Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: MFJ-989D 3kW Roller Inductor Antenna Tuner

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : MFJ-989D 3kW Roller Inductor Antenna Tuner
Reviews: 75MSRP: 359.95
Description:
Updated version of the MFJ-989C Roller Inductor Antenna Tuner.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00753.4
W9PMZ Rating: 2007-02-09
Nice Antenna Tuner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Unpacked the tuner, one of the styrofoam spacers has broke. Probably occured during shipping and the spacers could be made of better material.

Otherwise the tuner was in very nice shape. Very nice paint job and the lexan front panel is also attractive.

Installed a battery, this is my only complaint, for this tuner you need to take the tuner apart to install the batteries the screws were really hunkered down (from the factory). My philips sliped off of one and deformed the soft screw metal.

I've had a MN-2000, MFJ-989C, ATR-30 and now the MFJ-989D. The variable capacitors inside look up to the job and the inductor, it seems an improvement over the ATR-30 and the MFJ-989C. The ATR-30 would clunk and the MFJ-989C sounded like grinding coffee while adjusting the inductor. Since most of the power in a T match is disappated in the inductor, the tuner is vented above and below as well as the inductor being air wound (not on a form). The inductor on the MFJ-989D adjusted very smoothly and I think that the crank as opposed to the big knob on the 989C is a definte improvement.

Installed the tuner and tested it. I had no problems in adjusting for a match on all bands based on the initial setting listed in the manual.

There seem to be no "mighty find junk" issues with the unit I received. In reviews of MFJ stuff it always seems that either you hate it or you really like it, go figure......

With regards to tuning, I got to wonder at all of the people who write reviews on how the MFJ antenna tuners spark and arc because they are "mighty fine junk". So they go out and buy an antenna tuner at twice the price, they also has the same cautions and warnings on matching under specific conditions. I suppose that when those antenna tuners spark and arc they go back to the manual and read it.....

I like this tuner and would reccomend it to anyone looking to purchase a legal limit antenna tuner.
K2TV Rating: 2006-09-30
Good inexpensive tuner Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought one when they first came out on the market with this model. After reading the complaints about the previous versions of this tuner, I was completely surprised. For the money, I would say that it is a decent tuner. The construction and wiring on my unit was good and the only problem that I experienced was a defective roller inductor tuning knob which MFJ replaced as soon as I called them. I usually use the tuner with a center fed 120 foot flat top antenna fed with 450 ohm open wire line and it tunes easily with no problem on all bands. I tie the the ladder line feeder together and use the antenna on 160 and the tuner tunes it with no problem. Likewise using it with my tri-band yagi it tunes properly. There is no binding when tuning the roller inductor. It easily handles the 800 watts output that I run when using my amplifier.
I have repaired several MFJ roller inductor tuners in the past for friends and was never impressed with the construction, but the MFJ-989D is really an improvement. If not abused and used properly it is an excellent tuner for the money.
KF9MA Rating: 2006-09-24
Good tuner for the dollar. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought this MFJ 989D new replacing my old 989B. The quality of construction doesn't come close to my old 989B. I bought it for the new peak reading meter. I had an issue with the hard turning crank on the inductor and MFJ offered to replace it. I returned the tuner and MFJ sent me back another. This time the gears on the crank were reversed, little one on the counter and big on on the inductor, unlike the original 989D that were reversed.
The new one worked like a charm and I am very happy with the tuning.
The only other issue I had was like the one mentioned in the above review. Last night I heard a "pop", at first I thought it came from my amp, but the light blinked on the tuner. I took to 989D apart to see if I had any arcing marks inside and I found the battery parts all over the inside.
MFJ needs to look into this problem!
For the money, I would have given this tuner a 5, but considering the issues a 4 is the best I can do.
Would I recommend it? Like I said, for the money and power handling capacity, I certainly would.
And MFJ responds quickly to every issue.
KO0I Rating: 2006-05-30
terrible Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Installed new battery, didn't work, recheck battery ok....used an outboard power source, tuner woked about an 1/2 hour than quit all together.This is my last MFJ product, enough is enough, its going back to the store where I bought it from, period
W3XAF Rating: 2006-05-27
Problems With The MFJ-989D Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased an MFJ-989D Tuner in March 2006.

