Considering one of these for Christmas, and would like any user's assesment
to help make the determination between the two. I've received mixed
responses regarding the MFJ model, and I'm curious if the ANC-4 is the more
favorable of the two. I'd be using it to eliminate some local noise from
nearby powerlines in conjunction with a Wellbrook ALA-1530, and a
random-wire as the noise antenna. Any advice, opinions, or recommendations
would be appreciated.

-Brian

Brian wrote:
Considering one of these for Christmas, and would like any user's assesment
to help make the determination between the two. I've received mixed
responses regarding the MFJ model, and I'm curious if the ANC-4 is the more
favorable of the two. I'd be using it to eliminate some local noise from
nearby powerlines in conjunction with a Wellbrook ALA-1530, and a
random-wire as the noise antenna. Any advice, opinions, or recommendations
would be appreciated.

-Brian

I have the ANC-4 and haven't found it to be useful with a Wellbrook. It
worked great when used with a long wire as the main antenna.

There are older threads that indicate you need a good noise antenna
(vertical J-fet buffered antenna) to get it to work well with the
Wellbrook.

The ANC-4 works on MW, whereas you have to remove filter from the
MFJ to do that.

Count on working with 2 real antennas, not the fake noise stub one.
You'll find it much more versatile.

I have 7 ANC-4's and no MFJ's, on 8 antennas, 2 of them Wellbrook
ALA1530's.

Chief complaint is that the pots get scratchy pretty quick,
because scratchiness is in effect amplified by the null depth ;
fixed with a squirt of deoxit in the 2 tiny holes at the bottom of
each pot (careful you don't get any in your eyes).

Second complaint is that the circuit really needs a bandspread pot
on the phase, as you're into really tiny tiny adjustments at the
bottom of a deep null.

This would be chiefly from taking out a local broadcaster to hear
the broadcaster under him.
--
Ron Hardin


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

Ron Hardin wrote:
The ANC-4 works on MW, whereas you have to remove filter from the
MFJ to do that.

To be very clear, the MFJ *does* work on MW even with the filter, when
your goal is to remove noise. What the MFJ also does, because of the
filter, is to attentuate the MW freqs, which may not be desirable. I
do not do a lot of MW, but when I do, the MFJ is also effective at
nipping the offending MW stations to get at the weaker ones underneath.

Count on working with 2 real antennas, not the fake noise stub one.
You'll find it much more versatile.

Agreed. It really helps if the two antennas are equivalent in terms of
ability to "hear" noise. A wire may not be the same as a Wellbrook,
consideirng their significant design differences.

I will say, though, that the little stub antenna on the MFJ was fairly
effective as a noise antenna in the 60-m band. That may have been a
fluke of the local RFI situation.

I have 7 ANC-4's and no MFJ's, on 8 antennas, 2 of them Wellbrook
ALA1530's.

Chief complaint is that the pots get scratchy pretty quick,
because scratchiness is in effect amplified by the null depth ;
fixed with a squirt of deoxit in the 2 tiny holes at the bottom of
each pot (careful you don't get any in your eyes).

This fix works on the MFJ as well. Squirt and twist a few times and
you're set.

Second complaint is that the circuit really needs a bandspread pot
on the phase, as you're into really tiny tiny adjustments at the
bottom of a deep null.

That would be nice on the MFJ as well. One other issue is that so much
of the noise seems to null at the very same place on the pot's
rotation, and that portion of the pot gets scratchy fast.

Bruce Jensen

This would be chiefly from taking out a local broadcaster to hear
the broadcaster under him.

--
Ron Hardin


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

bpnjensen wrote:
Ron Hardin wrote:
The ANC-4 works on MW, whereas you have to remove filter from the
MFJ to do that.

To be very clear, the MFJ *does* work on MW even with the filter, when
your goal is to remove noise. What the MFJ also does, because of the
filter, is to attentuate the MW freqs, which may not be desirable. I
do not do a lot of MW, but when I do, the MFJ is also effective at
nipping the offending MW stations to get at the weaker ones underneath.

It's a shame that MFJ didn't design the circuit to allow the filter to
be switched in when required. I'm in the southern part of Edmonton and
that just happens to be the locale for most of the MW transmitters
around here. I do get some bleed over into a few of the shortwave
frequencies.


Count on working with 2 real antennas, not the fake noise stub one.
You'll find it much more versatile.

Agreed. It really helps if the two antennas are equivalent in terms of
ability to "hear" noise. A wire may not be the same as a Wellbrook,
consideirng their significant design differences.

I will say, though, that the little stub antenna on the MFJ was fairly
effective as a noise antenna in the 60-m band. That may have been a
fluke of the local RFI situation.

The stub works well enough for most local noise. If you want to null out
a distant MW station then it's time for an outdoor antenna.


I have 7 ANC-4's and no MFJ's, on 8 antennas, 2 of them Wellbrook
ALA1530's.

