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MFJ-928 Compact IntelliTuner Automatic Antenna Tuner 

Instruction Manual 

 

©

 2005 MFJ Enterprises, Inc. 

2

Features 

 

• 

Automatically matches antennas from 6 to 1600 ohms impedance (SWR up to 32:1) 

• 

Handles 200 watts SSB/CW 

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Tune in less than 15 seconds, usually less than 5 seconds 

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Over 20,000 non-volatile memories for tuner settings 

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Four memory banks per antenna with over 2500 memories per bank 

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Highly efficient switching L-network matching circuit 

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1.8 to 30 MHz continuous frequency coverage 

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Audio SWR meter 

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Built-in frequency counter 

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Built-in radio interface circuitry for compatible radios 

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Built-in bias tee 

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Two SO-239 coax fed antenna connectors 

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Connector for random wire or single wire antennas 

 
 

Specifications 

 

• 

Impedance matching range:  6 to 1600 ohms 

• 

SWR matching range:  up to 8:1 for < 50 ohms and up to 32:1 for > 50 ohms 

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Minimum power for tuning:  2 watts 

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Maximum power while tuning:  100 watts with foldback, 20 watts without foldback 

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RF power limit:  200 watts SSB/CW 

• 

Frequency range:  1.8 to 30 MHz continuous coverage 

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Frequency counter accuracy:  ±1 kHz across HF bands 

• 

Frequency counter range:  up to 50 MHz 

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Capacitance range:  0 to 3961 pF nominal (256 values) 

• 

Inductance range:  0 to 24.86 

μ

H nominal (256 values) 

• 

Relay rating:  10 amp 1000 volts 

• 

Relay electrical life:  100,000 operations 

• 

Relay mechanical life:  10 million operations 

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Memory endurance:  1 million erase/write cycles 

• 

Memory data retention:  > 200 years 

• 

Power requirements:  12 - 15 volts DC, 2.1 × 5.5 mm coaxial plug, center pin positive 

• 

Current consumption:  750 milli-amp or less 

• 

Dimensions (approx.):  6.5 × 2.8 × 7.5 in. (165 × 71 × 191 mm) (width/height/depth) 

 

not including connectors 

• 

Weight (approx.):  2.3 lb. (1.04 kg) 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

†  Specifications and design are subject to change without notice. 

Summary of Contents for Compact IntelliTuner MFJ-928

Page 1: ...ions Before Operating Equipment MFJ ENTERPRISES INC 300 Industrial Park Road Starkville MS 39759 USA Tel 662 323 5869 Fax 662 323 6551 COPYRIGHT 200 MFJ ENTERPRISES INC 5 C Model MFJ 928 VERSION 0A Compact IntelliTuner Automatic Antenna Tuner TM ...

Page 2: ......

Page 3: ...R Button 5 Back Panel 6 Power 6 Radio Interface 6 Transmitter 9 Antenna 2 9 Antenna 1 9 Ground 9 Wire 9 Installation 10 MISCELLANEOUS Antenna Memory 11 IntelliTuneTM Algorithm 11 LC Limits 11 Morse Code and Beeps 12 Foldback Circuit 12 Grounding Hints 13 Antenna System Hints 13 Location 13 Matching Problems 13 APPENDICES Resetting the Tuner 15 Factory Defaults 15 Delete Entire Antenna Memory 16 De...

Page 4: ... Figure 2 MFJ 928 Front Panel 4 Figure 3 Button Action 5 Figure 4 MFJ 928 Back Panel 6 Figure 5 Rado Interface Connector 6 Figure 6 Alinco Interface Cable 7 Figure 7 Icom Interface Cable 8 Figure 8 Kenwood Interface Cable 8 Figure 9 Yaesu Interface Cable FT 100 FT 817 FT 857 FT 897 8 Figure 10 Yaesu Interface Cable FT 847 9 Figure 11 Power On Operations 15 Figure 12 MFJ 928 Circuit Block Diagram 2...

Page 5: ...n milliseconds Each of two antenna selections has four banks of memory which can learn and remember more than 2500 frequencies and tuner settings per bank When you key your transmitter MFJ s InstantRecallTM checks its memory to see if you have operated that frequency before If so tuning is instantaneous and you re ready to operate If not MFJ s IntelliTuneTM algorithm based on MFJ s famous SWR Anal...

