot to reconnect grounds etc.) I bought a 259-B analyzer. Followed all instructions to the letter and..............WONDERFUL! Worked like a charm. A great piece of test gear for a little over two hundred delivered. They had lured me in again with the bargain basement price and "features."

I should have known better and followed my instinct. Used it for four weeks. Tuned up my multiband antenna perfectly with it today. Turned it off. Left it for three hours. Came back to my antenna project. Nothing. Tried to turn it on and I get one solid bar across the readout, no meter reading, nothing. Battery power OK. Same with external "wall wart" power. Nothing. They probably forgot to solder or connect something.

Just like the artificial ground, the three hundred antenna tuner I'll send it in for "warranty repair." When it comes back I'll shake it to see if any sheet metal screws are lose or something flops around inside. I'll try it and return it if it's DOA inside one year. After a year I'll guess I lucked out if it's working.

I don't know why I didn't buy the Palstar. My defective MFJ junk has historically been replaced with quality equipment. The Palstar antenna tuner that replaced the MFJ bucket-o-bolts is still humming along. I believe the MFJ tuner was torn apart for homebrew parts or just thrown out.

The more complicated (and expensive) your MFJ purchase the more problems you can expect.

Don't fall for MFJ's price point. Yugos were inexpensive too.

Having been a ham since 1962 I am disturbed to see MFJ buying up many manufacturers who took pride in their products.

One thing. I have a twelve dollar MFJ digital cheap clock. It works fine.

KK9H Rating: 2010-10-08
Nifty device Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have seen these for years. We've used them for checking Field Day antennas and for tuning antenna installations at other QTH's so I finally bought one for myself this year at Dayton. I am very glad I did too. I used it to tune a ground mounted 4-BTV with 40 radials that we used for Field Day this year. Adjusting the antenna for all four bands took only about 15 minutes and the antenna worked like a champ. It has been used to check antennas belonging to friends and at home I have used it to adjust the resonant point of my own station antennas. One of which is an inverted "L" that I use on 160-30M. The 258B is used first with the antenna tuner to tune up for the band I plan to operate then the tuner is switched over to the rig and everything is ready to go. The 259B is simple to use and seems to be fairly accurate when compared to other more expensive equipment. I am very pleased with it.
KC8Y Rating: 2010-08-24
neat device Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought/use the original MFJ-259 unit, about 15-yrs ago Use 130-ft dipole fed with 450-ohm ladder line & tuner. I first use the MFJ-259 & tuner to find the lowest SWR at the frequency I'm operating at, then just switch over to my ic-736 xcvr
WZ4ZW Rating: 2010-08-24
Wish I'd bought it sooner. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Before I put in the batteries, I opened mine up and took a look around inside just to be on the safe side. Some of the soldering was a little amateurish, but I didn't notice anything obviously broken, missing, or loose, so I fired it up, and it worked perfectly.

It has already proven to be very useful for fine tuning a couple of antennas I was building. One of the handiest things, though, is using it tune my vertical antenna. I have the MFJ-259 attached to a coax switch before my manual antenna tuner so I can switch over to it and reach a 1:1 match in seconds.

Overall, I'm very happy with it, especially for the price.
KH6DC Rating: 2010-08-15
Great Analyzer Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Well my earlier post was in error. This is my staple for adjusting/troubleshooting antennas and it just died. I checked the startup and it shows 1998 and I remember buying this when it was first released as an upgreade to the MFJ 259.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by KH6DC on 2010-04-12

Bought this way back when since it was released (5+ years ago) and no problems whatsoever. Tested many mobile and base antennas and always found and fixed problematic ones. This is one instrument next to my digital multimeter I can't be without and no one should be without. If it died, I would immediately buy another. Great job MFJ for an excellent tool.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by KH6DC on 2001-06-16

Owned the 259B for over 3 years and it continues to give great service. I've used it from tuning up antennas to finding impedance and finding cable faults. I had a SWR problem with my Radio Works Carolina Windom 40 where the SWR would shoot up to infinity. And using the MFJ 259B and an ohm meter, I was able to find a bad solder joint on the PL259 connector in less than 10 minutes. Great product from MFJ, too bad more of their products can't be this good and reliable.
N5LFH Rating: 2010-06-27
Lasted for 3 hours use Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This isn't something I use very often, so the warranty is long gone. In several freq. settings I get a reading, but as I change the freq. the display goes to 0.000. I thought the knob was spinning on the pot, so when I tried to tighten it, threads stripped. I found out then it was a ratio pot. I might have gotten 3 hours use over the 4 years I've owned it. Seems it's on it's second set of batteries.