| KC5NYO |
Rating:  |
2001-09-07 | |
| First Impression Not So Good |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Unpacked and got it set up. Turned the antenna selector switch, heard a pop, now there's no pressure on the selector switch anymore. Something broke off of it inside. Opened it up to see, and one of the little bearings rolled out that is mentioned in another post. Geez, $320 bucks and it's falling apart the first day! Still operational, and tunes okay, but what a cheapy feel to it. Will be running some power through it in a few days when I get the amp set up. Hopefully it can handle the 800 watts or so? |
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| KQ6YV |
Rating: |
2001-08-20 | |
| best deal for the money |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| You get what you pay for. Looks cheap, feels cheap, but does seem to work ok. Had lots of loose hardware and alignment problems, but simple mechanics took care of it. I've put no more than 250 watts to it, so I can't vouch for it's power handling capabilties. On a lightweight budgit like mine, it was the best deal for the money. However next time, I'll save a little longer and buy something better. |
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| KM5LO |
Rating: |
2001-07-12 | |
| 2 years with no problems |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I bought a used 989C about 2 years ago from Texas Towers, the price was good (about $200)and it works great! I take it along for Submarines On the Air, and Museum Ships on the Air, as well as other special events, and contests. Like the last entry, I rolled the Inductor too far, it made a loud thump, 10 minutes later I was back up and running.
I use a IC-746, it has a internal tuner, but I have a amplifier in line so I use the manual tuner. I haven't had a lot of experience with other manual tuners, but I am happy with the one I have! |
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| KE4MOB |
Rating: |
2001-07-12 | |
| Good..if you get the right one! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I personally have owned this unit for 6 years. Have had one problem, and it was my own fault...I spun the roller inductor waay too hard tuning 160 meters and run the wheel on the inductor off the end. Will tune almost anything, with reliable repeatability. Have used it on RTTY at about 400 watts (tuning 20 M on a 160 dipole) with no problems whatsoever.
My elmer has one that is not as good. On mine the roller inductor is on a solid form and rotates a brass wheel that moves up and down an axle, which is external to the inductor. It gives a nice, heavy flywheel effect. On his, the inductor is airwound with a small arm rotating inside the coil-giving a light, cheap feeling. Externally, the only difference is mine has a silver rear panel, his has a black rear panel.
And yes, sometimes the counter goes out of adjustment...this is remedied by sticking a pencil (or unbent paperclip) through the hole beside the counter, running the inductor to the stop and pressing--like the manual says. Perhaps getting a smaller O-ring for a drive belt would solve the slippage problem--or maybe some belt-dressing compound to make the pulleys "stickier".
Anyway, I can't complain...it's one of the three things I make sure I take when I go portable (along with the HF and PS of course)!
KE4MOB |
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| KH6DC |
Rating: |
2001-06-05 | |
| Expensive But Cheaply Built |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Owned the 989C for several years and it has provided excellent service. It tuned up verticals, dipoles, slopers, beams and delta loops without a hitch. However, the whole unit is built cheaply like some kid's toy I got from McDonalds Happy Meal. There was some loose screws inside rattling around the bottom of the case that I had to install myself (MFJ should have sold it as a kit). The roller inductor wobbles when tuning up and the dials for the capacitor and inductance spun around without tuning up until I tightened the set screws. All in all, it works great and haven't experienced any fires like I've been hearing and reading about. It's NOT worth the 300 bucks or so and it should be repriced at $10.00 to include my labor (at $150 per hour) charges for finishing the installation process. The watt meter is also off by about 50 watts so I wonder if the SWR is also off.
