score i think

[EZ CHOPPER]

just picked one of these up yesterday are they any good

[sonoma]

if it is working that is a nice item. it is the antenna analyzer every one talks about. if it does not work MFJ fixes them fairly cheap. good score there. I have had mine since about 2002. works good. never use a swr meter since I got this.

[MDYoungblood]

I like and have the same one, you can check the readings with a dummy load, hook it up to your antenna and see what it reads You can download a manual off the MFJ site.

3's

Greg

[sonoma]

chopper if it works you made out big time.a lot of guy's would love to have one of these. just make sure you do not have it on and key a high powered radio close by. it will mess up the meter for sure.

[jessejamesdallas]

Score? depends I guess on what you had to give for it...

If your going to keep it and use it...Just a little friendly "FYI"....Use rechargeable battery's or get a cigarette lighter adapter for it...Thing uses 10 AA battery's, and will eat them up quick!

I use a cigarette lighter adapter with mine...on mine you have to remove a bunch of screws and take off the back to get to the battery compartment. Allot easier just to plug it into the lighter...of course I have to use battery's if checking the the base.

[sonoma]

I have a power supply to plug into the house for base use if my batteries are low.I bought mine new over 10 years ago and paid about 269.00 for it back then. that included the manual, car power cord and home power cord. later in time they stopped sending a paper manual with them. you had to download it from their web site. after I bought mine I never used a swr meter since. these are the best way to check your antenna in my opinion. what I like is you can just turn the knob and see just how broad banded your antenna is. I also like the option to check where the coax is damaged at.

[EZ CHOPPER]

it works I give $150 for it I haven't done a dummy load on it yet but it shows the same as my little swr meter

[sonoma]

good price to me. what I like is you can have it hooked to a antenna and turn the dial and it will show the swr on the freq as you turn it.

[jessejamesdallas]

it works I give $150 for it I haven't done a dummy load on it yet but it shows the same as my little swr meter

Dummy load...Why would you want to?

[MDYoungblood]

it works I give $150 for it I haven't done a dummy load on it yet but it shows the same as my little swr meter

Dummy load...Why would you want to?

I use a dummy load to check the meters and readout once in a while and after it's been borrowed. One of the little cheap 5 watt resistor type works fine, check it with a VTVM to see the ohm reading and then the analyzer to see if it reads the same.
Read the manual on batteries, it requires 1500mA or more AA's, not your average rechargeable AA's.
Like sonoma said, after I got mine I've never went back to an SWR meter to adjust an antenna but still have the meters inline though to see whats going on.

3's

Greg

[nk14zp]

Nice score! Now you know just how much to chop off an antenna.

[jessejamesdallas]

it works I give $150 for it I haven't done a dummy load on it yet but it shows the same as my little swr meter

Dummy load...Why would you want to?

I use a dummy load to check the meters and readout once in a while and after it's been borrowed. One of the little cheap 5 watt resistor type works fine, check it with a VTVM to see the ohm reading and then the analyzer to see if it reads the same.
Read the manual on batteries, it requires 1500mA or more AA's, not your average rechargeable AA's.
Like sonoma said, after I got mine I've never went back to an SWR meter to adjust an antenna but still have the meters inline though to see whats going on.

3's

Greg

You lend yours out?

Mine doesn't go anywhere without me...

[MDYoungblood]

You lend yours out?

Mine doesn't go anywhere without me...

Only to those I trust and that isn't many. Most times I am asked to come along with it and then I don't need to check it afterward.

3's

Greg

[EZ CHOPPER]

I will have to find one somewhere

[sonoma]

Chopper it is just a 12 volt plug in power wall wart. just have to make sure the plug in to the 259B is a match for size. the 259B also has a switch inside the meter for using rechargeable batteries and then regular non chargeable batteries. make sure it is switched to the right mode when you plug in an external supply.if you have rechargeable batteries the 12 volt plugin will not work until until it charges up the batteries. since you did not say if you have an external plug with the unit right now you need to get a copy of the manual and read up on this.;
here is the link to the manual if you have not copied it yet. page 4 explains the plug requirements.

http://www.mfjenterprises.com/support.p ... d=MFJ-259B

[tracker5]

My technician uses just like that. Good score.

[EZ CHOPPER]

I have not plugged it in it has like 10 AA batteries in it

[Bobcat]

Where that thing "shines" is if you play around with antennas a lot.... or make your own. An SWR meter uses your transmitter for the power to excite the antenna. The analyzer you got there needs no transmitter and it's frequency ranges are so wide that, if you can't get good SWR on an antenna with a meter, this thing can find where it IS resonating... so at least you have a grip on which way to go. Sometimes if your antenna is off enough..... it just looks "high" from end to end and you don't have a clue what you need to do. Great score.

[De_Wildfire]

It is real good. I used to use it all the time when I came home on the weekends from my other job. It would be dark and I can tell if my three antennas were on the resonant on each band where they should be. It's very handy especially if you want to transit on the MURS cb band above 150MHZ and can easily tune the antenna. I use mine all the time when building antennas. It was worth the money.