| W9DEW |
Rating:      |
2006-03-09 | |
| $ for $, a GREAT Tuner |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have had this tuner for about 10-12 years. I have had only 1 problem, lightening! AND replacing a diode resolved that. I have tuned just about everything with it. On 160 meters, I had certain frequencies that I could not tune my 40 meter dipole, but I consider that quite an accomplishment. I never had anything that would put out more than 100 watts so I can't say how it would handle that.
It works great on ladder line and coax. Meter is easy to read, lighting is a blessing for my older eyes. If you need a versatile tuner for a 100 watt rig, you won’t find a better deal for $65 to $95 bucks used.
73 & Good DX,
Don, W9DEW
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| W5NM |
Rating:  |
2006-01-25 | |
| Not Too Swift! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have owned several MFJ tuners over the years,
and without exception, everyone has bad switches.
After a couple of years or less, the switches do
not make good contact or are burned. Also on some
MFJ tuners, I found the rotary capacitor contacts
to be intermittent and making lousy connection.
When they are new, they generally work fine, but
given a little time and use and they fall short
in quality and performance. I also have had two
MFJ 259B units which also have poor switches which eventually fail all together.
They are still are a long way from manufacturing
a quality product that will last for years. I
believe that MFJ does the Ham community a great service by providing products that can't be purchased anywhere else at any price. I for one
appreciate it. That being said, I hope they (MFJ)
read some of these comments about their products
and do something to improve their quality control. |
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| N5UV |
Rating:      |
2006-01-25 | |
| Don't listen to the MFJ-haters.... |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've had one these for over 15 year, and I haven't had ONE single workmanship or QC issue or operating problem. Not a single issue, guys! I've used it 3 years in a row now for Field Day, it's been banged up and dropped I don't know how many times, I've taken it camping in the past, ran OVER 100 watts on it with tube rigs, made non-resonant ants. fed with coax work just well enough to operate on other bands, etc. If that's not a good tuner, I don't know what is!
I bought this new, so anyone buying it used should be leary to begin with...you can possibly buy radios used, but not tuners (or amplifiers), because you don't really know how abused someone else's stuff is until giving it a good workout on the air...on all bands.
Not sure about the comment having to do with the lack of "range" on the tuner, I've never had a problem loading up anything to it...even non-resonant antennas (like window sill frames, etc.) Look, you're going to have to retune on 80 meters every time you move 25 kcs or more, that's just a fact of life...that's a function of the antenna (and how it was built or designed), can't blame the tuner because you're loading up a Hustler CB antenna on 60 meters.
Only reason I don't use one any more is that I'm going to be "driving a stagecoach" soon, to use the CB term for running high power...so I got the MFJ Differential T version, and it works well too.
Stop hating MFJ for what they are...you may not like the quality of some of their products, but more times than not, they have good equipment at affordable prices. If you have money growing on trees, then go deck out your shack with all the Ten-Tec gear you like.
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| KC9GGV |
Rating:      |
2005-12-19 | |
| Good Tuner |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I have had my MFJ-949D for almost a year. I got it on eBay for about $70. I have never had any trouble with it. The meter works fine and no problems with the inductor. I am using it to tune a G5RV Jr on 10, 20 and 40 meters. I also use it on 80 meters by tying both sides of G5RV Jr together with a jumper and run it into the tuner as a single wire (Marconi T). For a simple tuner it gets the job done. |
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| NE0P |
Rating:      |
2004-08-24 | |
| works well for me! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I picked up one of these tuners recently on ebay to replace a 941D which I traded for an HT. The 941D was a great tuner, but the meter didn't work, and I thought that the internal dummy load might be nice if I got a tube rig.
So far the tuner has worked great. Matches anything I throw at it. The settings were much different than on the 941D, but it loads it up. It also seems less picky than the 941D, where you had to tweak the caps just right to get a match on some bands. This tuner also has some nice features:
1. Cross needle power/SWR meter
2. Internal dummy load
3. PEP or average reading meter
4. Antenna switch that will handle 2 coax antennas, and a balanced line or single wire feeder.
Overall, it does the job, and looks fairly nice while doing it. Plus it didn't cost an arm and leg like some of the other tuners out there. You can say what you want to about MFJ, but I have always had good luck with their tuners. |
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| KB3JZG |
Rating:   |
2003-10-14 | |
| Horrible Inductor Switch |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| Reason behind the "E" unit was one of the problems I had with the "D". The rotary inductor switch will not last. It was never made to handle 300 watts let alone 150. After mine went south, MFJ informed me that the only way to fix it was to get a totally new inductor with the switch installed. Now I have a "D" unit with the "E" inductor and switch. Havent had any problems since I installed the new parts....... |
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| KE8YY |
Rating:     |
2003-05-31 | |
| A good, solid tuner |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I've had this tuner for well over 10 years. I've used it to improve the match on my Butternut vertical and to match countless dipoles, half-squares, and other wire antennas I've put up. There's nothing revolutionary about it- just a good, well made T-tuner with cross-needle metering (an excellent feature), dummy load, balun and antenna switch. For most hams, it's all the tuner you'll ever need. |
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| AF4MH |
Rating:      |
2003-01-18 | |
| copy of manual MFJ-949D |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I just got a MFJ-949D used and its working great, but if anyone out there has a copy of the user manual in .pdf format, please can I have a copy of it.. Thanks
great tuner to work with ...
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| AD5EM |
Rating:     |
2003-01-04 | |
| Works and is inexpensive |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I aquired mine with the purchase of my first hf station as a package, used from another ham. I used it with that Yaesu FT-101ZD, then a Collins KWM-2A and most recently with an Alinco DX-70T. All those were into a G5RV and the tuner has worked fine always and on all bands. It's pretty easy to use and I've had no problems with it. I'd give it a 5, but it has kind of a cheap look/feel to it. I've considered selling it several times, but it keeps finding work in my shack, so here it stays. I'm looking for a tuner capable of higher power, so I can run an amplifier, then I might sell this one. |
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| WF1L |
Rating:     |
2002-02-21 | |
| Works Good! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I've only had my unit about 2 months. I purchased it 2nd hand from another Ham who said he had it "gone thru".
I personally can't see what there was to "go thru" but I paid him the $65 that we'd agreed to and have had no problems.
I use the unit to tune a random length end fed wire antenna with resonant cut counterpoise wires connected to the Ground Post and am able to tune and load 100w on all the bands I have wires cut for. It ain't pretty but it works in a stealth antenna required environment. Wish I had the 12 vdc supply to light up the meter.
The only repairs I've had to do to the unit were to tighten up the mounting nuts on the capacitors and "tweak" one of the plates on the antenna capacitor to remove a rubbing condition. Other than that all is as advertised.
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