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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
K4AEC Rating: 2015-04-24
Works Quite Well Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had the MFJ-998 since July, 2011, and it has performed quite well. I have run "legal limit" power through it (Ameritron AL-1200) when acting as NCS for a state-wide ARES net, and as little as 10-15 watts running low-power digital modes, and it handles either equally as well. It can act as an amp key line relay, and can act as an "autotuner" for many rigs (i.e., enable the "TUNE" button on the rig) with the right interface cable. It does have many functions, so a good review of the manual is recommended. I'm convinced that many of the low ratings, especially from "new" users, can be attributed to operators just not "reading the manual" before operating, and then, when poor or unexpected results are obtaining, simply blaming the tuner.
KO2LA Rating: 2015-04-18
disapointed Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Unit arrived DOA this week. There where 2 issues. 1) There was no jumperblock at TP1 as there needs to be for my yaesu. I pinched the pins together and applied solder. Problem #1 fixed. 2)analog meter did not work. A wire going to the meter was not solderd. Again a quick fix. Problem #2 fixed.
Now the tuner works as advertised. If it had not had those 2 issues I would rate it a 4 because it does work as it should.(after I fixed it!) I took 1 additional point off for the cheaply made enclosure. Again I want to stress that the unit works well and does everything it's designed to do. But being DOA is a hard negitive to overcome.




W6GX Rating: 2015-02-26
Very low loss on the low bands Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this tuner since 2009. It was worked very well for me. I have since upgraded it to a Palstar HF-Auto however I still use the 998 on the low bands. Due to the switched L design the tuner has very low loss on 80m and 160m. This can be confirmed by the QST tests which include loss in %. And since there are no air-gap capacitors there's no possibility of arcing which can occur on the HF-Auto. For the price I think the 998 is hard to beat.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by W6GX on 2010-09-09

There are not many autotuners that have a wide matching range AND can handle 1.5kw. I have had my 998 for one year and this is my first review. I'm using it with a G5Rv Jr. running 600 watts. The results have been fantastic! This unit has excellent matching range for a high-power autotuner. I get a good match on 40m, 20m, 17m, and 10m. It will also load up on 75m, 15m, and 12m, but the overall efficiency is poor on these bands due to the high intrinsic SWR. Matching range is very important to those using a multi-band trap-less antenna. Some of the high-power autotuners on the market have limited matching range. One of my friends used to own a well-known 1kw autotuner made by another company. That unit has limited matching range and it couldn't load up on most bands on the same antenna as mine. Recently he replaced that unit with a 998 and it has been working great for him.

If you want to read a technically oriented review on the 998 please see the excellent review written by Phil Salas at: http://www.ad5x.com/images/Presentations/MFJ998%20Review.pdf

I also like the LCD display and the intuitive menu for accessing a myriad of tuning options. This tuner, along with a G5RV Jr. and my little 600w 'hand warmer' have helped me earn my first DXCC. As of Sept. 2010 I have a total of 132 DXCCs worked and 115 DXCCs confirmed. All of this is accomplished in less than 12 months of operating time. I owe MFJ a big 'thanks' to their well-designed product.

In conclusion, the 998 should be on your shopping list if you're looking for a no-fuss, easy-to-use, work-as-it-should autotuner. You won't be disappointed.

73,
Jonathan W6GX
K3QYE Rating: 2015-02-24
Got it on sale from HRO Works better than expected. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had the unit for 3 months and find it works very well. Tunes my 160 & 80 OCFD's very well on bands designed for. Will not match the 80 meter OCFD on 160 meters. Opened the unit and found it to be well constructed and solder contacts very good, Quelling concerns about other MFJ product reviews. It won't let you load with more than 1500 watts, saving the equipment. Paint job could be better, but hey it WORKS as promised. The instruction could use a diagram to show where J1 is located, but it is clearly marked, once inside the unit.
KE4ZHN Rating: 2014-10-11
Better than expected Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After many years of running a manual roller inductor tuner I finally decided to get myself an automatic so I could move from band to band faster. I have had this 998 for just over a year now and it has worked fine from the day I took it out of the box. I found no loose parts inside and the soldering was first rate. The menu on this tuner is easy to adjust and set up and the amplifier keying line protection circuit is nice. The only things I don't like about it are the relays are a bit noisy when its tuning and sometimes it will fail to tune due to asking for more RF to find a match. Minor issues and only on certain bands with my doublet antenna. It does find a match on all bands and although a little finicky on 2 bands its my antenna system not the tuner. It has never overheated or failed on me. I have run an SB220 into it at full power numerous times on all the bands and it never gets warm. Combine this with a solid state amp and you have a sweet point and shoot combination for hunting DX.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by KE4ZHN on 2013-08-17

