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Reviews For: MFJ-962C Versa Tuner III

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : MFJ-962C Versa Tuner III
Reviews: 21MSRP: 269.00
Description:
1500 Watt HF Manual Tuner
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfj.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00214.9
W3KKO Rating: 2021-08-11
Excellent tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I picked up a well-used 962C tuner off one of the ham sites from a well respected seller. Its not a shelf queen, but a darn good tuner and has been able to match anything I've thrown at it (at 100W anyway) including long wires and large (80m+) horizontal and vertical loops. My LDG Z11 Pro2 often stops tuning at 1.5:1 or slightly higher, but putting the 962C in line gets the match to near 1:1. I've even been able to achieve a match on 6m and 160m with many antennas, although its touchy. As others have done, I prepared a cheat sheet and returning to those settings after changing bands is nearly always spot on or close enough for government work. It's a well built tuner, and a keeper.
NO9E Rating: 2018-11-12
Pretty good and fast Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Initially it sparced between one antenna connection and the attachment bolt in the antenna switch. I filled that space with epoxy.

It matched a 40m and later 80m flattop on all HF bands at 400W level. As opposed to rollers, QSY with the switch and by the numbers was fast. Fine adjustment was easy without transmitting with MFJ-212 matchmaker.

At 1200W level with high level of speech processing SWR creeped up on some bands.

For high power I replaced it by TenTec 238 with a roller inductor. No SWR creeping but QSY was so slow that I avoided band changes.

I sold many tuners but keep this one just in case. Recently used it for Expert 1.3k-fa with great success.
V47JA Rating: 2018-11-11
Solid tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This my second, I should have never sold the first! The 962C tunes my Dipole, and both my Verticals on all the bands better then 1.5:1. I read all the trouble stories about the 962"D" version, with the Roller Inductor, and waited till I could find another older "C" with the switched Inductor, and have never regretted it. I agree that MFJ made some real junk, this is not one of them. Now a great backup to my Palstar AT-AUTO.

73,

John
KJ6ZH Rating: 2015-12-24
It Rocks! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Bought my MFJ-962C in 1995 to go with an AL-811. Kept the tuner when I had to sell the station in a divorce in 2000 and am glad I did. After rebuilding my station over several years, the MFJ-962C was able to match everything within reason. A couple years ago I bought a 962D roller inductor thinking this was an improvement. Wrong answer sports fans! It worked OK but was a real pain to switch bands when that rare DX station showed up. The 962C was a simple matter of switching to pre-set values of inductance and capacitance and go transmit. The only issue I ever had was when I burned out the inductor switch by "Hot Switching" while putting 600 watts through it at 160 meters. OK, dumb move on my part but MFJ sent me a replacement switch at a reasonable price and I replaced it 10 years ago with no follow up issues. Will never sell this tuner.
N0TES Rating: 2015-12-24
1.5KW Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned this tuner for many years. I've tuned a couple of tactical systems from Alpha Antenna as well as a homemade Loop fed with twin lead. I push 1.5 KW through it without any issues. Would I buy it again? Yes, I bought one as a spare!
AC6BW Rating: 2015-12-19
Excellent Tuner- Works fine after 20 years! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've been using this tuner for about 20 years, and have had absolutely no problems whatsoever. It is well built and very reliable. It is built like a tank. I haven't had any problems with wear of the knobs. The tuning range is excellent. I typically run 700W from an AL-811H amp. This is an all-around excellent tuner. I am considering upgrading to an auto tuner, but I will always keep this tuner as a backup.
ZL1SW Rating: 2014-07-12
exl tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
hi all,well I have had this tuner for over 10 years now,and got it used. and most of the time with a amp on it ,AL80A and it has not had any prob's at all tuning any antenna I put on it ,,had the odd prob with knobs and stuff ,but it is getting on in age.

I HATE too say it but I brought a Palstar AT2K a month ago to what I thought was a upgrade ,,,,sorry Palstar it was a Down grade ,lucky I didn't sell this MFJ 962c I will keep it and sell the Palster , roller inductor's are crap just like the mfj 962d . wont tune any where near as good as the MFJ-962C I have put 900 watts CW though it but not for too long ..

LOOKING FOR ANOTHER ONE AS A SPEAR
K6MTS Rating: 2014-07-03
Solid / BIG / Tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Got it used on Ebay a couple of years ago. Did some re-soldering and changed out the chassis mounted SO-239's as they were giving intermittent issues. Change out incandescent to led meter illumination. Plan on some space if you get one, it's a min of 17" deep.

Rock solid since then with beam, hexbeam, verticals, ocfd all on 50 ohm coax up to about 800 watts so far. Not used yet with open or balanced wire.
G0PZA Rating: 2013-11-16
Surprisingly nice ! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Tried the tuner with my PW1 for the first time today, although owned it for a while. Works great on 500W. Why am I using it with the ICOM you may ask? Because it's own auto ATU has gone faulty and they want to charge the price of a used PW 1 just to repair / replace the ATU.

Not sure if the 962C will handle the full 1000W from the PW1 on CW though......can anyone confirm this ? Thanks much.
WD8OSJ Rating: 2012-12-22
I have owned my tuner for 12 years Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have not had any trouble with my tuner. The lamp was a little bright in the shack here so I put a 150 ohm 1 watt resistor in line with it to dim it a little. Did the trick. Bought it for $50 at a estate sale, used.