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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
WA2ILB Rating: 2017-02-27
Works as advertised. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been using it for almost a week and it has done everything I have asked of it.

I purchased it to handle my antennas on 40, 80 and 160. It has worked very, very well and it is a pleasure to not have to rotate switches and turn knobs to change frequencies. Just push the tune button and it keeps the amplifier in stand-by, keys the transceiver to put out 20 watts CW, matches the antenna and returns the station to normal. Very nice!
K0CWO Rating: 2017-01-20
5 year update Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Tuner continues to perform as per my 2012 review. Last fall the power switch was replaced because the original was intermittent. This week I added the HI-RES Communiations PDC-1 peak reading watt meter kit. Kit is easy to build and it took me about 2 hours total to install it in the 998. Highly recommended if you would like a peak reading analog meter on this tuner.
WM4RB Rating: 2016-12-09
Great Tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned mine for over a year and it tunes great and fast every time. No problem here and I'm very satisfied.

Mike, WM4RB

----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by WM4RB on 2015-11-13

I have owned my tuner for a little over a year now. I use it to tune a 530 ft loop at 40 feet in the air. It will tune anywhere on all the HF bands and handles legal limit power. It also tunes within 2 to 3 seconds. I am very pleased with the performance of the MFJ-998 IntelliTuner!
K1MMI Rating: 2016-12-09
Excellent Tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
On the very rare occasions when I saw the QRO/QRP error I thought the MFJ-998 had a design flaw.

Eventually, I realized after using the 998 on some band the Inductor(L) and Capacitor(C) values were set for that band and when I switched to another band those L and C values presented a very high SWR to my Transceiver, which resulted in my Transceiver folding back the output power from 20 watts to a value that was too low for the 998 to detect the new frequency and then set the new L and C values from memory or to a more appropriate starting value to tune on the new band.

My solution has been to set the Transceiver to a different band, then hit the TUNE button on the 998, then back to the band I got the QRO/QRP error on and hit the TUNE button on the 998. For me, it takes less than 5 seconds to solve this rare QRO/QRP error.

