MFJ Multi-Reader
 

I had a HAMfriend of mine over here the other night playing around with all the
equipment in here (no stupid replies please) and he grabbed the new Pop Comm
and he told me what he wanted to get, he's told me this over ten times
before....lol.

But he was pointing out the piece in the subject line. I was at R&L Electronics
over a year ago and had it in my hand and was going to get it, but the guy
behind the counter didn't give it glowing reviews, actually he said a friend of
his had owned one but could never get a 'solid copy' hence no decoding. My
thinking after I left was "I should have got it, his friend more than likely
didn't know what he was doing."

Does anyone in here actually own one of these or have or been in the presence
of one and watched it work? If so, do you think this is a nice addition to have
in the shack?

I told my friend that I'd ask in here and see what you all have to say about
it. Myself, I like the look and I'd love to be able to decode those noises I
here, personally- I think the price is a little steep- if I remember right,
they have 'raised' the price another $10.00 compared to a couple years back.

Thanks :-)

~^Monitoring The Spectrum^~
Hammarlund HQ129X /Heathkit Q Multiplier
Hammarlund HQ140X
Multiple GE P-780's(GREAT BCB Radios)
RCA Victor *Strato- World*
RCA Victor RJC77W-K(Walnut Grain)
1942 Zenith Wave Magnet 6G 601M
Cathedral/ Ross#2311/Rhapsody-MultiBand
DX100/394/*SUPER*398/399/402
OMGS Transistor Eight/Realistic 12-1451
Henry Kloss Model One/Bell+HowellSW
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Alpha Delta DX Sloper 57ft.
500ft. 12AWG. (non-terminated)
120ft. 12 AWG Long-Wire
2 Radio Shack Loop Antennas
Radio Shack Amplified Antenna
30X30 DiamondLoop(six section 830pf Cap)
* Diamond Loop mounted to Lazy Susan TurnTable*
*21/2X2ft.FiveSpoked~Penta-Loop~PancakeLoop*
~OptimusCTR-111Cassettte Recorder~
~Radio Shack 2Speed VOX#43-476~
~Ramsey Speech Scrambler~

they always know! If your playing CW. you get some one who goes past your/my
5wpm barrier, you think I will turn the reader on. about 5 mins later they
ask, you got a reader? you say yes, they say thought so. Seems they old CW
opps just speed up, until you cant read them any more,,, if you use a reader
they cant loose you, so always suss you in the end.
Only because you can still copy them......

The PC readers are spot on, it has to be similar technology.
have you tried CWGET?

http://www.dxsoft.com/micwget.htm

On 22 May 2004 08:36:18 GMT, (GO BEARCATS) wrote:

I had a HAMfriend of mine over here the other night playing around with all the
equipment in here (no stupid replies please) and he grabbed the new Pop Comm
and he told me what he wanted to get, he's told me this over ten times
before....lol.

But he was pointing out the piece in the subject line. I was at R&L Electronics
over a year ago and had it in my hand and was going to get it, but the guy
behind the counter didn't give it glowing reviews, actually he said a friend of
his had owned one but could never get a 'solid copy' hence no decoding. My
thinking after I left was "I should have got it, his friend more than likely
didn't know what he was doing."

Does anyone in here actually own one of these or have or been in the presence
of one and watched it work? If so, do you think this is a nice addition to have
in the shack?

I told my friend that I'd ask in here and see what you all have to say about
it. Myself, I like the look and I'd love to be able to decode those noises I
here, personally- I think the price is a little steep- if I remember right,
they have 'raised' the price another $10.00 compared to a couple years back.

Thanks :-)

I think you are talking about the mfj-461? If so, I do have one. It
works OK. I would not give it glowing reviews either though. It's has
a couple of little adjustment screws that you have to adjust to get it
to sync to the speed of the code your listening to. It wouldn't be so
bad except that you need a tiny screwdriver to get to them and you
need to have the reader very close to the source while you make the
adjustments. It seems they could have designed the reader with small
knobs to make it easier to use. Other than that it seems to work OK.
If I had to give it a rating, I would give it a 6 out of 10.

Tracy
-----------------------------------------------------
Plonked and forgotten!