I've had this tuner for about a year now. It has been totally trouble free on all bands from 80-10 on my 80 mtr. doublet. Tuning is very fast although a bit noisy. One minor gripe is the lack of peak reading capability on the meters. The watt meters both digital and cross needle are accurate right out of the box. Looking inside mine was very nicely made and there were no loose parts floating around or sloppy solder work. I also like the feature where it will shut off the keying line of your amp if your swr goes above safe limits.
This thing has me spoiled. After years of running a trusty SA2040 Heath which I also love....the fiddling with it each time I wanted to move around got old after years of doing it. I have this interfaced with my IC7000 so the button on the mic calls the tuner to do its thing. Very simple and works great. I don't even have to touch the tuner at all. I simply turn it on and off and do the rest with one button on the microphone. It even bypasses your amplifier without you needing to put it in standby when you tune.I have run near legal limit through it on all bands and it never smoked, arced or shut itself down. I run a short piece of coax to a 4:1 balun which feeds the doublet. So this tuner sees a wide variety of loads on all the bands and it never flinches. Its internal menu system is well laid out and very easy to navigate through. It just works. I think this is an excellent tuner for the money.
VE6ZM Rating: 2014-07-13
Bigger display Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
What is with manufacturers and their insistence on having screens that require a microscope to read. A word to any manufacturer out there. If you insist on small screens at least leave an option to attach a larger monitor!

Other than the screen being ridiculously small and 10,000 submenus (just kidding of course but there are quite a few) the tuner seems to function fairly well.

I would have given the unit a 4 or 5 if it weren't for these 2 major downfalls.
K6ZB Rating: 2014-04-01
Top notch and very capable autotuner at full power Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had the 998 for about 5 years now and it has gotten heavy usage. At first, I located it outside at the base of end fed wires and verticals, protecting it in a plastic trunk. It worked very well as a remote tuner and I only used the metering and controls for setup and testing from time to time. Recently, I moved it indoors since I've placed a 4:1 UNUN at my 43 ft vertical. The unit works really well within the shack, including the connection to my IC 7600 for one button tuning. I like the metering facilities. It tunes better than the autotuner in my PW1. This is a fine product, but it is a piece of ham equipment requiring careful study of the manual and reasonable expectations about its performance. It does its job of tuning all bands well.
KD8IGK Rating: 2014-01-07
Reliable Tuner Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this tuner for about 3 years. It has tuned all my antennas well. Most of my antennas are in the attic so I have a lot of compromises to deal with but this tuner still gives me a good match regardless of band.

This unit has made my operations a breeze, just push a button and voila!

I do run power occasionally and this unit can handle at least 1.2 KW. I do not have an Amp that runs 1.5 KW so I cannot attest to that experience. If you have an AMP the tune bypass is an awesome feature, when you tune it puts the AMP into bypass mode no tuning accidents with full power.

I find the meters to be pretty accurate and compares well against my analog meters.

I would buy one again with no hesitation.
Bill
KD8IGK

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Earlier 5-star review posted by KD8IGK on 2012-01-14

After one year of using this tuner I can say I am very happy with it. It is a L type tuner not a T type tuner. My manual tuner (not a MFJ) is a T type and it works OK, but my signal reception is much better using the MFJ-998 doing a side by side comparison.

In fact since I use a Windom wire antenna which will not easily tune 15M using the T type manual tuner, the MFJ-998 tuner will tune it just fine. While I am sure it is not optimum for 15M it does work and I get good signal reports. The reports of issues with the "increase power" some people have reported is easily overcome by pressing either the C or L up or down button once or twice. This rarely happens. If you do get this message frequently double check your power supply. My power supply was not delivering full voltage to the tuner and that was the root cause for me. I replaced the power supply and the problem has gone away completely. The same is true with the display getting garbled on high power, all this was rooted in my power supply going defective not the tuner.

This tuner has made changing bands and freq so easy for me I cannot imagine not having this unit. Comparable products are over $1,300.00 USD.

The relay/amp protect circuit has saved me from sending my Amp into transmit when the SWR is above 2.0, this is a great feature I can see was well thought out by MFJ.

While it will not tune a "Wet Noodle" it does have a large tuning range. Besides I am not sure I want to send a 1.5 KW through a "Wet Noodle" in the first place.

I know there are a lot of reports of poor quality of MFJ products, I do not see the kind of quality issues others may have reported with this unit.
W5JLF Rating: 2013-05-20
Works great Time Owned: more than 12 months.

I have had mine for over five years and have never had a problem. It tunes 160 to 10 with no problem. I have done two or three firmware updates with no issues at all. I would recommend it to anyone.

73
Joe
W3JKC Rating: 2013-05-17
Woouldn't take it to a dog fight Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
It needs a peak reading meter and it does not tuner correctly. I had it about two weeks and it started to have trouble tuning. Then it just stopped. The SWR detector went out with only 800 watts in. NEEDS HELP BUT could be a great tuner if they get the bugs out.