| N1LF |
Rating:  |
2004-11-21 | |
| Awesome Tuner! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I've owned three auto-tuners and this
one puts them all to shame! I know you're
thinking, "From MFJ? Yeah, right!"
But literally, this unit does what a tuner
should do. I'm running a 270 foot horizontal
loop, fed with a 4:1 balun and coax. The
MFJ-993 matched every frequency I could
try from 160-6 Meters at ratios of
less than 1:1.
Super easy to operate, manual almost not
needed. I found it very well written
and helpful. Great display with lots of data on
what's going on, including L/C values, forward
power, reflected power and ratio.
If your rig will interface, I highly recommend
the cable. I'm using an Icom 746 with the
external tuner cable. I simply hit the "tune"
button, and the rig/tuner do the rest.
Also active on MARS/SHARES, so this thing
matched frequencies literally from 1.8-30mhz,
including 60 meters, 4mhz, 6mhz, 26mhz, etc.
Buy one and you won't be disappointed. MFJ
should build them all this good. |
|
| KD5LNO |
Rating: |
2004-09-17 | |
| Great Product and Service |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I had problems with my first 993 not working properly when connected with the Inerface cable to my IC-718. Contacted MFJ via e-mail and received a quick response that resistor R33 needed to be swapped out. MFJ sent me a replacement unit along with a pre-paid UPS label to return the defective unit to them. New 993 works great, as mentioned in the reviews below. Great Product and Great Customer Service by MFJ. |
|
| KD5SRL |
Rating: |
2004-08-22 | |
| Great Tuner for 300 watts |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I've given the MFJ-933 a few months of work out and found it to work flawless. I will start out to say the operations manual could have been better, however, being my first auto tuner all I had to do is call MFJ and they explained my questions perfectly.
Antenna wise, I run an Alpha Delta, DX-LB Plus on 125 ft of coax. The MFJ-933 tuned all bands and frequencies to <1.5:1 VSWR without any problems. One of the best things I can report is the 2000 memories that are stored automatically saved and the next time I hit that frequency it automatically tuned the frequency... instantly tuned! Bada-Bing!
You can't go wrong with this tuner. In conclusion, a lot of bang for the buck and instant changing of bands after the initial tuning is the big plus for me.
73,
Paul - KD5SRL |
|
| KC4IUP |
Rating: |
2004-07-29 | |
| Great auto tuner! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I purchased this tuner to try it out at this year's Field Day. I used it with a Yaesu FT-897 on a G5RV antenna where the FT-30 auto tuner would not match the antenna in several places. (See my write-up of the Yaesu FT-897 and FC-30 auto tuner under the FT-897 review section.) The MFJ-993 tuned the G5RV from end to end on each band from 80m to 10m. Tuning was extremely fast (about 1 sec) with very low SWRs (1:1 to 1.5:1). The dual meters and LCD were very handy in showing forward and reflected power, SWR, and operating frequency. In fact the LCD showed most everything you need to diagnose common antenna problems. Tuning required setting the radio to 10 watts output on say FM or CW, pushing the PTT, and pushing the tune button on the tuner. When MFJ introduces their control cable for Yaesu radios, the procedure will be completely automatic like it is with the FC-30.
I highly recommend the MFJ-993 auto tuner! |
|
| G4AON |
Rating: |
2004-07-07 | |
| Quality control may be suspect |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
My first 993 was defective on opening the box, failed the self test and wouldn't store any settings. The dealer couldn't fix it and sent it back to MFJ in the USA. The second unit finally arrived and works as specified. Even with a low power transceiver (5 to 10 Watts), it auto tunes to a previously known frequency in "one click" of the relays -a process taking around one second. It's not quick enough to work in one "dash" of a keyer unless the keying speed is very slow.
Without an interface lead tuning with a Kenwood TS570 is tedious, with one it should work from the "AT TUNE" button. There is a "promise" of a Kenwood lead in the manual but no sign of one on the MFJ web site yet.
I'm not sure of what rating to give something that arrived faulty, couldn't be fixed away from the factory, and doesn't yet have the accessory lead needed for a Kenwood (or Yaesu) transceiver.
It certainly is "smarter" than non memory auto ATUs and is easier to use than a quick read of the manual may suggest. It deserves better than "OK" as it does tune with the minimum of fuss, I'll keep my fingers crossed that this one keeps working. |
|
| W3DCG |
Rating: |
2004-06-25 | |
| Good Deal! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Mine was backordered. But it came in under 3 weeks.
What everyone up to this point has said has held true for me.
You get L and C values displayed.
The thing tuned 75 foot of coax with a DIRECT SHORT at the far end, 100W CW, sustained no damage, on 40, 80, 30, and 20.
It sure did. I made a QSO that way, I forget what band. My signal report was so very poor though, I decided I'd better check it out.
993 still works perfectly.
Since then and before then, it tunes/tuned a 40m Carolina Windom w/100' run of RG8x, an 80m VK3KCG "Australian made" OCF dipole, a semi home brew trapped inverted L 10-160, and an end fed Zepp 100' long, fed with 64.5 feet of 300ohm window-line.