Bryant
M II
Volker Tonn
Bill Everhart
Jeff Angus

"GO BEARCATS" wrote in message
...
I had a HAMfriend of mine over here the other night playing around with
all the
equipment in here (no stupid replies please) and he grabbed the new Pop
Comm
and he told me what he wanted to get, he's told me this over ten times
before....lol.

But he was pointing out the piece in the subject line. I was at R&L
Electronics
over a year ago and had it in my hand and was going to get it, but the guy
behind the counter didn't give it glowing reviews, actually he said a
friend of
his had owned one but could never get a 'solid copy' hence no decoding.
My
thinking after I left was "I should have got it, his friend more than
likely
didn't know what he was doing."

Does anyone in here actually own one of these or have or been in the
presence
of one and watched it work? If so, do you think this is a nice addition to
have
in the shack?

I told my friend that I'd ask in here and see what you all have to say
about
it. Myself, I like the look and I'd love to be able to decode those
noises I
here, personally- I think the price is a little steep- if I remember
right,
they have 'raised' the price another $10.00 compared to a couple years
back.

Thanks :-)

I used to have a MFJ-1224 or 25. Cant remember? But it worked ok. You can
get em pretty cheap at swaps and on Ebay $25-50. Make sure it has the
software with it.

--
73 and good DXing.
Brian
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A lot of radios and 100' of rusty wire!
Zumbrota, Southern MN
Brian's Radio Universe
http://webpages.charter.net/brianehill/

Works fine for RTTY. Not so good for CW. Of course that's also true for
just about any decoder I have used.

--
Brian Denley
http://home.comcast.net/~b.denley/index.html

"GO BEARCATS" wrote in message
...

Does anyone in here actually own one of these or have or been in the
presence
of one and watched it work? If so, do you think this is a nice addition to
have
in the shack?

they always know! If your playing CW. you get some one who goes past your/my
5wpm barrier, you think I will turn the reader on. about 5 mins later they
ask, you got a reader? you say yes, they say thought so. Seems they old CW
opps just speed up, until you cant

read them any more,,, if you use a reader
they cant loose you, so always suss you in the end.
Only because you can still copy them......

Simple Simon,
I don't know how to say this other than just come out and say it, but I didn't
understand a thing you said.
Maybe because I've been up all night but your reply looked like I needed that
decoder. ;-)



The PC readers are spot on, it has to be similar technology.
have you tried CWGET?

http://www.dxsoft.com/micwget.htm


Now I understand this, and I KNEW someone would say something like that. I
KNOW there are PC readers, I am inquiring about what is written in the *Subject
Line.*

Thanks anyhow.

~^Monitoring The Spectrum^~
Hammarlund HQ129X /Heathkit Q Multiplier
Hammarlund HQ140X
Multiple GE P-780's(GREAT BCB Radios)
RCA Victor *Strato- World*
RCA Victor RJC77W-K(Walnut Grain)
1942 Zenith Wave Magnet 6G 601M
Cathedral/ Ross#2311/Rhapsody-MultiBand
DX100/394/*SUPER*398/399/402
OMGS Transistor Eight/Realistic 12-1451
Henry Kloss Model One/Bell+HowellSW
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Alpha Delta DX Sloper 57ft.
500ft. 12AWG. (non-terminated)
120ft. 12 AWG Long-Wire
2 Radio Shack Loop Antennas
Radio Shack Amplified Antenna
30X30 DiamondLoop(six section 830pf Cap)
* Diamond Loop mounted to Lazy Susan TurnTable*
*21/2X2ft.FiveSpoked~Penta-Loop~PancakeLoop*
~OptimusCTR-111Cassettte Recorder~
~Radio Shack 2Speed VOX#43-476~
~Ramsey Speech Scrambler~

I think you are talking about the mfj-461? If so, I do have one. It
works OK. I would not give it glowing reviews either though. It's has

*******rest of good reply snipped*********

OK, I'll make note of that. Boy, that's close though -6 out of 10.

If you'd have said 7 out of 10
or 5 out of 10

Other than that it seems to work OK.

