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Reviews For: MFJ-874 Grandmaster SWR/Power Meter

Category: SWR & Wattmeters & Dummy Loads

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Review Summary For : MFJ-874 Grandmaster SWR/Power Meter
Reviews: 6MSRP: 149.95
Description:
SWR/Power meter covers 1.8 to 525MHz. 200 Watts Max input. Reads SWR, and forward/Reflected Power. Switch lets you select Average or PEP Power for AM & SSB.
Dual coax inputs and outputs for Radios with separate HF/6M and VHF/UHF antenna connections. Large lighted 3 1/2" X 1 3/4" meter.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0063.7
K7MLG Rating: 2019-01-25
HF/VHF fine, UHF no Good Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
The bad news is it uses SO-239 connectors which are only good to 100-300 MHz max. For example 5 watt Yaesu was 5 watts on VHF (144 MHz/ 2 meters )but only reading 3+ watts on UHF (440 MHz/ 70 cm). A friends station was reading only about 12 watts on a 25 watt rig at 440 MHz.
Readings I took on HF (3-30 MHz) and VHF (144 MHz) and were as expected. So if your use is restricted to 2 meters and below, the units a good value.
W4KVW Rating: 2011-12-06
WORKS "GREAT"! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have been using my MFJ-874 for about 3 years or so now with ZERO issues.Perfect wattmeter for my ICOM 746 PRO on 2 & 6 meter bands since I don't use an amplifier on 2 or 6 meters & this is the ONLY bands I use the 746 PRO on.It is my backup HF radio but it's RARE I ever put it on any HF band since I keep my ICOM 756 PROII there!

Clayton
W4KVW
W4DRH Rating: 2011-08-19
Reasonable all purpose swr meter Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am a new ham. Have graduated from cb and marine radio back when a license was required. I was looking for a simple all band swr meter. For the money I think it gets me in the ball park so I don't burn up my radios. I have no regrets
WB8UUJ Rating: 2010-09-05
Good for HF only.... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
It's practically impossible to manufacture a good quality HF/VHF/UHF SWR/POWER METER all in one box, with an economical price tag....I've been in this radio hobby for 50+ years and I shudda known better than to expect that....this MFJ-874 is great and reasonably accurate for QRP HF, but it's power-out accuracy fails miserably for VHF/UHF....
KK1JX Rating: 2010-03-29
1/2 of it works Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
When I first got this SWR meter, I thought it was great. I was testing it only with UHF and VHF radios. However, once I got an HF rig and plugged it in, it did some strange things. I triple-checked to make sure I had everything set right and plugged in correctly. As I would talk in the radio, the meter would move up and down, not with the wattage or SWR. The second time I tried it on HF, everything worked perfectly. The subsequent times it has not worked, but the behavior was as before. Very unpredictable. I would not get another one of these because of this problem. I have no idea why it worked the second time and not the first or later times. I still need to get in touch with MFJ. They are always closed when I am at home and able to call them (at work it's a bit tricky), but am hoping they can offer an adequate solution. May report back later. 73 de KO3U
K3DAV Rating: 2009-07-25
Great Meter Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had my MFJ-874 for several years now. It was directly compared to a Byrd wattmeter, and the 874 was within just a couple of watts.

This meter is designed for use with radios that have 2 antenna connections on the rear, like the 706MKIIG, or the FT-857. One for HF/6M, and the other for VHF/UHF. A switch on the front of the meter lets you choose between the 2 band coverage areas.

Keep in mind, this meter can also be connected to a single HF/6M radio, and a separate VHF/UHF radio, at the same time, and can be left inline with both radios at all times. The push of a button lets you select which radio you want the meter to read SWR or power from.

NOTE: It is not designed for 2 HF or 2 VHF/UHF radios. It must be one of each only. One set of in/outputs are made for 1.8 to 200MHz. The other set is made for 125 to 525MHz. Because of this overlapping configuration, the only acceptable combination of 2 equal radios would be 2 separate 2 meter radios. 2 meters is the only frequency band that both sets of in/outputs share.

I used this MFJ-874 for many years on my old Icom 706MKIIG, and now use it on my Icom 746PRO. It is about 6 years old now, and still performs like the day it was new. The PEP reading feature is great for AM and SSB power readings. The meter face has 3 scales for power which are selectable with the range switch for 5W, 20W, or 200W scales. With a 5 watt input, all 3 scales showed the same 5W power reading.

There are 2 SWR scales close together for the 2 different band ranges. They can read an SWR up to 10.1:1 then to infinity.

The meter printing is large bold print in black and red, and very easy to read. The meters movement is smooth, and not jumpy. It goes to the reading solidly without going past the correct reading and falling back and forth until it settles. Then the needle slowly drops to zero in 2 seconds. There is a small green light in the bottom that shines upwards. It is not very bright, but it's enough to read the meter. It is powered separately by a DC jack on the rear, and will take 13.8VDC directly from any source.

I highly recommend the MFJ-874 meter to everyone. For my application, I noticed very little to no insertion loss in power or recieve signals on all bands. Of most meters I have owned,(And that includes many top brand names), the MFJ-874 has been the most accurate and dependable I have used yet. You can't do better for under $150.00. This review is based on 6 years of experience with the same meter.