LESON LEARNED

[Beetle]

I have one also and would buy another
View attachment 19992 the color of the lighting is al so very nice CN-801-HP 1.8 to 200 MHZ peak add RMs 20 200 and 2000 watts nice Buy it!!!

Nice closeup picture. For those who insist on calling this a "Diawa", check the logo in the upper left corner of the meter.

And JoeDirt - a Bird 43 isn't reliable as a comparison unless it's been recently (within 6 months ago) calibrated by a lab that specializes in that. A brand-new, fresh-out of-the-box 43 would probably be trustworthy. Give it six months of daily use and it would be questionable. Each slug used with that specific 43 has to be calibrated WITH the 43. I used to do that work for the Navy. They are rugged, a little bit short of bulletproof, though, and not laboratory-standards quality for accuracy.

 

[Tallman]

OUCH!!! The attack of the spelling police. I can't wait for the grammar Nazi's. I can't help it because I'm dyslexic.
Dyslexic's of the world "Untie!"
Good catch there Beetle.

 

[Sonar]

What exactly is the issue with your unit? Is the display not working? That should be easily fixed under warranty. I've had warranty work done by MFJ and they fixed the problem and were very helpful.

MFJ definitely is hit or miss on some products but others products work fine and have good ratings so I wouldn't say they are something to steer clear off completely.

That 828 is pretty expensive for a PEP meter and it works pretty well, but anytime you add anything digital like a display you can have failures. I had one but didn't like that it didn't work for QRP.

My 3 month old samsung dryer with a digital panel stopped working and they had to replace the whole digital panel. Our old washer with "analog" controls lasted for 30 years and is still working at a friends house who we gave it to.

It never worked from day one. The cross needles are all over the place for two seconds after key up then they settle down. The digital side is off and reads everything higher than it is.
I sent it to MFJ for warranty repair, but it came back the same way I sent it to them (I don't believe they ever tested it). I should have listened to those who advised me against purchasing it in the first place. I currently use Autek wm 1. I have two of them (one for a backup), and don't think I will ever need another meter again. For my needs it's an excellent meter. I was concidering sending the MFJ out to see if it could be repaired through a simple calibration, but really don't want to spend another Penny on it beyond the purchase price I'm already out. It's in the original box sitting in the closet exactly where it belongs, and probably will be there until the Sun Burns Out. 73

 

[JoeDirt]

Nice closeup picture. For those who insist on calling this a "Diawa", check the logo in the upper left corner of the meter.

And JoeDirt - a Bird 43 isn't reliable as a comparison unless it's been recently (within 6 months ago) calibrated by a lab that specializes in that. A brand-new, fresh-out of-the-box 43 would probably be trustworthy. Give it six months of daily use and it would be questionable. Each slug used with that specific 43 has to be calibrated WITH the 43. I used to do that work for the Navy. They are rugged, a little bit short of bulletproof, though, and not laboratory-standards quality for accuracy.

Good to know!

My comments were purly observational non scientific.

None of mine have been calibrated probaly never will. For hobbyist it's the close enough, don't need super accurate just reliable and consistent.

 

[StrangeBrew]

I remember back in the day the big boys ran Bird meters because of the high power handling ability and low insertion loss, the belief that they are more accurate than others seems to have come along later.

 

[222DBFL]

Same here StrangeBrew. The big boys doing over 10k watts used them along with 1 5/8" hardline and Din connectors! The Chevy 4 door long suburbans were used a lot. Anyhow. About how you remeber it is as well for me.

 

[M0GVZ]

Digital meters are more accurate than analogue needle ones. The reason for that is that the movement of a needle meter isn't linear. As I recall, if you read the manual for a the Diawa it even says it is accurate only at full deflection so if you're on the 200W scale with a 100W radio it most likely won't register 100W.

 

[Beetle]

Analog meters' accuracy is specified as "percentage of full scale deflection", meaning that on a 100 watt input, on a 0-100 watt meter scale specified by the meter manufacturer to have an uncertainty no more than plus or minus 1% FSD, the maximum uncertainty would be plus or minus one watt ANYWHERE on that scale. The user should know to use the scale that produces the highest upscale deflection without going off the scale.

