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MFJ products
notbob wrote in :
I'm studying hard and planning a shack. I hope to be on the air by June. So, is MFJ stuff any good? To put it more bluntly, is it moderately priced practical equipment or just throw-away junk? I'll settle for Chinese made --which I suspect much of their stuff is-- if it's relatively decent in design/execution and somewhat sturdy. I can see how the antennas and like hardware could be decent, but how about the stuff like tuners and other meters and electronic equipment. Thanks for any feedback. I have the following MFJ gear: o MFJ-259 antenna analyzer; I like it a lot. It's not perfect, but it works well enough for my purposes. Bought used. o MFJ-906 6m tuner. It works very nicely. o MFJ-921 2m/1.3m tuner. Works extremely well. o MFJ-461 pocket CW reader. For solid copy, needs really good signal, but still useful. o MFJ-4225MV power switching supply. This is a good, solid, hash-free, cool-running supply that not only drives my radios, but also is good for electrolytic etching (see http://www.steampunkworkshop.com for more). It's as good as my Samlex SEC 1223 power supply, puts out less hash, and has meters. o MFJ-564 iambic paddles. Not great, but serviceable. I need to take it out of service and completely readjust it. o MFJ-441 keyer (a gift). Works; I don't need it, as my radios have keyers built in. o MFJ-557 code practice oscillator with key. CPO is OK; key is trash. Wow! I hadn't realized I had so much MFJ equipment. Overall, it's low-to-middle end: not all junk, but not high-end gear, either. Some of it is a bit overpriced, I think, but it's certainly not priced like high-end gear, either. When I was growing up, and when I was a new ham (think 1950s-1960s), there was a real need for this sort of gear at this price level, and it just wasn't available. I grant that lots more components were available locally: I could walk into parts houses in Houston and get everything I needed, except Big Inductors, Big Transformers, and Big Capacitors, to make a linear or anything smaller. Some of this gear is hard to homebrew, and I'm glad Martin Jue decided to start making and selling it. -- Mike Andrews, W5EGO Tired old sysadmin |
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