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Reviews For: MFJ-989C

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : MFJ-989C
Reviews: 144MSRP: 360
Description:
Handles 1500 watts PEP SSB output power
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/products.php?prodid=MFJ-989C
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001442.7
W4JLE Rating: 2011-03-06
Great tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have used mine for over 10 years to tune a G5RV on both MARS and Amateur frequencies. I run an Icom 746 Pro to a Henry 2KD and the only thing I have done in 10 years is to lubricate the bearings of the inductor and caps.
Most people that write negative reviews have no clue how to use the equipment and are sure it is the equipment rather than their own ignorance.
KA9GIX Rating: 2011-03-02
Retired my 989C today Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I retired my MFJ 989C tuner today. The tuner works fine, no arcing, sparking, or smoke, I just decided to make my own servo controlled tuner to load up the tower using a folded unipole configuration. Anyhoo my tuner has worked like a champ for several years without any problems. To date I have been a ham for 30 years, and in Broadcasting for 20. The tuner is about 10 years old and has worked flawlessly, the only thing I have replaced is the belt for the turns counter. In short I got more than my moneys worth out of the tuner, it has been dependable all this time.
KA4ETV Rating: 2011-02-26
Absolute piece of crap Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This piece of crap went down the first week I had it. Of course HRO was of no help. Sent it back to the factory at my expense. Came back without being fixed.

So overall just save your money and the frustration. MFJ products are crap. Plain and simple.
K2JX Rating: 2011-02-06
Never Arc'ed Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I ran a KW thru my '989C many times without a problem. After several years of use the roller became stiff and developed a squeak. I pulled the cover and found copper filings below the roller.

I applied a liberal amount of Caig DeOxit 5 to the roller and the pick-up spring and exercised the roller from top to end of the travel. Then I wiped off the excess DeOxit with a clean rag.

The roller at this point was clean and easy to turn. Then I applied a Caig Preserve it 5 to the roller assembly. In addition I lubricated the end bushings with light oil. Big difference in tuning and adjustment much better than new.

I gave the same "treament" to both the input and output capacitors which were also a bit tight due to lack of lubrication. Oh, and don't forget to spray clean and protect the band switch. Don't use cheap electronic spray cleaners, use Caig available from Antique Radio Supply online. Yes it's pricey but worth every penny. It really works as advertised.

For the money my 989C has worked great, no it's not a Pal Star I knew that when I bought it. It was price point decision in my case. If you follow my lead cleaning and lubricating your 989C or any tuner you'll see how smooth it can be.

73 de K2JX
KI6KJS Rating: 2011-01-31
Excellent Tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I get tired of people knocking good compinies and good equipment. My MFJ-989c is and exclent tuner. It has had some minor problems such as a bound up capacitor that a little alcohol and light oil fixed. My dial belt broke and that was no problem to replace. Remove the front knob, remove the wire to the capacator and four screws that hold the coil in place and install new O-ring belt. Both the top and bottom covers must be removed to do the belt replacement. MFJ is a good company providing a good service for us hams and I for one appreciate them. 73
WB2IVU Rating: 2010-12-21
Works for me Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My only issue is the belt that runs the counter has failed. A quick look inside, seemingly indicated one would need to disassemble the front panel to replace this drive belt. Is there an easier way, I am not seeing?? If so, your help would be very welcome. Please Email me at: cmerlau at cox dot net
K0WJ Rating: 2010-08-27
Junk Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought this tuner new in Dayton and as long as I ran 100 watts to it, it worked just fine. Enter the SB-220 amplifier. Originally the tuner was advertised as able to handle 3000 watts INPUT. Now anyone reading that has to think, "3000 watts, hmmm...pretty beefy." Right? MFJ actually meant 3000 watts of input power for your final amplifier which, at the common 50% efficiency rating, yielded about 1500 watts output. Now that's downright underhanded advertising. But...come to find out, the tuner won't even handle 1000 watts. The stupid spring in the wheel on the roller inductor heats up, loses the ability to tension the wheel against the inductor and the tuner fails. I did go to the hardware store and bought a beefier spring which fixed the tensioning problem, but as you might guess, it's a little hard to turn the knob now.

Hey MFJ, you could probably sell a lot of these to the new Ham community by advertising its ability to handle 1500 watts as long as you don't include the duty cycle of 1%. Oh wait.....you're already doing that.....never mind.

Do yourself a favor, if you're serious about an antenna tuner, buy a PalStar.
AL4U Rating: 2010-05-23
noisy roller inductor Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Bought this tuner several years ago and never got it to work. I normally pre-tune using a MFJ-259 to reduce on air emissions and stress on my xmitters and amp and this is a method that works great with my MN7 and MN4 tuners but does not work at all with the 989C. I suspect it is due to high resistance between the roller and inductor at micro-power levels. High power seems to clean up the contact, but there are no frequency/band markings to get in the ballpark prior to applying power. Someday I might try some sort of contact grease and see if it improves things. Highly recommend you spend your money elsewhere
K7NNG Rating: 2010-05-20
Not bad Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned four(4) of them and haven't experienced the problems.
When I purchas MFJ equipment, I usually open it up and check for problems and defects.
My tuners have worked just fine.
K8RI Rating: 2010-05-12
Reasonable for the Price, I've used 2 for many years now. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've used one of my 989C's almost since they came out and the other I picked up in a trade some years back.

They have worked well on 160, 75 and 40 (I don't need them on the other bands)...Very well for the price. Yes, there are areas such as using them into very low impedances and too far from the resonant point on coax fed, 160 meter dipoles and half slopers where they arced, but that is with an Alpha 76A running at tilt. Every tuner I've had came with cautions about low impedance antennas. Even a much larger, rated for higher power tuner I use has charts that derate it under these conditions.

It's now time to clean the roller inductors after this many years and thousands of hours of operation as they are starting to develop noisy spots. I some times wonder if some problems come from users banging the roller inductor into the stops. They are well built for the price, and perform as expected. These two tuners are, let's face it, OLD and well used. How the current equipments stacks up to them, I don't know.

As another reviewer mentioned for the initial tune up, use a antenna analyzer and create a chart. I have mine set up so I can switch the analyzer in, tune for R=52, X=0, and then switch to the amp which was tuned into a dummy load. I do not have to retune the amp once on-the-air. Create a chart with the initial settings for each band as a reference. It speeds the band changing and if the settings change you know something has changed in the system. However these settings will change slightly with each move. Never use high power, or much power when matching the antenna. There are many ways to kill even much larger tuners. These two were well worth the money and have served me well.