Chief complaint is that the pots get scratchy pretty quick,
because scratchiness is in effect amplified by the null depth ;
fixed with a squirt of deoxit in the 2 tiny holes at the bottom of
each pot (careful you don't get any in your eyes).

This fix works on the MFJ as well. Squirt and twist a few times and
you're set.

Second complaint is that the circuit really needs a bandspread pot
on the phase, as you're into really tiny tiny adjustments at the
bottom of a deep null.

That would be nice on the MFJ as well. One other issue is that so much
of the noise seems to null at the very same place on the pot's
rotation, and that portion of the pot gets scratchy fast.

Do you have the mod that allows for swapping the antenna inputs? This
will help with achieving nulls.

Bruce Jensen

This would be chiefly from taking out a local broadcaster to hear
the broadcaster under him.

--
Ron Hardin


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.



JB

John Barnard wrote:

Do you have the mod that allows for swapping the antenna inputs? This
will help with achieving nulls.

I haven't yet had the guts to attempt this, simple as it is. To say I
am klutz with a soldering iron would be understating it badly. Also,
it sounds as though it is useful to use coax cable internally to
provide the electrical hookups, and I have not yet figured out the
optimum way to do this (a *good* picture would help immensely!).

Otherwise, it sounds like it requires just a simple DPDT toggle or
similar switch mounted somewhere, with the two antenna leads attached
to each pole at one end, criss - crossed to the other end, and with the
two main/aux leads connected to the middle posts respectively - is that
about it? There is no need to do any ground connections, since the
whole chassis is grounded...

How hard can that be? ;-)

Bruce Jensen

bpnjensen wrote:
John Barnard wrote:

Do you have the mod that allows for swapping the antenna inputs? This
will help with achieving nulls.

I haven't yet had the guts to attempt this, simple as it is. To say I
am klutz with a soldering iron would be understating it badly. Also,
it sounds as though it is useful to use coax cable internally to
provide the electrical hookups, and I have not yet figured out the
optimum way to do this (a *good* picture would help immensely!).

Sorry that I haven't gotten back sooner to you on this. I'm in the
process of getting a digicam capable of taking very good macro photos
and will be able to email you photos of the mod to swap inputs.


Otherwise, it sounds like it requires just a simple DPDT toggle or
similar switch mounted somewhere, with the two antenna leads attached
to each pole at one end, criss - crossed to the other end, and with the
two main/aux leads connected to the middle posts respectively - is that
about it? There is no need to do any ground connections, since the
whole chassis is grounded...

That's sums it up nicely!


How hard can that be? ;-)

You've mentioned your soldering skills but how well do you handle a
drill? ;-)


Bruce Jensen



John Barnard

Brian wrote:

Considering one of these for Christmas, and would like any user's
assesment to help make the determination between the two. I've received
mixed responses regarding the MFJ model, and I'm curious if the ANC-4 is
the more favorable of the two. I'd be using it to eliminate some local
noise from nearby powerlines in conjunction with a Wellbrook ALA-1530, and
a random-wire as the noise antenna. Any advice, opinions, or
recommendations would be appreciated.

-Brian

I bought the MFJ 1026 about 5 months ago and it made listening enjoyable
again for me. I use it to null out a nasty source of noise coming from the
power company's equipment right in my immediate vicinity. The only extra
pain-in-the-ass was that you have to put up a pretty decent noise antenna
as that little telescope included is a joke. Everything I read when I was
shopping seemed to indicate that the ANC-4 and MFJ models probably come out
about the same performance wise. As far as ease of operation, I'm not real
sure. I do know my 1026 can be pretty tricky sometimes to get the nuisance
signal nulled.

Also, if you've got more than one noise source, you might be SOL using
either brand.

Good luck! - Matt

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Radio TexMex wrote:
Brian wrote:

Considering one of these for Christmas, and would like any user's
assesment to help make the determination between the two. I've received
mixed responses regarding the MFJ model, and I'm curious if the ANC-4 is
the more favorable of the two. I'd be using it to eliminate some local
noise from nearby powerlines in conjunction with a Wellbrook ALA-1530, and
a random-wire as the noise antenna. Any advice, opinions, or
recommendations would be appreciated.

-Brian

I bought the MFJ 1026 about 5 months ago and it made listening enjoyable
again for me. I use it to null out a nasty source of noise coming from the
power company's equipment right in my immediate vicinity. The only extra
pain-in-the-ass was that you have to put up a pretty decent noise antenna
as that little telescope included is a joke. Everything I read when I was
shopping seemed to indicate that the ANC-4 and MFJ models probably come out
about the same performance wise. As far as ease of operation, I'm not real
sure. I do know my 1026 can be pretty tricky sometimes to get the nuisance
signal nulled.

Also, if you've got more than one noise source, you might be SOL using
either brand.

Good luck! - Matt

That's right - both the ANC and MFJ can only nab one noise at a time,
hence Ron Hardin's cascaded-unit set up.

Bruce Jensen