First! And I wondered when I was gonna see another video from you. I'm down in your part of the world, although I think the other side of the peninsula if I recall. Ooman is over on your side.
Great to hear from you Rob ! I have been in the creative doldrums and busy with work projects. This is a good time of the year to be here. Drop me a note on my cell if you want to meet up. Thanks for watching !
Nice review! I own one of these meters but was wondering about the accuracy. Thanks for the info. Any chance you'd consider reviewing the QRP Guys "Power/SWR Meter w/ internal Dummy Load"?
Thank you ! I sure will as I just bought the QRP guys kit after you brought it to my attention. Keep your eyes peeled for the video. Thanks for watching !
Awesome review Bret! Detailed, controlled and professional as are all of your reviews. Good seeing a video from ya. Hope that all is well with you and the fam brother. Be safe.
@@survivalcomms warm but not well. Got some food news today so still better than most. Nice to hear from you old man. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Excellent review - it seems like the accuracy of this is somewhat underwhelming- can you recommend an accurate inline portable watt/swr meter for portable use ( 0-100 watt range , minimal power requirements)
Thank you ! The meter I have in my antenna box is the MFJ 822 cross needle one that was in this video. Its not perfect or uber compact but it is simple and relatively inexpensive. Thanks for watching !
I recently tested a NISSEI RS-70 and a viewer suggested the MFJ 845 was a rebranded version of it. A quick search, came across your review. Watched it beginning to end. Wished you had tried the entire frequency range. The one I have was close to +/-5% of reading at 14MHz but outside of that, the performance was very poor. I ran several mismatched loads and noticed some very odd behavior. Using 25 vs 100 ohms for example, the meter displays 1.0 SWR for 100 but something closer at 25. I was thinking 1 star would have been generous but the NISSEI has all 5 star ratings on Amazon. Go figure.
I had some more erroneous readings with it recently comparing it to the QRP guys digital SWR wattmeter kit in the video I uploaded a few days ago. I like its form factor but it really is not as consistent as an analog meter movement IMHO. If you are experiencing the problems you outlined you should contact MFJ tech support and voice your concerns with them. Thanks for watching !
@@survivalcomms Mine wasn't from MFJ but direct from NISSEI so I doubt they would offer anything. I did locate a review for the MFJ where they ran a more in depth test and their data looked very reasonable. Maybe mine is defective.
I have the same watt meter and recently when I turn it on, the watts starts go up to and stops at 4.06 and shows an automatic swr of 1.00 without being connected to anything. Do you have any idea what that might be?
Most newer HF radios are all digital and have all of these functions built in, so it seems this is becoming obsolete for the modern age. Seems 3.5 stars would be generous considering the narrow range of accuracy. But, it's good to have reviews and tests like this available so people know the limitations of the gear being sold for the hobby. I like the old needle meters more anyway.
Its form factor is nice but it's not worth the cost IMHO. Its low power accuracy is really abysmal. I wouldn't say a meter is obsolete however. Thanks for watching !
for coms on uper hf like 12-10m for non skip comms what antena would be best a jungle ground plane or a long wire antena like the old AT-984A/G ? my favoret swr meter is the x needel type! no hassel to use! well 73 good dx
Definitely more durable than comparable needle meters. If this sucker was more accurate in the QRP range it would be the cat's pajamas. Thanks for watching !
First! And I wondered when I was gonna see another video from you. I'm down in your part of the world, although I think the other side of the peninsula if I recall. Ooman is over on your side.
Great to hear from you Rob ! I have been in the creative doldrums and busy with work projects. This is a good time of the year to be here. Drop me a note on my cell if you want to meet up. Thanks for watching !
@Steven H I totally agree. Thanks for watching !
Nice review! I own one of these meters but was wondering about the accuracy. Thanks for the info. Any chance you'd consider reviewing the QRP Guys "Power/SWR Meter w/ internal Dummy Load"?
Thank you ! I sure will as I just bought the QRP guys kit after you brought it to my attention. Keep your eyes peeled for the video. Thanks for watching !
Awesome review Bret! Detailed, controlled and professional as are all of your reviews. Good seeing a video from ya. Hope that all is well with you and the fam brother. Be safe.
Thank you very much Ron. All is well here and hoping all is well with you. More vids are in the pipeline so stay tuned. Thanks for watching !
Nice to see your Bret. 👍
Thank you Julian ! Hope all is well with you and you are staying warm. Merry Christmas !
@@survivalcomms warm but not well. Got some food news today so still better than most.
Nice to hear from you old man. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Excellent review - it seems like the accuracy of this is somewhat underwhelming- can you recommend an accurate inline portable watt/swr meter for portable use ( 0-100 watt range , minimal power requirements)
Thank you ! The meter I have in my antenna box is the MFJ 822 cross needle one that was in this video. Its not perfect or uber compact but it is simple and relatively inexpensive. Thanks for watching !
I recently tested a NISSEI RS-70 and a viewer suggested the MFJ 845 was a rebranded version of it. A quick search, came across your review. Watched it beginning to end. Wished you had tried the entire frequency range. The one I have was close to +/-5% of reading at 14MHz but outside of that, the performance was very poor. I ran several mismatched loads and noticed some very odd behavior. Using 25 vs 100 ohms for example, the meter displays 1.0 SWR for 100 but something closer at 25. I was thinking 1 star would have been generous but the NISSEI has all 5 star ratings on Amazon. Go figure.
I had some more erroneous readings with it recently comparing it to the QRP guys digital SWR wattmeter kit in the video I uploaded a few days ago. I like its form factor but it really is not as consistent as an analog meter movement IMHO. If you are experiencing the problems you outlined you should contact MFJ tech support and voice your concerns with them. Thanks for watching !
@@survivalcomms Mine wasn't from MFJ but direct from NISSEI so I doubt they would offer anything. I did locate a review for the MFJ where they ran a more in depth test and their data looked very reasonable. Maybe mine is defective.
@@joesmith-je3tq You may be right. Let me know what channel did the review. Thanks !
@@survivalcomms It was in QST. You may find it here: www.arrl.org/files/file/ProductReviewsForDeb/2016/pr062016.pdf
Merry Christmas Bret.
Merry Christmas !
I have the same watt meter and recently when I turn it on, the watts starts go up to and stops at 4.06 and shows an automatic swr of 1.00 without being connected to anything. Do you have any idea what that might be?
Not sure. I would contact MFJ and ask them. Thanks for watching !
Most newer HF radios are all digital and have all of these functions built in, so it seems this is becoming obsolete for the modern age. Seems 3.5 stars would be generous considering the narrow range of accuracy. But, it's good to have reviews and tests like this available so people know the limitations of the gear being sold for the hobby. I like the old needle meters more anyway.
Its form factor is nice but it's not worth the cost IMHO. Its low power accuracy is really abysmal. I wouldn't say a meter is obsolete however. Thanks for watching !
for coms on uper hf like 12-10m for non skip comms what antena would be best a jungle ground plane or a long wire antena like the old AT-984A/G ? my favoret swr meter is the x needel type! no hassel to use! well 73 good dx
I think the Jungle antenna would be superior for tactical comms in upper HF / VHF Lowband. Thanks for watching !
That meter looks good enough to eat.
Thanks for watching !
Takes a beating and keeps on metering.
Definitely more durable than comparable needle meters. If this sucker was more accurate in the QRP range it would be the cat's pajamas. Thanks for watching !