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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
NO9E Rating: 2018-12-23
Workhorse with some tender loving care Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My MFJ-998 was working well at up to 1.5KW even in contests. But lately its tuning became erratic, SWR readings too low, and on 10m at high power the display would blank out.

Turned out one diode in the SWR meter was partially broken and screws were loose. I replaced a germanium diode by ubiquitous 1N918 and tightened all the screws. Now tuning is fast again with no surprises.
TF3DT Rating: 2018-12-13
Very good Tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The tuner is excellent. You have to read the manual, like someone said here. Running 1KW + constantly into a modified 43 vertical. Tunes everything from 160 to 10 and I have used it to tune 6m. Running IC7300 with interface cable and SPE Expert 1,3.Used it for 3+ years, no problems at all. I have smoked 2 other more expensive ATU but this one is still my favorite
KN6SU Rating: 2018-06-25
Great Tuner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'd been using auto tuners (Kenwood and LDG) for
I guess I got a "good" unit, since it has been working exactly as advertised. I don't plan to exceed 1KW, so the LDG AT1000 could have also met my needs, though it would be operating at its limits whereas the 998 has a 500W safety margin. It tunes with as little as 5W drive and has a very wide tuning range, and will match stuff my smaller auto tuners can't handle at all. I'm not sure how it will hold up to 1.5KW use, but I'm pretty confident it will hold up to regular 1KW operation. For these reasons I give it a solid 5/5 rating.

CAVEAT: The MFJ-998 has a 48 page user manual. You absolutely need to read the manual in order to understand and access the extensive control menus to properly use this device! I suspect some of the reviewer concerns and criticisms might have been answered by a careful review of the instruction manual.

I also recommend opening the unit when you get it to check for any obvious assembly problems (e.g. loose components and connectors, poor soldering, misplaced jumpers, etc.). Give it a good workout ASAP on several bands and with different antennas to make sure it's working correctly.
PA1ADR Rating: 2018-03-16
No "hot switch"' Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Searching for a auto tuner that could handle 1kW+ I choose the MFJ 998', mainly because of the hot switch function.(switches amplifier relay off during tune-proces if used with TCVR interface). It didnt "hot switch" as promised, so my supplier send it to a technician advised by MFJ. He said it wordked properly and told me to check my equipment and cables. (equipement Kenwood ts-2000 into amp Acom-1000 into rotatable 3 band dipole). After doing so (I'm a e-technician myself) and not found any failure in my equipement I tried it again and still the hot switch failed, also with an other rig (icom 737). Send it back again to technician. He told it was doing ok. Well it wasnt!! Via mail to my supplier he asked me about my antenna. I explained that the problem had to be in a tuners processor. I couldnt believe his reaction was that the Acom was to sensitive and he advised to set the amp in standby before tuning!!! After some mails and confrontation with the specifacations they took it back and refunded the price of the tuner (€800). The interface (€25) and sending costs of me and my supplier where NOT refunded. After all loss of € 100+ and a hangover.
Conclusion: it does not do what the specifacation and manual promise and then they try to blame the customer and no refund of costs. I was a MFJ fan but NOT ANYMORE!
VE7IG Rating: 2017-11-03
Sent for repair Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After working reasonably well for several months the unit stopped working and had to be returned to MFJ (at my expense) for warranty repair. They kept it a long time and through the warranty period. Finally, when I asked them about it in an email it was repaired and returned (shipping at my expense) and since then has worked perfectly, even better than before. Most of my antennas are non-resonant on various bands I use them on and this tuner does tune them all, 160 to 10m. It is not a piece of equipment that I use with confidence that it will last, however.

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Earlier 4-star review posted by VE7IG on 2015-07-10

I got tired of waiting for the Alpha 4040 and bought one of these. Problems with wrist of right hand made rotating the inductor in a manual tuner increasingly more difficult.

This tuner works but often the SWR indicated on the readout varies significantly from the actual SWR as measured by digital and analog meters. This can cause problems because when it reads higher the tuner can hold the amplifier off and when lower it can be difficult or impossible to reduce the SWR further. Manually reducing and increasing L and C using the up/down buttons can help but this does not often produce a real 1:1.

