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Reviews For: MFJ-998 IntelliTuner

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : MFJ-998 IntelliTuner
Reviews: 112MSRP: 699.95
Description:
The MFJ-998 Full Legal Limit 1500 Watt Intellituner takes you to the final level in automatic antenna tuners. With a capability of 1500 watts SSB and CW, coupled with automatic tuning, your high-power station can now operate essentially hands-free even when frequency and band changes are made.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/products.php?prodid=MFJ-998
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001123.8
NE7X Rating: 2020-06-09
Analog meter issues Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
When running 100 watts RF power or less, the tuner and analog meter works. However when I increase RF power to over 300+ watts RF power, the analog meter intermittently works. Sometimes I get meter deflection and sometimes I do not. The latching relays stay latched, so once the tuner is tuned, it stay working. Its just the analog meter that is intermittent.

I call MFJ Tech Support and talked with Hank Harris. Hank told me the CPU driving the analog meter does not act fast enough to deflect the meter movements when RF overloads the CPU. I asked if there is a mod to resolve the issue, and he said no, its a design flaw. He said the newer MFJ high power tuners have resolved this issue.
GM0ONX Rating: 2020-04-19
Great product poorly built Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought one of these second hand on a whim and when it works it’s worth 5 stars. However mine suffered from the perennial MFJ problem, poor build quality.

It worked flawlessly for a while then it suddenly stopped working giving the ‘Huh Increase power’ or ‘Huh decrease power’ messages and not finding a match. The meter put its hands up in the air in the ‘surrender position’.

A trawl of the internet for stock faults and it was suggested that I should check the solder connections on the toroids and low and behold that’s were the problem was. There’s a Youtube video to assist how to do this. A quick reflow and it was up and running again.

Would I recommend buying a new one, well no, but a second hand one yes as it’s an easy repair. A great MFJ product poorly executed in the build.
WA8UEG Rating: 2020-02-06
Great auto tuner! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have been using mine for around 4 years, first with a FT1000MP and now with my FT5000MP. It tunes my 2 element 20/15/10 on 17 & 12 in the blink of an eye and handles 1500 watts from my Swan MK II with no problem. I also used it to tune my 80/40 meter fan dipole to 60 meters prior to putting up individual dipoles. The optional rig interface cuts the exciter power to 50 watts, cuts the amp out and tunes before I can take my hand off the button and down to the VFO knob. The 998 is a really nice dependable tuner.

Update: I have now been using it for problem free years with my FT5000/AL-1200 plus it handles the tuning of my low power boat anchors perfectly and the digital frequency readout allows for accurate frequency tuning on less than accurate boat anchor VFO dials.



NN4U Rating: 2020-02-06
Great - Except in the low end of 40M Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
If it were not for the 998, I couldn't participate in MARS up and down the East Coast with my amplifier. It works flawlessly for MARS and all the ham bands except the low end of 40M. However, after a warranty trip back to MFJ where a "detector resistor" was replaced and minor calibration performed, it still will not tune from 7.100 - 7.225 on a Buckmaster inverted V. During side-by-side data collection, the 998, curiously will tune the Cushcraft R9 at those frequencies - ONCE, if returning from a higher freq like 7.300. Subsequent tune attempts on the R9 at the same freq (7.100 - 7.225) fail. Both antennas exhibit a RigExpert-verified SWR below 2.0 at the problem freqs. I provided a detailed spreadsheet of measurements for both antennae up and down the bands to MFJ and they are reviewing it as of 1/15/2020. Curiously, despite the Kenwood TS-870 set at 100W and most 998 tuning cycles reducing power to 9-12 watts, the offending frequencies only show a 998 power out of 5.x. Have any of you 1) experienced the same or 2) found a solution? 73, NN4U
AA4M Rating: 2020-01-31
My worst experience ever with MFJ! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased an MFJ-998 01/22/20 from DXE and it was delivered a few days later. It has 3 problems, one of which was so serious that it makes the unit worthless:

1. I've correctly wired up the Antenna Enable In / Antenna Enable Out to my rig. When I switch my Acom 1200S (also purchased from DXE) from Standby to Operate, I'm immediately shown the message "Stop Transmission First" on the 1200's display, even though it is not transmitting.

2. I'm unable to get the SWR below 1.9:1 on 28074, the only frequency I use on 10 meters. I've followed the instructions and manually applied the C and L tuning controls as explained in the manual, but the best I ever got was 1.9.

3. The power readings are inflated by about 20%, but I think this can be calibrated to more accuracy.

Note that #2 makes my Acom 1200S unusable on 10 meters since the resulting power reduction is huge. Problem #1 means that I cannot use the 1200S on ANY band, which I consider to be a massively serious problem!