It worked fine for about two weeks and then it stopped working on all bands.

I removed the tuner cover and found that the 9-volt battery installed in the battery clip had exploded and the individual battery cells were lying across both capacitors and the inductor thus shorting out these components.

I immediately removed all the individual battery cells from my tuner, cleaned up all the battery residue, cut the two battery leads at their source and reinstalled the tuner cover.

My MFJ-989D has not given me any trouble since.

The 9-volt battery is used to provide a source of DC to power the wattmeter and wattmeter lamp. This battery is not necessary if you purchase the MFJ-1312B Power Supply for the wattmeter lamp.

I telephoned MFJ Technical Support and informed them of the problem. The technician on the telephone told me that he had “never heard of this problem before.” I notified the technician that I was going to report this problem to both OSHA and the Federal Trade Commission because this problem was a safety hazard and then I ended my call.

A few days later, I received a telephone call from the MFJ Chief Engineer informing me that “it was true that this problem had occurred in the past.” I recommended that MFJ remove the battery clip from the tuner and just instruct all users to buy the MFJ-1312B Power Supply and delete all references to the battery in the owner’s manual.

If you own an MFJ-989D Tuner, I recommend not using the 9-volt battery to power the wattmeter anr the wattmeter lamp. Buy the MFJ-1312B 9-Volt Power Supply and save yourselves the possibility of an explosion in your tuner.

N4MWY Rating: 2006-04-17
not a great tuner Time Owned: N.A.
I recently bought a Palstar AT5K for $1,195.00 because of the limited abilities of the MFJ 989 D. The Palstar is great, it is built better and has a greater matching ability.

I would not particularly reccomend the MFJ 989 D unless a ham was on a severe budget and needed a cheap legal limit tuner that runs balanced lines and coaxial cable. MFJ just got through with an overhaul of the 989C. They could have improved it more. Maybe they can do better on the 989E.

I will probabally keep the 989D as a back up tuner and for use on field day, etc.
W4VD Rating: 2006-04-17
Still Junk after 5 months at factory Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I ended up sending this one back when one day the meters pegged and stayed that way while tuning up.

It was gone over 5 months,

It works now but I cannot use the PEP position, works ok on average power but on PEP the reflected power goes full scale and stays there, the forward reads correctly. I will admit they did send me a new meter and meter board at no cost, the only things it could be, so I could fix it and not have to send it back. One of these days I will replace them one by one and see what the culprit is.

I noticed the ads in QST went from the "New 989D" to the "New and Improved 989D with no increase in price" Anyone know what they did? Use some lock washers? They should offer to retrofit all the old ones.

There is not a lot good to say about this unit, about all I can say positive about it is that it doesn't have any problem handling the power, I have ran just at legal limit into it on 75 for long periods and the case doesn't even get warm. I have had it back a fairly good time, perhaps 2 months, and it has held up OK, but I try to tune as little as possible, if I am running barefoot I will put the windom on the direct position bypassing the 989 and use the auto tuner in the rig to avoid tuning the 989, maybe I can extend the time better that cheap roller inductor gives trouble

I doubt I will ever buy anything else made by them.

----------------------
Earlier 0-star review posted by W4VD on 2005-07-26

Now I see where the Mighty Fine Junk name comes from, this is not a good investment and you would be a lot better off to buy an older well built unit than one of these "Made by Mattel" things.
Well the cheap feeling inductor was the first to quit, fixed that and now the tuning caps are coming apart, unless you have one of their little 811 amps with cheap tubes, you would be living dangerously to put a high dollar transmitting tube on this one, it will jump from 1 to 1 to the sky and all you gotta do is wiggle the antenna cap and it will drop back, but I didn't buy a tuner to operate like that,

This has to be the worst piece of new gear I have ever owned, DO NOT BUY you will regret it.