Anyone reading this, save your $350 and buy a Palstar AT1500C. I'm selling the 989C and picked up a Palstar. I played with a firend's tuner and it is precision built. No loose screws or wobbly inductor dials. MFJ - acronym for Mighty Fine Junk as my old ham buddies would say. The FCC should shut them down as a good faith to all hams. |
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| N7XOXG |
Rating:  |
2001-05-15 | |
| roller inductor |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| The roller inductor in the units is poor, the bearings on this one fell out on the floor of the tuner with short use. They probably need to use a caged bearing or some such. Also the winding was loose and sloppy. I would not buy other mfj products unless I get them for almost nothing used. |
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| W6EZ |
Rating: |
2001-05-01 | |
| ahhh, I hate to be impolite, but... |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
A few years back, I bought a whole new HF station, including on of these "biggest and best" MFJ antenna tuners. The very first thing I had to do when I took it out of the box was fix the band switch, as it wasn't making contact in all the positions like it should. There was no out put on either of the tuned coax positions. Once that was fixed, I proceeded to try the built in dummy load and made a contact on 20 meters, 1000 miles away! Hmmmmm.
My primary antenna was a dipole cut for 40 meters, fed with ladder line. I WAS able to get a match on all bands, including 160, but it was VERY peaky and nearly arcing at 0nly 100 watts. True, trying to load that antenna on 160 was just asking for trouble, but it did load, and I made a few contacts.
Another ham friend of mine, bought the same model tuner used it for less than 10 hours total and while trying to load a ladder line fed dipole cut for 80 meters, ON 80 METERS, with only 100 watts, noticed that the radio was going nuts, the lights were blinking on and off, and the telephone was squealing. We traced the problem down to the internal balun being fried. An external ( not MFJ ) balun fixed the problem .
I sold my MFJ to another ham, and in all fairness, he has had no problems with it. ( I fixed the switch, so what was left.. )
Years ago, I read an article about using ladder line and wire to work all bands on one antenna and the guy who wrote the article said to use a big tuner. I bought a big one, and it did work for me. I NEVER tried an amplifier with this tuner, so I have NO comments there.
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| K2VI |
Rating: |
2001-03-04 | |
| worse than dog crap! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| for 330.00 I paid for this piece of sh!# mfj should go out of business and do the hams in the US a giant favor.i trashed it in 6 months after it burnt up my 756. |
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| KB5HAV |
Rating: |
2001-02-18 | |
| It Does What I Need |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Well, after reading many of the reviews of this model tuner, I was reluctant to get one. I thought about one of the Ten-Tec's, but when I saw they changed the design, well, I re-thought things.
I've had mine now for since the middle of January 2001. So far, it has performed extremely well. I haven't incountered any arcing, the knobs are good and tight, unlike other reviews, the roller inductor is good and smooth, no jumping or crazy stuff, also unlike the other reviews.
It's a snap to tune. My radio is a Kenwood TS-440S. I use it for my Hy-Gain TH6-DXX, 6 element tri-bander, 75 and 40 meter dipoles, and a Butternut HF-6V. I also run an Ameritron AL-82 into it. This is a dual 3-500Z amp which will easily do 1500+ watts.
I'm using flexable 9913 on everything. I use #8 solid copper wire for my grounding of the station equipment, all tied to an 8 foot copper clad ground rod. I will soon be installing a grounding grid.
My guess is, MFJ has redesigned the tuner. It sure looks different than the pictures I've seen. Also, if one tunes up with about 10 watts drive first, then jump up to 100 watts for a final setting, load the amp into an oil filled dummy load, then the all is happy when you let it all out through the tuner.
In a few months I'll come back with an update. So far, this owner is happy!!!
Best Regards,
Bobby
KB5HAV
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| WB9OFG |
Rating: |
2001-01-19 | |
| Works for Me |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I got mine from a friend who had discovered the "joy" of SCG Autotuners..All the nuts inside were loose. Lock-tight fixed that trouble. I don't like the cheesy turns counter, but that is the ONLY trouble I've had with it. The meter seems OK, but I'm glad for the advise on the spur gizmo that seems to increase the mismatch on the dummy the higher you go. I don't use the internal dummy anyway. I only run about 150-200 watts through it, but since some of that is AM, I don't think a 300-watt tuna would stand up to the 700W peaks. All-in-all, I'm happy with it, but I'm a tinkerer, not a toaster jockey, so repairs don't scare me. |
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