I've reversed the 2 Antenna Enable leads but there was no difference. I've opened up the tuner but see no visible problems. Basically what I have is a $740 paperweight.

I've had fairly good luck with MFJ equipment over the years. Between that, the price, and the fact that the Antenna Enable In / Antenna Enable Out capability was a great enhancement, buying the 998 was a no-brainer for me, so I chose this tuner over the Palstar HF-Auto. But the problems I'm having with the tuner have meant that I am unable to use my 1200S with the 998.

Fortunately, DXE sent me a return label and gave me full credit towards a Palstar HF-Auto . . . phew!
K3SUI Rating: 2019-12-10
Much improved over initial MFJ offering. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Back in 2007 I purchased one of these tuners to use with my Alpha amplifier. It failed within the first 20 minutes of operation and I panned it hard. It was fairly new to the market at that time and perhaps mine had some "teething problems".

About a year ago, seeing the good reviews on this tuner, I purchased another to use with my ZeroFive 80-10 GP vertical and my KPH-1500 amplifier. I had a Palstar that worked great but was pretty slow tuning up. I really wanted the quick tuning that was touted about the MFJ998.

I have been using the MFJ998 for quite a few months with full power and it works pretty well. There are a few features that I am not enamored with but basically it tunes my antenna quickly and I have had absolutely NO problems with it.

I can now recommend this tuner. It is a bit noisy when it tunes but the tuning is quite accurate and works over a wide range of impedances. Once tuned to a frequency the tuning is almost instantaneous. It has served me well and is recommended for this power level.
AD0AR Rating: 2019-07-05
3+ years going good! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
It's been a solid performer for me.
Initially I found it hit and miss, but I suspected an issue with some pre-fabricated ultraflex 400 cables as the culprit.
I learned how to build my own cables using compression style PL-259's and I haven't had an issue since.
The shield connections on the prefab ultraflex cables were the culprit confirmed by a continuity check.
Who would have thought?
KB3NWU Rating: 2019-07-05
Get something else Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I'm being generous with this 1 rating. This is my second 998. The buttons fell out of the first one - luckily just before the warranty was done. The ON/OFF button is now acting up on the second one. Nice idea: very wide range, fully automatic, thousands of memories. But it does not deliver on any of those promises. This tuner simply hates tuning 10M, 15M, 40M (especially 40M), and 160M on my Cobra Sr. Ultralite dipole. No, it's not the antenna. The INTERNAL tuner of my FTDX-3000D (which is widely criticized for its lack of range) can tune every frequency on every band to at least 1.3, most of the time it's 1:1; but then, of course, I can't use my amp. The 998 is supposed to have 10X that range! It won't tune to less than 2.4 SWR on 15M and the amp faults when it's that high. With some effort it will "apparently" tune to 1:1 on 10M. "Apparently" because that's what its meter reads; however, when you press the PTT the SWR shoots up and faults the amp. No, it's not the antenna - I tried a resonant 10M vertical with the same result. 40M is pure torture. It simply won't tune automatically ("Increase power"). It even ignores a carrier. So, I went through the hour and a half procedure of manually tuning every 2 kHz and saving the settings to its memory. Did it save the settings? Nope, not a single one. Do yourself a big favor and get something else. The LDG auto tuner is about $200 cheaper than this thing. I haven't bought it YET but several other LDG auto tuners I've had have always worked great.
W2NER Rating: 2019-05-02
Great tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had a typo, in one comment I should have said: "With this tuner (and any other tuner that matter) you need to make sure it does not see high wattage durung TX during tuning"
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I have both, the MFJ-998 and 998RT and both perform fantastic. Both of them worked great out of the box with no problems at all. My 998RT I just installed this week and as the desktop model it works flawlessly. With this tuner (and any other tuner that matter) you need to make sure it does not see high wattage durung TX. I think there are more positive reviews out there than negative, its just they do not post here. If you are looking for a auto tuner, don't hesitate to purchase this one. Oh and I had a few Palstar auto tuners also so this auto tune setup is not new to me.
AA8HS Rating: 2019-02-06
Gave up on 160 and bought a manual tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My 160 dipole is tuned to 1960Khz and this item will only tune it to 1.5:1 at 1926 and 1.9 at 1840 (FT8). My new ATR-30 goes to 1:1 on both without issues. When raising power on the MFJ-998, the SWR rises and the ALS-1300 shuts down on speech peaks. An Ameritron employee even told me that the manual tuner had a higher Q coil and would do a better job on 160. When the wind blows, this unit (as opposed to LDG's) tries to retune which can also cause the amp to shut down on 80 meters. The amp has never shut down with the manual tuner. This deluxe manual tuner was even cheaper than the MFJ-998 and would have been a better choice. On higher bands, the MFJ-998 will tune a variety of antennas without difficulty.