I use the MFJ-998 with my ALS-600 amplifier and I would give it a 4.7 or a 4.8 because it is so user friendly for my operating. The internal tuner in my transceiver can only match an SWR of up to 4.5 to 1. The 998 has a wide matching range that allows me to operate on any frequency in the 160 thru 6 meter bands.
W6NWS Rating: 2016-12-07
Generally OK Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I mainly use this with a K3 and ALS1306. There are a number of odd things. It doesn't always tune readily. The K3 has a tune mode which I set to 20W. Most of the time the 998 will tune. But sometimes it says QRO or QRP. The most annoying "feature" is that I can tune with the 20W and then when turning on the amp it decides to retune usually not very well with a higher SWR than when I started which of course shuts down the amp (being SS the amp is quite sensitive to SWR). My K3, TS2000, and TS940SAT all have a much wider tuning range than the 998 especially on 80M. I have to turn it off and on again to get it to tune occasionally mainly on 80M where the initial frequency display is often around 2.5MHz but corrects itself after getting going. It generally behaves and is usually useful. I probably would not buy another 998,
N1ZLE Rating: 2016-10-08
Works Fine, RTFM. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This is my second Auto Tuner, Very happy with it. Operation isn't as intuitive as it could be. I run the AL-82 thru it without issue. I tune amp into Dummy Load via Tuner antenna switch. then switch over to antenna and hit the tune button. Never any issues at all. I made an interface cable to the FT5K and it tunes on every band. I use three different wire antennas on an external remote antenna switch. A ZS6BKW, an 80 MTR Dipole, and a 75 MTR Loop. No issues on any of them at full legal limit. The meter accuracy is sub par as is the freq display. I paid slightly over $400 used, and couldn't be happier.
73
N1ZLE
SV8RMA Rating: 2016-08-19
Worst tuner ever Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This tuner is not working as advertised.When you tune to a band OK and then change to another band ,the tuner most of the times doesn’t sense the RF from the radio and stucks.You have to make some band changes to the radio and transmit, before the tuner decides to tune.I have tried it with several radios and several antennas but the results are always the same.I have send it back to the Dealer twice and he confirmed the way it operates (and so did the others he had in stock).MFJ send me twice the program chip of the tuner but the results were the same.Probably they know that this is a bad product but they don’t admit it.
I have uploaded a short video of the operation of the tuner to you tube for anyone who is interested.
This performance is unacceptable for this kind of tuner.The 0 rating is because
1.You don’t know when the tuner will decide to tune ,and if it doesn’t you have to make band changes to your radio as a kid and TX everytime ,in order to make it tune.
2.And also because MFJ claims that this is the normal operation of the tuner as advertised..!!!
My advice …stay away!73 de SV8RMA
AB6ME Rating: 2016-07-09
not working even after warranty repair Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Bought this tuner in December 2015 from gigaparts. Used it barefoot with my IC7410 with no problems. Purchased an 811H amp in May 2016. When I tried to use the MFJ998 with my AL811H none of the meters would work when the amp was enabled. Just totally dead as if no rf was going through the tuner. Meters would work fine when amp was in standby, but when amp was enabled nothing. Therfore I was unable to tune my amp. I called MFJ and kond of got the run around but eventually they told me to send it to them for warranty repair. Cost me over $60 for shipping there and back. I wanted to be sure they understood what was going on so included a VERY detailed letter with the return. Also spoke on the phone with Stan explaining the problem and with Rob after they received the return. There can be no doubt they knew what was wrong. Over a month later I get the tuner back saying it had been repaired. Hook it up, turn it on and exact same problem. I bought a new LDG AT1000ProII autotuner hooked it up and it works perfectly so I know it is not my station. Now I have an expensive tuner I can't use and can't sell. Needless to say I am done with MFJ. By the way, I love the LDG AT1000ProII. Works like a champ. I wish I had purchased it first, I would be $700 richer.
KI7DG Rating: 2016-06-21
6YRS AND STILL WORKING Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is an update to my previous review. I have had this now for 6+ years and the only problem is the on/off switch does not work. I don't use it anyways since when turning on the station it comes on so don't need the switch. It tunes ALL my antennas from 10m thru 160m. That includes Verticals, Beam and wires. Once it finds the sweet spot it goes their automatically any time I Tx close to it with just a click, noise wise. I have recommended this to friends and two did purchase and both did have problems but MFJ corrected it with NO hassle and they were happy. Still a fine unit and recommend it.
VE3BR Rating: 2016-06-04
Yet another MFJ product that works as advertised! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Recently I have again come across really negative, disparaging eHam reviews of various MFJ products. There must be a rebirth of the MFJ haters movement.

I honestly do not get all this negativity. Before you spew it out (and before you buy an MFJ product), simply read the specs and -important this one!- have a good look at the price tag.

I have had my MFJ-998 for over 7 years.

Caveat emptor: the maximum power I have ever put through this tuner was probably ~600 Watts CW.

After a few months, for reasons unknown (the owner/operator is always innocent like a little baby goat!), one of the toroids on the antenna input board burnt, taking with it a couple of diodes.

MFJ has handled this extremely well: no questions, no attempts at finger pointing, a warranty repair at no cost to me, parts replaced and unit re-calibrated. Yes, I had to pay for shipping, but other than that I was treated as a proverbial "valued customer".

Since then nothing, other that I have updated the firmware a few times; MFJ 998 has worked just flawlessly.

The tuner is well-constructed and does exactly what the specs say it will do. It is fast and accurate. It handles my DX-Engineering 55 foot Thunderbolt dual band vertical (designed for 80/40 meters) extremely well anywhere between 3.5 to 30 MHz. (160 meters is a different story, but that is no surprise.)

I would not claim that it can tune a bedspring loaded metal mesh lawn chair, but darn close to it :)

It is loud, but I "suck it up" for the value to price ratio.

I again have to give a "5" to an MFJ product that does what it is supposed to do at a very reasonable price.