| KJ4YZI |
Rating:      |
2015-06-02 | |
| Must consider |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
So far i have had this tuner for over a week, and I LOVE IT! I have heard some hams criticize MFJ products, but i have been a faithful MFJ user for years. This tuner tunes my homemade OCF 80 meter dipole almost instantly. I Have an MFJ-969 deluxe versa tuner that i have used for years, and i couldn't get that roller inductor tuner to match certain bands at a 1:1, but the thing is, this tuner matches it perfectly, using many different algorithyms and inductors, to find the BEST 50ohm 1:1 tune. Bright LED lit cross-needle and built in antenna switch are a big plus. It's truely auto"magic", and it has 20,000 memories, so the more you use it, the more it learns from you. It's called instant recall, so once you have used to tune across the 10 meter band, and you switch to 20m and back to 10m, it knows which values of components to snap in place, almost instant tuning. This is the big brother to the MFJ-939. MFJ stands behind their warranty. So don't take 1 review into consideration on your decision. I have made a video review of this unit on youtube, my channel name is Hamradioconcepts. Here is the link to the video of this unit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7zigBDd83g
73 from KJ4YZI |
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| K4DZQ |
Rating:      |
2015-04-01 | |
| A tuner worth considering. |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| Before I purchase a new piece of equipment, I will consult eham and other sites where equipment is evaluated by hams like me. I see a lot of criticism of MFJ equipment and can see where it might originate from. I bought this tuner to replace a MFJ-962D manual tuner that I been using with PSK-31. This new auto tuner is used exclusively with digital, PSK-31, and it makes life much easier. Does what it is supposed to do and makes my life much easier. Besides mechanical short comings, which some pieces can have, this unit has to be operated according to the OEM. I have never regretted purchasing this tuner. |
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| K8RDG |
Rating:      |
2015-02-08 | |
| Works Great |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I bought the MFJ-993B after using an LDG AT-11MP. I was nervous at first, but this IntelliTuner does what it says. I use a G5RV Jr with 100 watts. The 993B matches 10-80 meters almost instantly. I found that by tuning on several frequencies throughout each band on AM at 15 watts, the 993B stores the match in memory so the next time I'm on the band, all I have to do is key-up momentarily on AM, and almost instantly I'm tuned and ready for SSB QSOs. I too have the low FWD power reading on SSB on the digital display, but the REF power is 0 and the match is 1.0. The analog meter, however, shows 100 watts forward and I'm making contacts with 5/9 reports. On AM and FM, the digital FWD power reading is accurate. I think it has something to do with the nature of SSB. The manual states the frequency display may be off slightly in SSB when un-keyed, and that is normal in SSB mode. READ THE MANUAL CAREFULLY, it really helps. All-in-all, this is a great tuner at 100 watts and less, and meets my needs. |
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| N3VHR |
Rating:     |
2014-05-10 | |
| Have the 993B |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I really like this tuner. I have been using it with a Kenwood TS-480 and an Eagle One vertical antenna. Tunes the Eagle One on all bands from 6 - 80m. The problem I have is the power reading when operating SSB. It shows my power out from 4 to 12 watts while I have my rig set at 100 watts. The forward power and reflected power readings seem to be fine when I tune or just send a CW tone. I did read one other review with this same concern. Is it a common problem with the 993b? Do I have a setting wrong on my tuner? I would give this tuner a 5/5 in a heart beat if it showed my power correctly on SSB. |
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| N7BOO |
Rating:      |
2014-04-14 | |
| Great Remote Tuner |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
First, I want to make it clear that I have no affiliation with MFJ or their products. Having said that, I wanted to comment on the MFJ remote auto tuners like the MFJ-993BRT 300 watt model.
I’ve owned various models of the SCG Auto Tuners for 17 – 18 years, I’ve never had one fail and they have all performed admirably. I have also owned MFJ remote auto tuners like the MFJ-993BRT and they have performed admirably without a single failure.
I've had these tuners mounted on towers and rooftops in all extremes of weather conditions. I've lived in Wisconsin and Arizona where they have been subjected to extreme humidity, extreme subzero cold, snow, ice, and extreme heat in excess of 130 degree on rooftops and towers, never once have any of them failed.
I'm sure that there will always be a few that exhibit problems, but so does any other mass produced product.
I've been a ham for 34 years and I've found that most failures are generally associated with cockpit errors like poor connections and failure to follow installation and operational instructions. Some tend to immediately blame the manufacturer and slam the product as "junk", when in fact, they failed to follow proper installation and operational instructions, tampered with the product, exceeding the power limits of the device, and were not knowledgeable / capable with electronics in the first place.