Page 6: ... SWR matching range up to 8 1 for 50 ohms and up to 32 1 for 50 ohms Minimum power for tuning 2 watts Maximum power while tuning 100 watts with foldback 20 watts without foldback RF power limit 200 watts SSB CW Frequency range 1 8 to 30 MHz continuous coverage Frequency counter accuracy 1 kHz across HF bands Frequency counter range up to 50 MHz Capacitance range 0 to 3961 pF nominal 256 values Ind...

Page 7: ...ial cable or connect your random wire to the WIRE binding post 4 Connect your ground connection to the GROUND post 5 Press the POWER button to turn on the MFJ 928 tuner 6 Press the ANT button momentarily until there is one beep One beep indicates that antenna 1 is selected 7 Key your transmitter to output a carrier of 10 watts CW FM or AM 8 Press and hold the TUNE button on the MFJ 928 for one sec...

Page 8: ... SWR where one beep indicates SWR of 1 5 or less two beeps indicate SWR of 1 6 to 2 0 three beeps indicate SWR of 2 1 to 2 5 and four beeps indicate SWR of 2 6 to 3 0 For SWR above 3 0 SWR di di dit di dah dah di dah dit will be sent on CW StickyTune allows for one handed tuning operation Normal tuning requires keying the transmitter with one hand and using the other hand to push the TUNE button t...

Page 9: ...n there is no RF power also the tuner setting for the selected antenna and bank if available is instantly restored from memory when enabled POWER Button Used to turn the power on and off When the power is off the tuner is placed in bypass mode and Antenna 1 is selected When turning on the power the tuner automatically restores all previous settings and displays the target SWR on the main screen WA...

Page 10: ...onnecting to the tuner interface connector of compatible radios Most radios provide 13 8 VDC power thought its tuner interface connector If separate power supplies are used to power the MFJ 928 the MFJ 928 should be powered on first both LEDs blink once and then turn on the radio so the radio knows an external tuner is attached The radio will disable its internal tuner if it has one and use the ex...

Page 11: ...To Interface Using 0 No Radio Interface I Alinco Icom Yaesu TUNER FT 857 897 MFJ 5114A MFJ 5114I MFJ 5124Y3 K Kenwood MFJ 5114K Y Yaesu CAT FT 100 MFJ 5114Y 1 Yaesu CAT FT 817 857 897 MFJ 5114Y 2 Yaesu CAT FT 847 MFJ 5114Y2 3 Reserved 4 Reserved Table 1 Jumper JP2 Setting The MFJ 5114A interface cable provides power and control between an Alinco radio and the MFJ automatic tuner Supported Alinco r...

Page 12: ...Radio Interface Plug Pin 5 TS connects to pin 8 of Radio Interface Plug g 3 Pin 4 is not connected Pin 6 13 8V connects to pins 2 and 3 of Radio Interface Plug 4 1 3 2 4 6 5 Kenwood Rear Panel View 1 2 3 4 5 6 Figure 8 Kenwood Interface Cable The MFJ 5114Y interface provides power and control between a Yaesu radio and the MFJ automatic tuner Supported Yaesu radios are FT 100 FT 817 FT 857 FT 897 a...

Page 13: ...aesu radio and the MFJ automatic tuner Supported Yaesu radios are FT 857 FT 897 and any Yaesu radio that supports the Yaesu FC 30 tuner Make sure to set jumper JP2 to the I position to use the MFJ 5124Y3 Press and hold in the A TUNE key on the radio for one second to initiate automatic tuning Transmitter SO 239 connector for coax cable from transmitter or transceiver There is a bias tee connected ...

Page 14: ...es can cause serious RF burns if the terminals are touched when transmitting Be sure to locate the tuner so these terminals cannot accidentally be contacted during operation 2 Install the tuner between the transmitter and the antenna Use a 50 ohm coaxial cable such as RG 58 to connect the transmitter or amplifier to the connector marked TRANSMITTER on the rear of the tuner See Figure 1 on page 3 3...

Page 15: ...frequency bands between 160 and 10 meters is approximately 0 2 percent of the lower frequency of each band There are over 2500 memory locations for each memory bank and each of the two antennas has four memory banks A D Tuner settings are stored in memory separately for Antenna 1 and Antenna 2 settings for single wire antenna are stored as Antenna 1 This provides memory for up to eight different a...

Page 16: ...By One Beep Indicates By Two Beeps By Pressing Antenna 1 2 ANT 1 second Memory Bank Bank A 1 beep Bank B 2 beeps Bank C 3 beeps Bank D 4 beeps Off 5 beeps ANT 1 second Bypass Toggle Bypass Mode L 0 and C 0 Restore Last L C Setting TUNE 0 5 sec Tuned SWR SWR 1 5 1 beep SWR 2 0 2 beeps SWR 2 5 3 beeps SWR 3 0 4 beeps SWR 3 0 SWR TUNE for 0 5 to 2 seconds StickyTune On Off TUNE 2 seconds Tuning Mode ...

