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Reviews For: MFJ-945-E

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : MFJ-945-E
Reviews: 68MSRP: 109.95
Description:
160 through 6 M 300 watt metered compact mobile antenna tuner
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/products.php?prodid=MFJ-945E
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
12683.3
YT9TP Rating: 2020-07-04
Usable little device Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I got MFJ-945E second handed. It was in OK condition and still is as I do not use it much, but always have it in my portable bag.

Knobs were not properly aligned with variable condensers but that was easy fix.

As use dipoles and verticals that are tuned, I use it mostly in pass through mode - as SWR meter.

However, one I tried to tune 40 meters dipole to 80m and it did the job. It was not excellent tune but was just enough so that I can go TX.

It seems bit hard to tune with it. I also have MFJ-901B and it seems easier to tune with same antennas. Mentioned tune to 80m I achieved using antenna analyzer. With rig only I was unable to set it right.

I also hear rattling when shake it. Oppened it and could not find source. Inside seemed tidy.

I did not see issue with touching buttons to change tune. Measuring using antenna analyzer would show it instantly, bit I did not notice it.

In one occasion I did have issue that touching tuner changed SWR, but it also happened when touching anything else metallic. I resoloved it using choke at the antenna cable so it was not issue with this tuner.

Compared to MFJ-901B it seems harder to set tune and it does not have connectors for long wire. But it does have cross needle instrument, showing both power and SWR at the same time, which the reason I keep it with me.
WB7VTY Rating: 2020-05-25
Good tuner but doesnt like to be touched Time Owned: more than 12 months.
If it werent for one very big problem, I would give this tuner a very good review. It doesnt like to be touched. As my hands approach the knobs the SWR changes. Touching the capacitor knobs detune the circuit and will cause an indication of zero reflected power to go full scale on the low power range and nearly half scale on the high power range. Takes a lot of futzing to get it tuned. It tunes my antennas well, the meters are reasonably accurate (when not being touched ha ha), and it has a nice set of features with the lamp switch and bypass switch. If it didnt react to touch, it would be a keeper. Im sure you can make arguments about grounds and environment and those are probably all valid. My ground is probably just average and my tuner is grounded through about 10 feet of cable. Also, I am looking out my window at one end of my inverted vee dipole about 10 feet away and 5 feet off the ground so there is probably plenty of RF in here. No choice, thats what fits on my lot. The point is that I have a few other tuners and none of them react this way. I have replaced it with a MFJ-904H and it works fine. Is it the floating capacitors and plastic cabinet end panels? Who knows. Im not going to try to figure it out. Looking inside the cabinet shows the workmanship to be decent which is always a challenge for MFJ. There is plenty of room in the cabinet to move the capacitors back away from the front panel and use insulated shaft extensions. If you really want this tuner, that would probably fix the issue but it would be a project. Any questions feel free to shoot me an email. wb7vty@gmail.com. 73, Joe Korpela WB7VTY
AB9PM Rating: 2019-04-20
MFJ surprise! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Cons: Tuner controls affected swr as indicated on the rig, but meter pegged full scale indicating high swr on every antenna regardless of actual swr.

Useless..... Returned .....

owned less than 24 hours...

Pros: Fed Ex was a day early on my receiving the tuner!
KG7OR Rating: 2018-05-08
Does the job, but flimsy construction Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I rate the MFJ-945E at three and a half stars, which this system shows as four. It's four-star in performance, but only two or three in physical quality. I had one in my pickup 20 years ago, so I bought another one to use portable with my new Yaesu FT-891. The old tuner worked fine, equal to the larger MFJ-949E, so I expected the same thing this time. I wasn't disappointed; the '945E does everything that you'd expect from a tuner in its class (small, mobile/portable, low to medium power, manual adjust).

But it has the frequent "Mighty Fine Junk" problem: cheap materials and sloppy construction. The case consists of four sections held together by small machine screws, one of which was flopping around loose in the plastic bag. After reinstalling that and tightening the other hardware, the four pieces still don't fit together well, and there's no fix.

Despite that, the '945E does what it's supposed to do; it's just cheaply made. If you don't mind manual tuning and don't plan to knock it around a lot, it's probably okay for the price.
AA4WA Rating: 2018-01-08
Works good Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After reading some of the past reviews, I was a little concern with the QA of the product, but after opening it up and checking everything out before I put it on the air, the insides looked good. Because the caps are floating above rf ground, I thought I might have to put insulated shaft couplers between the caps and the knobs, but after taking the knobs off, I see they use teflon shafts so I did not experience hand capacitance effect as has been stated on earlier reviews. I think the tuner is going to be just fine.
AE7YD Rating: 2017-10-04
works! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I received it today and did hear a rattling noise inside. Open it but couldn't find where it is coming from.
Construction is surprisingly well done.
Put it back together and tried.
First impression is that I don't hear a large increase in noise level while turning the caps and inductor
(compared to my Zm2 and 4SQRP tuners). However, I was able to tune my random wire and
counterpoise through an home made 9:1 balun to a 1 to 1 SWR on 40 and 20m.
Works very well, it is not too big and it is a keeper.
AA4AJ Rating: 2017-07-30
Works Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
No issues. Works just as it should.
WC2F Rating: 2016-07-02
Just got this tuner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Well, just got this tuner used, so far so good.. its doing what is supposed to be doing. I only needed for 30m and 15m where the internal tuner of the radio can not tune the dipole antenna, but very handy mfj tuner.
N4UE Rating: 2016-06-04
Internal issues Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The reason for the 4 instead of a lower rating is because I've had this tuner for 15 years and just now found issues with it. It has been in storage and not abused.
I have other, larger MFJ tuners in the shack. I bought this one to use in my RV. It worked well, but I never used it extensively. I recently put up a 40-6M OCF dipole out at the farm.
After I got the antenna up, I 'tuned' it with my Comet CAA500mk2. I noticed some scraping noises on the 'Transmitter' cap rotation, with the SWR going nuts.
When I got home I disassembled it and the problem was the cap's rotor was touching the stator at one point. Looking closely, the reason was that the buss wires from both caps were too short. The wire was pulled to just touch the cap then soldered. If the wire was 1/4" longer and the end was formed into a loop to go over the cap's terminal, it would have been fine.
This would NOT have increased the length of the wire from the cap to the other end. There was so much tension on the wire, it distorted the cap.
One last comment on the caps. The spacing on the caps is SO small it's probably going to arc over at a lot less than 300 watts. Also, due to the small gap, it will try your patience trying to get the spacing so it won't short.

ron
N4UE
IK1WGZ Rating: 2016-03-26
Great! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Do what it claims on ad and more, works flawlessly, no issues at all.