On a 200 watt range with the same uncertainty, the 100 watt input might read anywhere from 98W to 102W, which meet the manufacturer's specifications.

Digital circuitry is subject to components changing value from age, temperature, humidity -- kinda like people.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Digital meters are more accurate than analogue needle ones. The reason for that is that the movement of a needle meter isn't linear. As I recall, if you read the manual for a the Diawa it even says it is accurate only at full deflection so if you're on the 200W scale with a 100W radio it most likely won't register 100W.

Actually analog meters state their accuracy as a percentage of the full scale reading. A meter with 5% accuracy could be off by 20 watts if the full scale reading is 1000 watts. When the meter movement across the scale is not linear that is evident by the change in spacing along the meter scale. Most meters have a large spacing between reference marks at the low end of the scale to compensate for non-linear deflection.

 

[Sonar]

Good to know!

My comments were purly observational non scientific.

None of mine have been calibrated probaly never will. For hobbyist it's the close enough, don't need super accurate just reliable and consistent.

"For the hobbiest". I think that's what's most important to the majority of us. Including me. Unfortunately this MFJ 828 is useless to even me (a hobbyist). I don't mind learning lessons, but it sucks when you have to pay for them.

 

[fourstringburn]

Mighty Fine Junk applies here, damn shame!

Most of us own MFJ stuff and it seems to be hit or miss. Even their 259b analyzer that they are proud of was defective when I bought one new and had to send it back.

Disheartening to say the least laying out that kind of money and has defects from the start.

I do have some MFJ stuff that's fine but overall I would look elsewhere for similar products.

Hope you get your meter issues resolved!

 

[Sonar]

Mighty Fine Junk applies here, damn shame!

Most of us own MFJ stuff and it seems to be hit or miss. Even their 259b analyzer that they are proud of was defective when I bought one new and had to send it back.

Disheartening to say the least laying out that kind of money and has defects from the start.

I do have some MFJ stuff that's fine but overall I would look elsewhere for similar products.

Hope you get your meter issues resolved!

I wasn't familiar with that the acronym, but it definitely fits. I do think there is a small chance that if the meter where be to calibrated according to factory specs (but then again) It might actually work. I send my equipment to a tech who can perform the calibration. The issue I'm having with that is do I really want to spend another penny on this Mother Fxxking Junk?
Between the shipping cost and the calibration work itself I'm assuming it's going to cost me about $60? I also don't know if the calibration is actually going to correct the problems that this meter suffer from. I've read Several eham reviews on the 828 (unfortunately after the purchase), and a few of the reviewers had the exact same issue mine did. After getting it back from MFJ (warranty repair) it worked as it did before I sent it to them. The cross needles jump all over the place, but do eventually settle down. Which doesn't matter because the readings are off anyway. The digital side of the meter is off on all readings swr/output/reflected power. There is one thing that actually works. The frequency counter, but does me no good without the important readings. I purchased an Autek WM 1. I own now two of them and wish I would have known about them before I purchased the 828. For my needs the Autek is excellent. I probably could have purchased four wm1 meters for the price of a single 828 and would have been happy to do exactly that. 73

 

[StrangeBrew]

Don't know the details but I have heard of people having problems with those things after they upgraded the firmware, if you want to throw a Hail Mary look into finding some different versions of the firmware to try.

 

[Ranch55]

I also have 3 of the Daiwa meters, and 2 Bird 43's. I like all of them, but use the Daiwa's daily.

 

[Big Kahuna]

Here's what I'd do -

I'm guessing your meter isn't working like the one in this video -

Make your own video showing how yours is working and post it to YouTube but unlisted and then.....

email MFJ the top video, your video, and this thread and tell them they need to remedy the situation and pay for the shipping. Hard for them to not to offer to fix it at that point and if they don't - make your video public and change the title to MFJ defective meter that they won't fix under warranty and give all the details in the description.

I've had a warranty issue with MFJ and they were great and fixed it so I'm surprised that they would say it's working correctly if it isn't but if they won't fix it then call them out.

Companies need to stand behind their products - if they don't then more and more threads like this show up and eventually people stop buying.