The radio cable supplied was far too short. It needs to be at least a foot longer. I couldn't use it. Actually it isn't necessary as the tune button on the tuner itself does the job.

I've kept the Ameritron ATR-30 on the desk (using a large DPDT coax relay) for more demanding tuning but the MFJ auto tuner delivers close enough matching for most bands/antennas.

As I use most of the antennas I have on several bands a tuner is essential. Hopefully this MFJ product will last. Construction and soldering were well done with no loose parts or solder bits inside. So far I'm happy with it.
KI4MOA Rating: 2017-11-02
Not What Expected Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I ordered a new from HRO MFJ 998 auto tuner for an Icom IC 7300. I tried everything I knew to do, reset the default, ordered a new tuner cable for the ICOM 7300 to the MFJ 998... even tried it on an Icom 718 before returning. I was refunded by money for the Tuner, but I now have a power supply and tuner cable I don't need and am out $23 bucks to ship it back.... I will try get credit for the power supply and cable and get my shipping back. So I may update this review. Why don't they actually check these things out before they ship them?
WB5FAX Rating: 2017-06-01
WORKS FANTASTIC Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Worked right out of the box. My Antenna is a wire Inverted L. Goes direct into the wire Connection.The antenna is roughly 70 feet plus or minus a couple feet.

Tunes up from 160-10 meters 1 to 1 SWR.

WHAT I DID TO HELP IT once I got a tuned FQ I Push in the TUNE button while in RTTY low power 5 watts on my 7300,and it beeps one time and does a final SWR setting. Then added all my TUNES into Memory over writes.

Mark
K4TK Rating: 2017-04-18
2nd one works like a champ Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
my first 998 had issues....didn't always work...was hit or miss. I called MFJ....they sent another unit that arrived in two days from the call....boxed up the "old" (2-3 weeks old) unit.....and haven't looked back.

Now, i did have some issues getting my Yaesu FT DX 1200 radio to work with the interface cable....but eventually we got that all working (that's not that unusual actually, as I've experienced interface issues with several items with the FT DX 1200....probably due to it being relatively new or other devices i bought being relatively new...and there have been configuration issues to make the radio and other items "talk").

As they note in the owners manual, the meter does't work worth a darn on SSB. Works pretty good on CW. So my only complaints would be the poor function of the meter on SSB....and ....when the replacement unit came in, the cover on it was all scratched. Luckily, since they let me keep my original one until the replacement came in, i just swapped out covers with the clean one off my other unit....problem solved IN THIS CASE. it just goes back to the common complaints about poor QA or poor finish on their products.

As for it tuning QUICKLY......oh yea, it does. If i've been on about that frequency and antenna before, it's just an almost instantaneous "click" and it's there! If i haven't been on that freq/band/antenna combo (and the SWR is above the preset 1.5 threshold i programmed on the tuner)....you can hear those relays clicking and clacking....for several seconds...and then bingo! It really is QUICK.

I also love that you can preset a threshold for when you want it to tune (i use anything above 1.5). It's a real nice feature using it with my new Ameritron ALS-1306. It will also automatically shutdown the amp if for some reason one did exceed the preset threshold for the keying line. Another really nice safety feature.
N5KDA Rating: 2017-04-07
2nd try Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After sending the unit off I waited three weeks. I called and the guy looked up my ticket and said "oh, you just got this". I said yes, it was DOA and I don't know why you all don't just send another one. Two days later, today, it arrived. It's hooked up and seems to be working fine. I give another review after I run it a month or two. It will never get a 5 because of the 1st one being DOA and the POOR customer service.
KD2CVY Rating: 2017-03-06
works great Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
mine works great, but remember that you have to have 1.5 amps power supply to run it,i used a 110 to 12v plug but its was only 220ma,i called mfj and we worked out my problem,my fault .but this is much better then tuning by hand every time i change frequencies.well worth the money.