Page 17: ...ate for RF grounding because they are single conductors Ground rods by themselves are almost useless for dependable RF grounding RF grounds work much better when spread out over a large area especially when they employ multiple connections directly to the equipment ground point Metal water pipes heating ducts and fences may work especially if they are connected together with multiple wires but the...

Page 18: ...e the difficulty in matching an antenna with a tuner Never center feed a half wave multi band antenna with a high impedance feedline that is close to an odd multiple of a quarter wave long Never center feed a full wave antenna with a feedline close to a multiple of a half wave long If this tuner will not tune a multi band antenna add or subtract 1 8 wave of feedline for the band that won t tune an...

Page 19: ... to calibrate the SWR bridge POWER ANT TUNE Press and hold to delete current antenna memory POWER ANT TUNE For the operations not pressing or pressing it more than seven times will cancel the operation after idling four seconds beep two times and then resume normal operation POWER ANT TUNE Figure 11 Power On Operations Resetting the Tuner Each time the tuner is powered off the microprocessor saves...

Page 20: ...antenna memory bank first select the antenna 1 or 2 and the memory bank A B C or D that you want to delete See ANT Button on page 5 for details 1 Turn off the power to the tuner 2 Press and hold only the ANT button while turning the power on Both LEDs will blink until the button is released 3 Within four seconds of releasing ANT press the TUNE button two times 4 After releasing TUNE for four secon...

Page 21: ...also the test of the LEDs 5 Release the TUNE button The unit then checks for short circuits power down detection level and wakeup circuitry 6 Press ANT button and the green LED should blink once 7 Press TUNE button and the green LED should blink once 8 The unit then tests its non volatile memory Notice this step will reset the unit to its factory default settings 9 If the unit is okay a repetitive...

Page 22: ...for four seconds and if the power down detection circuitry is okay a repetitive message PASS will be sent as Morse code di dah dah dit di dah di di dit di di dit and the green LED will blink If there is a problem message PD FAIL will be sent as Morse code repetitively and the red LED will blink 9 Turn the power off Relay Test WARNING Turn off the transmitter power or disconnect the transmitter bef...

Page 23: ...ated circuit on the front side of the front panel circuit board until both LEDs are lighted up The green LED lights when the calibration is below 29 MHz the red LED lights when the calibration is above 29 MHz and both LEDs light up when the calibration equals to 29 MHz 9 Unkey the transmitter Turn off the power to the transmitter and the tuner 10 Secure the cover back onto the tuner SWR Bridge Cal...

Page 24: ...IO INTERFACE connector until the forward meter yes the forward meter shows 100 watts the reflected meter is at full scale 17 Press the TUNE button to end calibration 18 Turn off the power to the transmitter and the tuner 19 Remove the cross needle wattmeter from header HD1 20 Remove the transmitter wattmeter and the 50 ohm dummy load from the tuner 21 Secure the cover back onto the tuner 22 Connec...

Page 25: ...e description of your problem an explanation of exactly how you are using your unit and a complete description of your station Also include the firmware version number of your unit List of Accessories MFJ 1316 12 VDC 1 5 amp power supply MFJ 4116 BiasTee DC power injector MFJ 5114A Interface cable for compatible Alinco radios MFJ 5114I Interface cable for compatible Icom radios MFJ 5114K Interface...

Page 26: ...22 Figure 12 MFJ 928 Circuit Block Diagram Transmitter Antenna 2 Antenna 1 Radio Interface Wire Impedance Sensor SWR Sensor Frequency Counter Memory Microcontroller Relay Drivers Ground Inductors 0 24 uH Capacitors 0 3900 pF Push Buttons LEDs Buzzer User Interface Z Bias Tee RF Voltage Regulator DC ...

Page 27: ...rvice Department at 662 323 0549 or the MFJ Factory at 662 323 5869 4 This warranty does not apply to kits sold by or manufactured by MFJ Enterprises Inc 5 Wired and tested PC board products are covered by this warranty provided only the wired and tested PC board product is returned Wired and tested PC boards installed in the owner s cabinet or connected to switches jacks or cables etc sent to MFJ...

Page 28: ...MFJ 928 Manual Version 0A Printed In U S A 10 2005 300 Industrial Park Road Starkville MS 39759 MFJ ENTERPRISES INC ...

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