Just OK? Sorry to push here, but why "other than that it seems to work OK."
{?} What is lacking (in your opinion) that didn't make you say "OH yeah DX,
you gotta get that piece, it really helps out." lolol

Almost the same reaction as the guy at R&L.
Thanks for your reply.:-)

~^Monitoring The Spectrum^~
Hammarlund HQ129X /Heathkit Q Multiplier
Hammarlund HQ140X
Multiple GE P-780's(GREAT BCB Radios)
RCA Victor *Strato- World*
RCA Victor RJC77W-K(Walnut Grain)
1942 Zenith Wave Magnet 6G 601M
Cathedral/ Ross#2311/Rhapsody-MultiBand
DX100/394/*SUPER*398/399/402
OMGS Transistor Eight/Realistic 12-1451
Henry Kloss Model One/Bell+HowellSW
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Alpha Delta DX Sloper 57ft.
500ft. 12AWG. (non-terminated)
120ft. 12 AWG Long-Wire
2 Radio Shack Loop Antennas
Radio Shack Amplified Antenna
30X30 DiamondLoop(six section 830pf Cap)
* Diamond Loop mounted to Lazy Susan TurnTable*
*21/2X2ft.FiveSpoked~Penta-Loop~PancakeLoop*
~OptimusCTR-111Cassettte Recorder~
~Radio Shack 2Speed VOX#43-476~
~Ramsey Speech Scrambler~

But it worked ok

Welp, that's the second *OK*......and if I were fixing to get it and I heard
what I heard at R&L and then two back to back "OK's"....I wouldn't buy it.

You can
get em pretty cheap at swaps and on Ebay $25-50. Make sure it has the
software with it.

BUT - this part is better. For something just *OK*......you pay just an OK
price. Actually $50.00 IMO is too much for something to be OK.

Then you have to worry about software with it, has it been dinged up etc. etc.

I'll tell him what I think, he's a big boy, he can do what he wants. I'd pay
fifty if I absolutely KNEW without a doubt that the software works just like it
was supposed to and the decoder itself did also. Other than that, it's not
worth IMO, I think MFJ gives you 30 days to check it out.

Thanks


~^Monitoring The Spectrum^~
Hammarlund HQ129X /Heathkit Q Multiplier
Hammarlund HQ140X
Multiple GE P-780's(GREAT BCB Radios)
RCA Victor *Strato- World*
RCA Victor RJC77W-K(Walnut Grain)
1942 Zenith Wave Magnet 6G 601M
Cathedral/ Ross#2311/Rhapsody-MultiBand
DX100/394/*SUPER*398/399/402
OMGS Transistor Eight/Realistic 12-1451
Henry Kloss Model One/Bell+HowellSW
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Alpha Delta DX Sloper 57ft.
500ft. 12AWG. (non-terminated)
120ft. 12 AWG Long-Wire
2 Radio Shack Loop Antennas
Radio Shack Amplified Antenna
30X30 DiamondLoop(six section 830pf Cap)
* Diamond Loop mounted to Lazy Susan TurnTable*
*21/2X2ft.FiveSpoked~Penta-Loop~PancakeLoop*
~OptimusCTR-111Cassettte Recorder~
~Radio Shack 2Speed VOX#43-476~
~Ramsey Speech Scrambler~

On 23 May 2004 09:23:02 GMT, (GO BEARCATS) wrote:

I think you are talking about the mfj-461? If so, I do have one. It
works OK. I would not give it glowing reviews either though. It's has

*******rest of good reply snipped*********

OK, I'll make note of that. Boy, that's close though -6 out of 10.

If you'd have said 7 out of 10
or 5 out of 10

Other than that it seems to work OK.

Just OK? Sorry to push here, but why "other than that it seems to work OK."
{?} What is lacking (in your opinion) that didn't make you say "OH yeah DX,
you gotta get that piece, it really helps out." lolol

Almost the same reaction as the guy at R&L.
Thanks for your reply.:-)


Wellll...I dunno...

It works good but you have to fiddle with those little screws. It
could have been designed with knobs. That would have upped the score
to a 9. It's a pain with the screws. Who knows though. You might
try it and love it. Just remember, you will need to keep a jewerlers
screwdriver handy.

Tracy

On 23 May 2004 09:30:44 GMT, (GO BEARCATS) wrote:

But it worked ok

Welp, that's the second *OK*......and if I were fixing to get it and I heard
what I heard at R&L and then two back to back "OK's"....I wouldn't buy it.

You can
get em pretty cheap at swaps and on Ebay $25-50. Make sure it has the
software with it.



What software? Are we talking about the same item? Mine uses no
software other than what may be in firmware.

Tracy