MFJ in partnership with InnovAntennas and G0KSC

Brian,

Sorry you've had problems. But it is fatuous to erase the positive experience of others, with thousands of "new"units, and imply it is our inexperience that biases the sample.

Also, on my list so provided, I restricted it to MFJ only ; I have lots of Ameritron, Cushcraft, Hy Gain stuff too. And no problems.

I probably have had another two dozen MFJ products thru the years that I sold, and worked .

For example, your old A3 is certainly not the A3 pre-MFJ but pre-sale of Cushcraft. It is likely a bona fide Cushcraft design, before MFJ.

Your list going on and on...well, where is it, and how did MFJ respond--if you told them about the other items?

73
Chip W1YW

 

Well that one is easy. Its because that variety is what the customers want. And different price points. Unfortunately Alpha has gone the opposite approach and the new Alphas (do they sell anything 'new' besides the 9500?) now compete with the 'variety' of used Alphas. To wit: the 'new' 8410 competes against my NOS Apha 91b,which is 1/3 the price....

Expert Amps has more than one 'new' model, for example....

73
Chip W1YW

 

Carl WHo?

The QST archive search does not list any evidence of older MFJ tuners catching fire, and my telephone does not have a search function.

Maybe Alexa does...but that's verbal. Perhaps I should run her thru Billy Bass...

Alexa may not be on fire, but she's smokin'....

 

It's possible that my reading comprehension is poor. I read the announcement and Justin's followup as MFJ being a contract manufacturer for Innovantennas and not a "merger" of any sort especially as he asserts that the original hand built antennas will still be available to him. By that it appears as though the companies will remain separate and that this is a manufacturing agreement.

 

Semantics.

 

Good economic logic to me.

Great idea to have two product lines, a high-end and mainstream line. And to drive some cost reduction with outsourced manufacturing for the mainstream products.

Hopefully the increased cash flows will afford for further design & product innovations.

Nice to see you working hard to expand your business. Thank you!

Joe

 

Disagree. Not at all semantics

Think apple model... designed in California, made by Foxconn in China

This is product designed in the UK...made in Mississippi...(and last I checked, that was USA...right next to Arkansas...)

 

While some of Justin's antennas aren't as innovative as he makes out (nearly every design can be found in some form in the literature if you go back far enough), he has done a fantastic job of computer optimization and in particular some of the multi-band designs are really very good. Taking the old folded dipole feed and developing the loop-fed yagi also gave us some new designs for easily-matched broadband antennas. He has also been pretty good at sharing his designs with the amateur community. It makes a lot of sense to also share them with a volume manufacturer such as MFJ.

Regarding MFJ's manufacturing quality, I have to agree that they are sometimes less than perfect, but overall offer good value for money. I have a number of products from them going back 30 years and, like most hams, have encountered a few loose screws and unsoldered joints here and there. The beauty of Justin's designs are that they are nearly all mechanically strong and don't have finicky traps or hard-to-adjust tuning. MFJ should be able to make them just fine.

Mike
AF7ON

 

If that was in reply to me, then my one word response is, "Hardly."

 

Justin has found a good way for entry into a larger US market. Its not a merger. Its a manu/distribution partnership.

73
Chip W1YW

 

Chip:

There is nothing fatuous about being ripped off for a substantial amount of money by a product that willl never work well, by a company who knows about the problem. Repeatedly.

Regarding other people's joy, you are once again ignoring the very large number of online complaints about MFJ products. What about the massive amount of "other people's sorrow"? As pointed out by Carl, and rightly so, all you have to do is go to the online ratings for MFJ products to discover massive and pervasive quality problems.

Regarding your question on how MFJ responded to issues other than the clearly defective A3S trap design (still in production, still being sold), my last experience with them was with a compact switching power supply that failed a few days out of warranty. They refused to repair it on their nickel (fair enough - out of warranty, right?) and when it was opened up, much of the circuitry was only partly soldered to the PWB and all of the soldering looked like a child had done it. After resoldering every single joint that could be found, the supply came back to life. Business as usual with MFJ.

Thank you for posting about the fractal antenna criticism you received - it lead me to your invisibility cloak invention claims, to your "fractal antennas" claims and claims of being a professor at Boston University. In an odd coincidence, I'm an alumni and contributor to B.U. and have had conversations, dinner and drinks with the staff over the years, both in Boston and here in L.A. for their fund raising trips. Dean Lutchen never mentioned you nor did my other contacts at the College of Engineering and we often discussed faculty and facilities. You've nerver shown up on the staff lists from the College magazine, either. So... what's with that? I'm beginning to understand why you've had credibility issues with so many others. Well, 'nuff said.

Brian - K6BRN

 

Amen!

 

Brian--

Are you questioning I was a professor at Boston University?

Or are you asserting that I was not.

Yes, I was a professor at Boston University from 1989 to 2002, in several different departments.

Yes Brian, I invented fractal (element)antennas and there is no prior art. Indeed, President Emeritus Steve Best of the IEEE APS, and former CEO of Cushcraft, actually testified at trial saying that:"Nathan Cohen invented fractal antennas". Go ask him if he said that in the witness stand.

Yes Brian, I invented the invisibility cloak. The source patent is: 8253639. If for some reason you believe there is prior art, I invite you to file a RCE with the US patent office. Have fun!

Those are the facts. Hey, I own MFJ stuff too! More facts.

Curious to know why , if you had such a poor experience with MFJ, why you continued to buy more of their stuff?

73
Chip W1YW

 

Well, no. I think you have to distinguish between your ignorance and the facts. I have indeed shown up in BU pubs. As a professor.

Why would I know the existing Dean? Why would I be interested?

 

Feel free to explain it. Its OK Brian, air it out publicly. Let's debunk the 'dissing tactics', shall we?

Hit me with your best shot. Think carefully and thoughtfully-- and be willing to concede when shown wrong.

73
Chip W1YW