Monday, March 6, 2017 — More changes in the equipment lineup at my corner “shack” in the our home’s library. I removed the SGC MAC 200 autotuner.
Nothing is wrong with the autotuner; I just didn’t like the noise it made every time I had to change bands. And unlike retuning a manual tuner, you have to key the transmitter (albeit at low power) for the autotuner to find a match.
Before I removed the SGC, I opened up the MFJ-949E I rehabbed some years ago. The inductor switch had come loose prior to my purchase of the unit, and I didn’t get it tight enough, and it was very loose. I went in and made sure none of the leads from the switch to the coil were shorted. At least two of them were shorted, so I really put the wrench to the switch, then sat down and separated the leads. Other than the switch, the rest of the tuner was in great shape.
Now prior to all of this tuner business, I was searching eBay and asking “where have all the roller inductors gone?”
What I really want to have here in the library is another Heathkit tuner like the one in my main shack — an SA-2040 or SA-2060. I’m hesitant to purchase a used tuner with a roller inductor that uses basically an “air core” design. Not that I don’t think they work, but I’m leery of buying a used one. The rollers can present problems if they’ve been abused …. and let’s face it — reviews of the AirCore roller inductor MFJ tuners indicate arcing can be an issue. I don’t want to invest in one — and even used they can top $200 — only to find it needs to be repaired.
Last night I threw caution to the wind and hit the Buy It Now button for a used MFJ-969 300-watt roller inductor tuner that was priced crazy low. The seller said the tuner was untested because he “was unable to find the power cord.” Hmmmm …. At the price I paid, if I had to purchase a replacement AirCore roller form MFJ I would still come out OK.
I’m still of the belief I have a Murch antenna tuner here at home. I may have parted ways with it since it did not have a 4:1 balun. I can add a balun if I find it. I checked the two places where it was mostly likely located and came up empty, so it is possible it is sitting in someone else’s shack as I write this.
I’ll have a full report of the condition of my new tuner when it arrives. I know many people dog MFJ products, but I find that they generally have given me good service. No, a MFJ-941D is not comparable to a Heathkit SA-2060, but as my first tuner, it matched everything I used, including a random length longwire. It was the first new piece of ham gear I bought new, and served me well without a problem.
73 ES CUL DE KY4Z GN SK …. dit dit …