| K4CMD |
Rating:      |
2012-11-24 | |
| Well ... it *is* an MFJ product ... BUT ... |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
... BUT I agree -- an exception for MFJ!
I lucked out about 6 or 7 years ago at a hamfest. We had a vendor there that was a small commercial vendor that (unfortunately) was going out of business, and they came to the hamfest to liquidate the rest of their stock. Most of their stuff had been picked through by the time I got to their table, but there was a largish brown box (MFJ didn't use white back then) kind of tucked back behind some of the small accessories and I asked what it was. They identified it as a brand-new MFJ-962C, warning me that it was "new old stock" -- the 962D with the roller inductor had been out a year and was supposedly "improved" with the roller inductor.
I knew better, having sold an old 949E with a tapped inductor for a 969 Roller Inductor Tuner a few years earlier. The MFJ roller inductor tuner had a lot of problems with the roller never really making good contact with the inductor -- you could feel it when you turned the knob; it was very cheap and clunky feeling. Sure enough, the SWR would jump all over the place as you tried to zero in on a recorded setting. I hated the damned thing and just happened to be in the market for another tuner with a tapped inductor. I quickly checked out the tuner in an old QST laying nearby and then returned to the guy's table.
Turns out he was selling all of his stuff for 50 percent off. This 962C was still sealed in its box, and I wound up paying $125 for a $250 tuner.
Now, why did I title this review like I did? Well, I got home and found that like many MFJ products, this thing didn't sit squarely on the table. The (very long) case was warped. I loosened every screw, made sure the tuner was on a flat surface, and then retightened everything. Then it sat OK. Then I hooked it up and found that the SWR would jump if I rocked the left-hand capacitor's knob. I reopened the case to investigate and found that the nut holding the rear end of the capacitor to the case was barely screwed on. I tightened it up and checked everything else, which was good, because several other nuts were only finger-tight at best. Once I had all of this done, I carefully reassembled the case again and all was well.
This tuner has served me for more than half a decade with several radio and antenna combinations, and traveled to several Field Days, and it has performed amazingly well. I can return to my settings again and again and have a spot-on match with very little tweaking. I did perform one "major" modification; I purchased two small vernier drives and installed them on the front panel to turn the capacitors. Now I can tune in increments of 0 to 100 that take four full turns of the knob to turn each cap from fully meshed to open, and I love this tuner even more.
One complaint. The lamp blew out a couple of years ago, and it's a custom bulb soldered to pigtails. It took quite a bit of finagling to do, but I revamped the back of the meter to hold a socket from Radio Shack, so finally the bulb is replaceable. When it goes again I just might replace it with an LED. But I get miffed when incandescent bulbs, which blow out, are installed permanently in any gear. That's just plain stupid. And that, my friends, is why we have MFJ. :) |
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| W0IW |
Rating:      |
2012-09-07 | |
| Awesome for a mfj |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Can ya believe it a MFJ product that don't suck
somebody other than mfj must have made this puppy it actually is a great tuner 160-10m
I have to admit this is a keeper tuner and spite the fact mfj is stamped on it ignore that fact and buy one of these buggers you wont be disappointed |
|
| W5WAA |
Rating:      |
2012-02-23 | |
| One of MFJ's best |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Have had this tuner for years, no problems ever. I prefer the switched inductor over the rotary inductor that I owned on the model "D", this was a step backwards for MFJ. I've used the internal balun on several antenna projects, never ran over 500 watts through it. Does everything I want and is super reliable, the dual SWR backlighted meter is really nice. |
|
| KU2US |
Rating:      |
2011-04-22 | |
| Tunes Great |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have owned this "C" for about 4 years now. Use it with a G5RV, end fed wires, and verticles. Not a problem. I donot like roller inductor type tuners. This tuner is solid and never let me down. I use a max of 500 watts and it handles this quite nicely. Hats off to MFJ for a nice, easy to use practical tuner. |
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| W5JON |
Rating:      |
2011-04-22 | |
| Not the "D" |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
The 962C works great with my ZS6BKW Dipole, and my Vertical. Tunes almost all the bands better then 1.5:1, and had it for a couple years with never a problem. I read all the trouble stories about the 962"D" version, with the Roller Inductor, and waited till I could find the older "C" with the switched Inductor, and have never regretted it. I agree that MFJ made(s) some real junk, this is not one of them.
