![]() I own 2 MFJ 976 balanced line tuners for 2 different antennas. Nothing that I couldn't fix myself but after spending nearly $500 on a tuner I had hoped for better QC.īest Balanced Line Tuner on the market today I'm giving it a 4 instead of a 5 because the meter calibration was way off, the pointer on the transmitter capacitor was off by about 10 degrees, the inductor knob was loose and started slipping the first time I used it and there is a little backlash on the transmitter capacitor. The manual is incorrect when it says the 12V is just for the meter lamp. Unlike some MFJ tuners, the meters don't work without hooking up the 12V power. 10M was particularly tricky - I think it may be to do with the "Self Resonance Killer" that seems result in a very small range in inductance values that result in a match. The 976 tunes my G5RV on all bands although getting it to match seems a little more difficult than it was with the 2060. Don't forget to reconfigure them before connecting up your balanced load. Out of the box, the jumpers are set for an unbalanced load. My only antenna is a G5RV fed with 450 ohm ladder line. I've also tried the MFJ-974, but the capacitors are not as smooth - and the 974 won't handle high power.īought mine a few days ago to replace my Heathkit 2060a. You may have to tweak slightly due to weather changes, but you'll always be close. Second, you should make a good "cheat sheet" for your antenna by connecting an antenna analyzer (like the MFJ-259) and finding the settings that get you to closest to a 50 ohm impedance and low SWR. ![]() Two points to make for those who need a good balanced line tuner.įirst, this is a big box with no antenna switch so you might want to connect it to the "bypass" port of another tuner if you have both coax and ladder lines running to multiple antennas. As a ham who likes to tinker, I appreciate that their warranty is not voided if you try to fix it yourself. One warranty issue, when the diodes in the wattmeter circuit went south, but I was able to repair it thanks to the helpful service dept at MFJ. This tuner seems to have a wider impedance matching range on twinlead load than my Palstar At-4K (which is fine for coax load.) The most stunning part was - It seems it was made in USA.Īfter several years of using this tuner with a 1KW amp and an all-band doublet antenna, I would still recommend it. That is why got it in "second hand" state rather than "used" state. As such it was impossible to make this tuner "used". In order to make something "used" one have to use it. Even visually! That why the tuner was new. ![]() I other positions the plates were so close that I expect it would have arced even watts.ģ. One of them was shortening in some positions. The capacitors's plates were severely misaligned. As such rotation of the knobs did not result in any capacitor's movementĢ. The shafts were bent to accommodate push without alignment. Both capacitors were disconnected from the shafts. Opening the case revealed astounding picture!ġ. It just showed some capacitance with very little R. Attaching to dummy load and antenna analyzer showed that rotating any control had NO effect. The components are definitely flimsier than in SA2060A which I did not expect for ~$1000 price tag. Though I would afraid to put legal limit into it but this is just an opinion. It did not explode or release smoke during last ARRL DX CW at 500 W. On transmit my WIFI does not reset when I send 500 W into my ZS6BKW as it used to be with SA2060A. Particularly considering that my other MFJ tuner sits in MFJ's repair center for second month with no communication from MFJ.Īnyway, this a balanced tuner and as such it does work better than my SA2060A. Had I pay full price my rating will 0 stars. I got the tuner second hand and for a bargain price.
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