Just as soon as I can get it repaired there will be one on the market to sell FAST,

Thank the Lord I did't sell my Dentron Super Tuner, now THAT'S a tuner. Over 30 years old, and this will be the 3rd 2X 3-500Z amp I have ran on it, built like a tank.

Hope I didn't offend any MFJ fans, but the truth is the truth and this is a cheap piece of grear and at 300 bucks, I bet that they are making 200 profit!
----------------------
Earlier 4-star review posted by W4VD on 2005-05-01

I just got one of the new 989D models a couple of weeks ago and put it thru it's paces on all bands except 160. I hear there are a few changes from the "C", the layout of some components, and maybe the caps are a little heavier. The caps do not look cheap at all, they look pretty heavy duty, the roller inductor could have been a little larger, you can pretty much plan on opening it up and adjusting the shaft to get it as smooth as you can, mine was very tight, and the tuner did want to jump off the table when you turned it till the shaft was adjusted.

I've put 1200 watts CW into it and the case doesn't even get warm, much less arc. It doesn't have that 600 dollar feel on the roller inductor, but it was only 299 shipped. It does work great with my windom on 80-10 including 60 meters and WARC, I like being able to drop the wattmeter and the antenna switch and their cables and connectors with their losses and potential for causing problems in the future out of the picture, I like being able to switch my tri-bander thru the tuner in the few places it goes above 2 to 1, The wattmetter is fairly accurate, and the SWR seems to be very accurate. Also having a 300 watt dummy load is very nice too. A lot of features in one box and at a low price

If the rollor inductor was a little heavier, I would have given it a 5.


Everything on mine works as advertized and power handling is no problem at all, as long as you run legal limit or less and tune it correctly.

I saw a lot of people trashing the 989C and complaining about frying them at levels under 1KW, you need to use a tuner correctly, there are many combinations that will give you a low SWR, but only one that is going to give you the max. power handling capability. Read the book, it gives a good tutorial on how tuners work and how to tune for max power capacity, follow those commonly known facts in your tuning and you should be able to handle 1500 watts without any problem.

The 3K input rating is confusing to some folks, but is basically means a safe 1.5KW thru the tuner with room to spare, At 3K input in a class AB2 amp you could possibly see 60-65% efficiency but in the real world it's closer to 50-55% so the 3K rating tells you the tuner should handle legal limit and a tad more when tuned properly.

W2IK Rating: 2006-02-21
WORSE MFJ PRODUCT Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Where to begin... first, I had to tighten over 6 screws on this very badly designed and built tuner. The roller inductor is so crummy and the wiper to arm contact is so poorly done I had to make some modifications. The variable caps needed their rotors tightened. I even found one connection that was never soldered! My advice: don't fool around with MFJ when it comes time to buy a tuner. Either buy a heavy duty USED (not MFJ) tuner or purchase a newer "other brand" It's not worth the headaches, especially when you want to run over 300 watts! My old "Heathkit" or my old "Amp Supply" AT-1200 will run rings around this junk. If I was MFJ, I'd be embarrassed to even market this trash. It will cause your amplifier undue stress when it goes wack-o. Shame on you MFJ.
K5QWG Rating: 2006-01-21
Returning it Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've been pretty happy with my MFJ-989C, and thought the 989D would be an upgrade. Wrong. The old 989C is of much heavier construction. The ""C" iductor is a work of precision, compared to the "D's." The old 989C tunes my dipole on all bands, 80 through 10. The "D" won't tune 80 meters; it won't tune 40 meters; it tuned 20 meters, but in peaky fashion. So I picked up the phone, called AES, and they said okay to sending it back. I can think of better ways to spend $300.

Bob
K5QWG
N4IJ Rating: 2005-11-17
Roller Inductor Is Cheap Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I haven't even used the tuner, I just got it via UPS today. I opened it up to install the battery required for the meter and looked at the construction. The capacitors look ok, but the roller inductor is definitely weak. I am actually surprised at how flimsy it looks. It will probably work ok, but I would guess the inductor will be the first to go.