All I can add is, both the MFJ and SCG remote auto tuners have served me well and I have never experienced a single failure with any of them. |
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| K6DRN |
Rating:  |
2014-04-01 | |
| "might fine junk" |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| MFJ sucks. I bought one of their antenna tuners in December and by February it had failed. I tried to return it to the local Ham Radio Outlet, but I was beyond the refund/exchange period so I had to rely on MFJ warranty service. That meant I had to pack up the unit and ship it at my expense ($26 via UPS), plus a check for $12 for additional "shipping and handling", to get MFJ to service their own virtually brand new device that had failed. MFJ dude calls me today -- a full month after receiving the equipment -- and says they are going to send me a replacement which will arrive probably in a couple of weeks. Gee thanks. This means my HF station will have been down going on two months. I'd advise against buying any MFJ equipment because of its mediocre quality and because of their dismal customer service. Think I'm gonna try LDG. I'm not happy with HRO either. I'm giving my business to the on-line stores. |
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| WA7KGX |
Rating:   |
2013-12-31 | |
| MFJ QC bites again |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
A while ago my 993B stopped working properly in response to the TUNER button on my transceiver. The rig to tuner control cable had seen better days, so I bought a new one.
The new cable did not fix the problem. Today I called MFJ to arrange for them to fix it after my attempts to fix it failed.
I decided to do a continuity check on the new interface cable. One of the four wires showed an open circuit! The Molex pin was not properly crimped.
I pulled the pin and soldered it. Voila! the 993B worked as in olden days.
Needless I am disappointed in MFJ's quality control. I should have repaired the old cable instead of buying a new, defective, one that had not been checked for simple continuity. Fortunately I did not break my 993B trying to fix it.
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Earlier 4-star review posted by WA7KGX on 2010-01-30
It appears that my ICOM 756 PRO understands the 993b better when the tuner is connected to the 756's ANT 1 connector.
I just bought the tuner yesterday so may have more observations later. |
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| W6DTJ |
Rating:     |
2013-12-02 | |
| Can't be automated with newer Yaesu radios |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I just purchased an MFJ-993B tuner for use with my Yaesu FT-DX3000. I needed a tuner with a wider range than the internal tuner in the Yaesu. HRO in Anaheim didn't have the right interface cable in stock. I called MFJ this morning and found out that not only do they not make a cable for the FT-DX3000, they don't plan to in the future.
It's a pain to manually change the mode to CW, turn off the keyer in the radio, reduce the power to 15W, press the tune button on the MFJ and then hold down the key until the tuning completes. The tuner works well with the radio manually allowing me to tune 80M and 30M where the internal tuner wouldn't.
The MFJ-993B seems like a good value but don't make the mistake I did in thinking MFJ would support newer radios. |
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| K4SDW |
Rating:     |
2013-08-27 | |
| Works Good |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have owned the MFJ 993B model for about 2 years now. The only problem I have ever had with it was the light inside the SWR window went out. I had it about 3 months before the light went out. The light inside the digital read out panel works fine. As far as the tuner goes, it does a good job for me. The first few times I used it after purchase, it sounded like the insides were going to fly out of it when it was tuning and if it can't find a match it gets loud when trying to tune. Once it get a match, it remembers the settings and really tunes fast the next time you visit that frequency. Overall I am satisfied with this tuner. |
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| KB2NAT |
Rating:    |
2013-06-23 | |
| Somewhat problematic |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have had this unit for over four years. It has pretty good range of adjustment and I've used if for loops, G5RV's and verticals. I've sent it in twice for work when it didn't. It has had an ongoing problem of slowly becoming less responsive to tuning changes. Ultimately, I have had to use CW tones to get it to tune when it no longer responded to voice. Wen I sent it in the first time, I was told it was outdated programming. The second time it repeated the same problem after a couple of years and then just refused to tune so I sent it in a second time. The unit is now becoming less responsive to voice again and I have started to tune it with CW tones again. Also for the second time, the light for the meter died. If I had it to do over, I would simply use a regular manual tuner. It generally is a good idea, but it seems to be a but fragile. I have been very careful with the unit, but it is, frankly, a bit like a toy.
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Earlier 4-star review posted by KB2NAT on 2005-02-13
This tuner actually came to my house in functioning order. It tunes my G5RV and 500 foot horizontal loop with SWR's better than 1.6:1 on all bands (for which the antennas are designed). The only flaw--and perhaps I'm missing this buried in the instructions--is that when I Xmit the display frequency in the window begans to wander to other bands; i.e., from 18.158 to 13.450?!? I'm looking forward to getting the control cable so that my FT 897 can operate the 993 directly. Bottom line: it does work well! It'd be a 5 without the wandering display. |
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