MFJ closing down manufacturing facilities effective May 17th 2024

Good, fast, cheap. Pick any two.

 

Most people aren't up to building their own legal limit amp, and the few who are often don't have the time.

I go way back in ham radio and have whiffed my share of solder fumes and I wouldn't even think of attempting it, not from scratch. I could do a kit (think a modern SB-220 or so) if the kit were made right (holes aligned etc.) and the instructions were good, but I wouldn't have time for it until I retire in a few years even if someone made one.

SOME stuff they sell can be home brewed. Manual tuners are very simple electrically though not often so simple mechanically (which would be the issue for me with tuners.)

 

Nowhere have I read definitively that was the reason. It's been suggested, and seems likely, but no one seems to really know for sure.

 

I just heard about MFJ closing shop and came here. When I was a kid I had an MFJ TNC, i forget the model but it could do WEFAX as well as packet. I loved it, used the heck out of it, and last but not least it was affordable. I might not have been on packet otherwise. I remember evenings filling the living room with loud WEFAX signals annoying my family, Ha! Nowadays I'm seeing the open source model combined with the powerhouse that is Chinese manufacturing helping people get on the air and advancing the hobby, the Hermes Lite comes to mind. Pour some RF out for MFJ. Thank you MFJ! Cheers

 

Agreed. If the lives of hundreds of people are relying on your ham shack then please at the very least go with one of the big 3.

 

Fingers crossed for you Mike.

 

Not really. Even for those of us who have several MFJ products they still don't make up a large part of our gear, and most of the most important items either have fairly (if not as much so) affordable alternatives available or at least vast numbers of used units constantly being sold and resold.

 

I have seen nothing but grown ups having (for once) a decent conversation about doing something good for our hobby. I have read this thread from the first post and it has been very civil. There are sure to be different opinions and everyone should be free to express them. I think it would be arrogant to close a thread simply because you don’t like or agree with what someone said.

 

That’s a rather narrow viewpoint…

 

I don’t think there’s any other maker of QRO rf amplifiers in the world.
For the amateur operators with less than $4000 to spend on an amp, the closure of Ameritron, in particular, will be a great loss.

 

1 KW+ amps other than Ameritron under $4,000:

Acom 1000 tube….$3,850
Mercury IIIs SS…..$2,800
Palstar LA-1K SS….$$3,700

And they also have the benefit of actually working right out of the box.

 

The company that could be a loser in this scenario is HRO. If the can they should make a deal to incorporate some of the MFJ product line into their operations.

 

Acom makes good amps.

My Mercury IIIs was less than $3k (ok, barely) much less four, unless by “QRO” you mean legal limit. It’s close enough for me.

The price of Ameritron amps has really climbed in recent years even while QC has reportedly become quite bad.

 

Frankly: Good Riddance!!! Foisting junk off on 'inexperienced operators' is certainly current practice with some 'business concerns'...
The annoyance of QST becoming an MFJ catalog cost the ARRL dearly, I suspect. I haven't wasted money with those $%^@*&s (MFJ) since 2014
and am still *HIGHLY* ashamed of it. I sold the POS "MFJ 1788" for less than half price and clearly stated it was a piece of $%^& and only
targeted toward experienced amateur radio ops who stupidly wished to waste their $$$....

Kevin WA4GQG

 

I don't think it was political, I thought it was relevant to the discussion at hand. The current business climate.