I haven't tried tuning the End Fed Zepp on 160m yet, but probably will do it, QRP, to start.
It speaks to you in CW, and on the LCD display.
It has told me OUCH! Reduce Power, after it switched itself to BiPass to avoid damage, and then proceeded to send Q R P in Morse, albeit, abit to slow for my taste, but it is there.
For the price, it is unbeatable.
The Power Rating means what it says. I believe it would be difficult to damage this tuner with most rigs, not counting the few 200W capable radios that are out there.
Will do an update if it fails, or in a year or two if it does not. |
|
| LA1SJA |
Rating: |
2004-06-05 | |
| Simply excellent. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
This is the best autotuner I have experienced so far. I have only had it for a few weeks, but the early signs of excellence are visible right out of the box.
The MFJ-993 simply does what it claims to be able to. I started by testing it on a multiband double Zepp. The first time I applied RF to it on 7 MHz it spent some 10 to 20 seconds walking through all its relays to understand what sort of antenna it had been exsposed to. After that it used less than a second to find a very good match the first time on all the other bands. Even on 160m. From then on, a single dash on CW is all it needs to detect what band you are on and to find the match. Finally someone has added all the needed intelligence into a tuner control circuit.
(The only improvement I can think of, if any, would be to have a less cluttered front with less white text.) |
|
| DAN_TAYLOR_EX_N9GT |
Rating: |
2004-05-29 | |
| Nice so far! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I decided it was time to replace my trusty old Dentron Super Tuner, as even though it was a great tuner, it was a pain to manually tune the thing each time I changed bands. I bought the 993 on sale for $199 from R&L at the Dayton Hamvention. I was never a huge fan of MFJ products, but after reading some reviews, I thought I would give it a try. I wanted something that would interface with my Icom 706 and this one fit the bill. I also bought the Icom interface cable so I could make use of the radio's tune button. Not knowing any better at the time, I also purchased the 12 volt power supply, but found out it was not needed as the tuner draws its' power directly from the 706 through the interface cable...nice feature!
The tuner itself seems to be constructed well. It allows the use of 2 antennas, which can be selected from the front panel by pushing a button, so if you're using for an example a dipole and a vertical, it's quick to change from one to the other. The front features a cross-needle meter a LCD display. The display can be configured through a menu to show various information and is easily configured by simply selecting what items you would like for it to show. Right now, I only have a 20 meter dipole that I am using the tuner with. By pushing the Icom's tune button, the tuner goes to work looking for the best combination and quickly (less than 10 seconds in my case)shows a 1:1 match. I can get it to tune on almost any band, but I know I need something better for 80 and 40 meters. Once a frequency is stored in memory, re-tuning is almost instantaneous...you hardly realize the tuner is working. I like the fact the display shows me the frequency as well as forward and reflected power..all great features. It's almost like this tuner was built to go with my 706. I plan on putting up an all-band dipole before long and am anxious to see how well it will do, but I don't anticipate any problems.
I plan on using it on field day with different combinations of radios and antennas which I feel will be a true test. Overall, I am very happy with it and as with all new products, time will be the true test. |
|
| AK3B |
Rating: |
2004-04-06 | |
| Very Happy with Tuner! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have been shopping around for a tuner for a few months prior to purchasing the 993. I have a Yaesu FT-920 & an Alpha Delta DX-EE. I purchased the MFJ 993 for $219.00 at the Baltimore Amateur Radio Club's Hamfest in Timonium, Maryland a few weeks ago.
I had been having trouble getting the 920 to tune to 40m & 17m & was looking for an external tuner that would do the job & found it - in addition to 80m! Of course there was some fine tuning to work through. When I connected the tuner it was unable to tune the 40 & 17m bands. I put this problem to another ham who thought that maybe the tuner couldn't tell which wire to tune on the antenna. So, he told me to try to disconnect the 15m & 10m wires from the center of the antenna. I pulled the four wires from the center and gave it a shot. After the relays finished clicking the tuner was working perfectly, tuning 40, 17 & 80 in addition to the other bands I work: 10, 15, & 20. My highest reflective is .5 across the bands. I am extraordinarily pleased with this tuner and found what I have been looking for. I have removed the 15m & 10m wires from the DX-EE, which helps reduce wind load, and makes for a less obvious "clothes line", as my neighbor says, on my roof. I recommend the 993 to anyone in the market for a new tuner. Thanks to KB3ILA for the helping me work out the bugs. 73 to all!
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|
| W3BUG |
Rating: |
2004-03-30 | |
| Hit the Nail on the Head !!! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Picked up the 993 new from MFJ at our hamfest. WOW . . . . . what a great tuner. I have had problems with my LDG tuner even after the rom upgrade with my FT-897. Not so with the 993. The tuner latches so fast that I have to look to see if it tuned. The LDG would sit a clackity clack for about 10 seconds. Two thunks on the 993 and it's tuned. Gotta say that MFJ has a real winner with this tuner. |
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