Anyone have good luck with this unit? Looking for coverage in the 2,
1 1/4 meter bands.

Anyone have good luck with this unit? Looking for coverage in the 2,
1 1/4 meter bands.

Both the MFJ 259 and 269 cover the 2-meter band. The 269 also covers
the 70 cm band. Neither covers the 1.25 meter band. As far as I
know, MFJ has no analyzer which handles this range.

Both of the MFJ products work decently well within their limitations.
Neither can display the sign of the reactive component of the
impedance... you have to deduce whether it's inductive or capacitive
by changing the analysis frequency slightly and seeing what happens to
the reactance. Neither will work well if the antenna is picking up
strong RF from another transmitter nearby - the voltage- and
current-sensing diodes can't distinguish between RF from the analyzer,
RF reflected back from the load impedance, and RF being picked up by
the antenna. Both analyzers can actually be damaged by strong-enough
RF picked up by the antenna - the zero-bias sensing diodes are
somewhat fragile. The 269 is apparently vulnerable to diode damage if
you switch the "UHF" mode on or off in ways which violate the warnings
in the manual. The build quality of MFJ products isn't sterling.

However, these products are the de facto standard and "must have" in
the ham radio community, and I think they work well enough to justify
this reputation.

Autek Research makes a series of competing analyzers, one of which
covers the VHF range (37-75 and 138-500+ MHz). They don't read out
the reactive component of the impedance directly - they show the total
Z, and the SWR, and you must compute R and X yourself (instructions
are in the manual). Reports on eHam.net seem to indicate that Autek
has a build-quality problem even worse than MFJ's, and serious
problems with customer support and satisfaction.


--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

************************************************** ************************
* Ham since 1937 HiSchool Sophomore ex W9ZUU, KP4EX, W4FAG, KH6ARG KH6JF *
* WW2 Vet since Sep 1940 to just After VJ day. US Signal Corps AACS *
************************************************** ************************




On Sun, 18 Nov 2007, Karl in Spokane wrote:

Anyone have good luck with this unit? Looking for coverage in the 2,
1 1/4 meter bands.

I have the MFJ Differential T tuner with the roller inductor.
I had to use DEOXIT to clean the roller conductor as it gets crud
on the roller wire after extensive use. I still use it now after
5 years. MFJ augmented this tuner which is belt driven to a
gear driven upgrade which would be a heck of a lot more accurate
than my early version. It still works okay, but needs a cleaning
as you can work around the corroded spots on the roller inductor.
Joe

Both the MFJ 259 and 269 cover the 2-meter band....

Autek Research makes a series of competing analyzers, one of which
....[snip]....
Reports on eHam.net seem to indicate that Autek
has a build-quality problem even worse than MFJ's, and serious
problems with customer support and satisfaction.

I purchased an Autek VA-1 which "measured" the Autek-supplied precision
resistors with a 10-15% error and it drifted terribily, but after I
complained by email and returned the unit (at my expense), they sent
me another (at their expense) which seems to work fine, so while they
had a build-quality problem, I have no complaints on their customer
support..
--
--Myron A. Calhoun.
Five boxes preserve our freedoms: soap, ballot, witness, jury, and cartridge
NRA Life Member & Certified Instructor for Rifle, Pistol, & Home Firearm Safety
Also Certified Instructor for the Kansas Concealed-Carry Handgun (CCH) license