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Reviews For: MFJ-949D

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : MFJ-949D
Reviews: 21MSRP: 150
Description:
300 watt antenna tuner
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/tuners/mfj949e.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00214
KJ4RZZ Rating: 2020-03-17
I have the 949C but close enough Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just found one of these at a thrift store for $24. I literally ran for it when I saw MFJ on a box stacked in the back. My antenna has been down for awhile, so I ran a single strand of telephony "punch down" wire (twisted pair), about 50ft long out my window and to the top of a nearby tree at an angle. Connected it to the wire lug, and I'll be darned if it didn't tune up 1:1 on 40m. I had some doubts so I did a short FT8 QSO with 10 watts and got a good report. I've wasted years with auto-tuners. A simple manual tuner is the way to go!
KB2NAT Rating: 2012-01-10
Works well and easily Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought mine at a garage sale for $25. It has been an excellent unit, tuning verticals, G5RV's, and horizontal loops. It hasn't failed at tuning anything anything I've tried to tune thus far. It just does what you'd want it to do.
KE6TDT Rating: 2011-12-04
Tunes everything Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had this tuner for about 10 years and will say it tunes my homemade inverted V and vertical Butternut HF6V-x flat on all bands.

No problems with this tuner and the SWR meter is large and easy to read.

If you need a basic manual tuner that gets the job done, the 949D will do that.
KB0HAE Rating: 2011-02-20
Good tuner Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I would give this tuner a 4.5. It has worked well for me. I like the large lighted cross needle meter and the internal dummy load. No bad switches or solder joints. My only issue is that the power jack for the light is a 1/8 inch phone jack. When a plug is inserted, the positive leas is shorted to ground momentarily. Not an issue if using a small wall wort, it could well be an issue if using a larger power supply or a battery to power the light Otherwise a good reliable tuner.
KB0SFP Rating: 2010-06-01
Not too bad for an MFJ. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Mine is actually a 949C but I doubt if there is much difference, if any. I purchased this tuner used at a hamfest for $50 in the box with the manual. I consider this money well spent. It was my first experience with cross needle meters & I must say that it has spoiled me. The built in 100 watt dry dummy load, multi-antenna switch & bypass function are all very nice features to have in your tuner.

I've been very disappointed of late with several of my MFJ purchases & I have voiced this disappointment here. So, I felt compelled to write something positive about one of the companies products, or as positive as I could. That in mind, this tuner(once fixed) would tune anything I hooked to it. My main station antenna(though I have many) is a 75mtr 1/4 wave vertical currently fed with about 75ft of coax. This tuner will tune that antenna on any frequency between 160 & 10 meters. Now that is quite a feat as this antenna will present everything from a very-very low impedance on 160 to an extremely high one on 10. But this tuner would tune it.

Now for the bad news. I don't know if it was I who did it, or if the antenna was purchased that way, but the max inductance position on the selector switch was burned up & arching. It was a typical heepie cheepie MFJ switch. I replaced it with a standard one of the same size made of porcelain. The second point common with many MFJ RF products is their unwillingness to buy hardware. I/E all the SO-239 connectors are held in place with soft aluminum pop rivets(instead of screws, nuts, & lock washers). All of these were loose & you can imagine the havoc it played when trying to tune a load. To add to this crummy practice, even though these SO-239's have 4 mounting/screw holes MFJ saved another fraction of a cent by only using TWO pop rivets. Not wanting to drill them out & replace them with screws I was able to tighten them up with a center punch & ball peen hammer. Then there was the usual abundance of crummy solder connections. Lastly, though rated at 300 watts this tuner will only take at most 1/2 that. But then, it's an MFJ so you already know that.

Would I buy a new one? Absolutely not! Would I buy a used one cheap, then bring it home & fix it up? You betcha.

Dennis Starks
Military-Radio-Guy
KB0SFP
Monitor(all USB):
3996, 5403.5, 7296, 14342.5, 18157.5
AC0LP Rating: 2009-05-18
Wiring faults seem a common complaint Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Bought used on Ebay - open it up and found one cold joint and one wire just wrapped around a terminal without ANY solder in sight.

Once repaired, it functioned fine in a marine mobile environment using about 25 watts on Pactor II. I also used it when landlocked but eventually sold it when all my equipment had internal tuners.

If you pick one up, get out the magnifiers and examine EVERY connection.
N5XTR Rating: 2008-03-24
Better than expected! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My 949D was a freebie from another ham. He replaced it with an LDG AT1000. When I took the cover off, the inductor coil was soldered together from the heat. I fixed it and separated the coils. It has a very good tuning range and I really use the dummy load a lot. I even had this thing mounted in the mobile!!!

More reliable than my LDG AT100pro!
KB9BPF Rating: 2006-07-17
Good to have around Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had a "D" for many years and it's performed well. I don't use it much any more since I'm QRO-capable, but I think it's a nice tuner for use with a barefoot rig. I did once try to use it with a DX-100 on 160m (125w carrier / 500W PEP AM) and it started to spit a little, but I won't hold that against it at all.

Like any T-match, it's possible to find multiple matches on most bands. For best efficiency and to reduce the possibilty of damaging the tuner, the rule of thumb is to use the smallest inductance setting possible that provides a match.
VA3DXV Rating: 2006-05-02
Can't ask for more for the money Time Owned: more than 12 months.
All in all, a pretty good tuner for the money. One can be had on the used market for about $75 to $90 canadian.

The limit is 300 watts. I frequently transmit at over 500-600 watts, and the tuner handles it just fine, as long as I remember to tune at lower power first.

I've put over 400 watts carrier into the dummy load and while it gets hot and smells bad, and the value of the resistor will change a little, it hasn't gone "poof" yet :) Then again I haven't really pushed it either.

Would have been a 5 if it was constructed a bit better, but for the money this one was a good buy. Your mileage may vary with MFJ.
W7WHY Rating: 2006-04-15
Good little tuners Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I get a kick out of all the 0 through 2 reviews for antenna tuners. Especially when they say "I have owned 4 of them." For crying out loud, it something is so bad, why buy 4 of them? Sometimes I think somebody hasn't RFM or something.

I have had (and still have) 3 of the MFJ 949 tuners here in the shack and they have all worked fine. I use one on a 130 foot center fed with 300 ohm ribbon on all bands 160 through 10. I have a G5RV on the other radio and another tuner tunes it fine. Never had a problem with either one of them.

You have to go through the knob settings while listening to the receiver before you crank a bunch of power into one and then start flipping switches. Just listening to the radio can get you really close to the right tuning before applying power. Once I get them set, I just return the knobs back to the marked settings and it's really close. I just ordered another higher powered one to use with my new amplifier.

So far, been very satisfied with my MFJ tuners.