MFJ-259 Antenna Analyzer

[pimphand442]

just picked one of these up and powered it on everything lit up got to the house and changed the batteries and turned it back on and the lcd don't work is there a way that it turns it on and off ? the 2 meters work when I turn the tune knob is it broke?

 

[binrat]

Personally, I would pop the batteries out and try it with external power. If it works that way then something funky with the batteries.

 

[pimphand442]

10-4 binrat ill go pick up a power supply for it this evening ill give it a shot and post back, thanks for the reply. 73's

 

[pimphand442]

ok tried ext power supply still no lick with the frequency counter

 

[Beetle]

This doesn't sound right. But
(1) Is it just an MFJ-259, or is it a 259-B?
(2) Is it new?

If it's new, take/send it back. If not, send it in for repair. I have a 259-B and haven't ever had a problem with it.

The display is much more than a frequency counter in the 259-B.

 

[pimphand442]

This doesn't sound right. But
(1) Is it just an MFJ-259, or is it a 259-B?
(2) Is it new?



.

its just a 259.

and no its not new I got it used at garage sale for $40 I was hoping it would be a simple fix if its gonna cost more than $50 to fix ill just throw it away id rather spend money on something new than have it repaired lol. any ideas on how its powered to the display?

 

[Beetle]

No, sorry - no idea. The original 259 is significantly different from the 259B if I remember correctly. The LCD itself might be dead; the 259 is around 25 years old, and yours having been apparently in storage under unknown conditions for some time - you're probably looking at as much to repair as to get a new one (even if parts are still available for the 259).

As a temporary workaround, if you have a SW receiver, you can use it to determine the frequency the 259 is operating on. You can use the meters to determine SWR at that point.

 

[joey1953]

I've got one and had a similar problem. Inside there's a jumper for bateries or rechargables....it wasn't making a good connection. I soldered a little wire for using it with the wall charger....problem solved. You could test the 259 by taping on the unit to see if it starts to work.....that would indicate a loose connection on the jumper.

 

[W5LZ]

For $40 I don't think you got 'bit' too hard, all things considered. One thing to try is to call MFJ and ask about repairing it, see if they can give you any 'ball-park' figure on cost. If you don't think it's worth that cost then do like the one you got it from did, sell it. For what a '259B' costs, it'd take quite a bit of 'fixing' to make it not worthwhile, sort of. Still rather than a '259B'? Okay, sell it. You'd get more for a working '259' than an unworking one, right?
- 'Doc