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MFJ-986 Tuner with upgrades
- Thread starter rangerbob
- Start date
RatsoW8
Supporting Member, W9WDX ARC Member - WD8T
You get what you get with MFJ. It's a crap shoot. I owned a 989C and it came from the factory with a warped ceramic wound coil. If it works... be happy and use it.
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/631
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/631
I have several MFJ tuners and other products aswell and I personally have not had any problems but all I will say is like anything else you have to read the manual their only a few pages (not a novel) and you will be fine. Its like Ameritron Amplifiers people had issues here and there but most were burning things up by tuning them wrong or with or under high power levels so this explains why owners manuals are your bestfriend when it comes to ne equipment 
Got a 986 from a friend last year that he took in trade on some other equipment.
It had either taken an indirect lightning strike or someone switched the antenna selector switch while transmitting! Selector switch was burned pretty bad and two contacts were burned completely off. The Balun was burned too. And two of the coax connectors on the rear were burned. I replaced all of that and cleaned up the inside and cleaned the roller inductor and lubed it. Now it works great. For what I gave for it and the cost of parts, I ended up with a very nice tuner.
Find one in good condition and at a reasonable cost (to you) then they are worth the money.
trucker
It had either taken an indirect lightning strike or someone switched the antenna selector switch while transmitting! Selector switch was burned pretty bad and two contacts were burned completely off. The Balun was burned too. And two of the coax connectors on the rear were burned. I replaced all of that and cleaned up the inside and cleaned the roller inductor and lubed it. Now it works great. For what I gave for it and the cost of parts, I ended up with a very nice tuner.
Find one in good condition and at a reasonable cost (to you) then they are worth the money.
trucker
My experience with the MFJ tuners is that while they're not fancy, they generally work well. You occasionally get the bad one from the factory but they will warranty it. There are nicer and smoother operating manual tuners available, but what matters in the end is if they do the job.