73,
John W5JON - V47JA |
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| KD0KZO |
Rating:      |
2010-05-22 | |
| works great! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| It tunes great easy to use. the inductor is much better than the roller inductor on the newer tuners. |
|
| N3TU |
Rating:     |
2010-03-05 | |
| Arching |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| This tuner is solid and works great on 100 watts. I've been using 100 watts for years. I bought it new when they first came out. Never had a problem but I never had an amplifier until this last year. When MFJ says 1500 watts they really mean 750 MFJ watts. It will arc over that but it could be old too. I now use a Dentron 3KW tuner and don't have any problems over 750 watts with it. I use this MFJ 962C on second 100 watt radio with a different antenna and works great. |
|
| AB4ZT |
Rating:     |
2009-05-25 | |
| Pretty solid |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have had this tuner for over 10 years and have not had any problems outside some front panel paint coming off around the antenna selector switch. I agree with other posters in preferring the tapped inductor to a roller inductor. I also used a Murch Ultimate Transmatch for a while (it has a roller inductor) and though it did work well it was a lot of extra time and effort when switching bands for really no benefit. |
|
| KA1YUW |
Rating:      |
2007-03-12 | |
| Good Tuner |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Owned this tuner for a week now and always get a 1:1 swr on any freq. Can't say that about the atr-15 i just bought. I'll give more review after I get more antennas up. |
|
| N6TZV |
Rating:      |
2007-02-11 | |
| Solid Performance! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Unlike some folks, I have had generally good luck with MFJ products, especially the antenna analyzers and tuners. I have owned a few different MFJ and other tuners, both homebrew, and by Heath (2060A), Ten Tec, Tokyo High Power, LDG, etc.
I have owned the 962C for at least six years if not more, and have yet to find a substitute that works as well. It is efficient, tunes easily, matches a very wide range of impedances, and seems to work well on all the HF bands. It is more than adequate for medium power applications up to 800-1000W.
The metering is accurate enough for most purposes and tracks well with my Bird 43.
I especially like the tapped coil approach as opposed to the roller inductor. The tapped coil allows resetting to another band very quickly, without cranking the coil to get there. The roller coil approach theoretically allows finer tuning with more choices, but I have not felt limited by the switched inductor. I actually sold a Ten Tec roller tuner before I got the 962C. The tuner worked fine, but the roller just took too long to crank. It was faster than my current roller tuner.
I just recently acquired a very stout Heath 2060A, and in testing it, the issues with the roller were immediate. While the 2060A is more robust, and a find peice of equipment, it takes longer to get to a tuning for another band. Lots of cranking of the roller. I am using both together for two antennas, but really prefer the tapped coil of the 962C. I'll dedicate the 2060A to one antenna that doesn't need tuning as much, or needs the broader range.
I use the 962C primarily for a ladder line fed 102' HF diple or doublet. It tunes on all bands, but is a bit touchy on 30M, and very difficult to tune on 160M. But that is to be expected given the configuration of the antenna.
I have used this tuner on vertical dipoles, ground mounted dipoles, doublets, a three element trapped beam, and an experimental loop. Power level has been QRP to 700W. Never a problem with the 962C. While it is not rated at full legal limit, it also is not of the size of bigger, higher power tuners, so it is more friendly to available bench space. Internal components seem quite robust for this power and price level.
Bottom line, if you can find one that has not been abused (especially burnt switches), this is one solid performer that MFJ can be proud of. It is well worth looking for on the used market, and worth the trouble of fixing an abused one. |
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