In addition to my professional bench gear, I have an MFJ, Autek and AEA
CIA Analyst. I use all but the Autek and AEA regularly and find they
each have a purpose. When I want a to do a quick check of resistance,
reactance, SWR or return loss on the bench I grab the AEA... especially
if I want a quick plot to go with it (using the included software and
serial connection). It is a bit too slow and definitely too heavy to
carry up the tower though.
The Autek is the one I always grab when going up the tower because it is
fast and small. It is also quite accurate. The tuning is a bit touchy as
mentioned in the article, but I find it a quite useful tool.
I don't hate the MFJ, I just like the others better. I have heard a lot
of horror stories about MFJ, but the few things I have work as advertised.
My units may just be good ones, while others may not be as good. For
better or worse, QST tends to rate the products by the performance of
the tested unit, not anecdotal evidence or feedback from the field.
Larry N8LP
Stephen W. Kercel wrote:
There is an interesting piece in the May 2005 QST. It has product
reviews on four different antenna analyzers.
Two that were included are the MFJ-269 and the Autek VA-1. I have
heard endless horror stories from many hams about both, abysmal
quality control, virtually useless tech support and so on. None of
these negatives are mentioned in the QST product review.
There is also a new product favorably mentioned in the review, the
Palstar ZM-30. Since the MFJ and the Autek are apparently both junk,
despite being favorably reviewed in this article, I'm not sure whether
I can trust the product review on the Palstar.
Anybody have any experience with it? Is it any good?
73,
Steve Kercel
AA4AK
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