Dave,
I recently purchased a used 40-15 meter version (MFJ-1788). I live
in a first floor condo and really have no place to permanently mount it,
so I use it on either a short 3 foot stand or extend it to 10 feet with
my car stabilizing the base. I've had this antenna for about 6 months
now. So, here are my impressions...
First, if you like to jump around the band or bands, don't be in
too much of a hurry! It takes a little while to get used to operating
the antenna. While it's not too bad, you can't just spin the dial and
start transmitting. The practical bandwidth of the antenna on 40 meters
is about 10 kHz. You can receive degraded signals to maybe 30 kHz, but
they get weaker and weaker the further you are from the currently tuned
frequency. The bandwidth seems to get narrower as the frequency
increases. This is just the "nature of the beast."
Performance is very good. It appears to be on par with a full
dipole, but I don't have one to compare it to, so it's all subjective.
And, since my installation is very low (3 or 10 feet), my contacts tend
to be in the first, second or third skip zones. That is, it's probably a
fairly high angle of radiation. I have not tried the antenna in
"horizontal" mode, but maybe I will some time.
In my particular case, I have a very noisy mercury vapor lamp about
20 feet from the antenna that is dieing. When it's cycling, it
obliterates most of the signals with it's own 20 over 9 signal. This
simply swamps the KX-3's noise blanker. It is for this reason that I've
been in the market for the MFJ-1026. But, in the mean-time, I discovered
that my Drake R4-C noise blanker virtually eliminates it. I've been
toying with the idea of a "better" radio (K3 or Flex) that might have
enough processing power to nullify the noise. Of course, that's a
financial consideration!
At any rate, it means that, between tuning up the Drake R4-C, TX-4C
AND the MFJ-1788, it takes me several minutes to adjust to any new
frequency. Once I get in the sweet-spot, I'm not too likely to go very
far from where I am. Yes, using the KX-3 (during the day!) works well,
but you need to keep the ATU off as it defeats tuning the antenna. I
have even used this antenna sitting on the ground surrounded by metal
shelves and a parked car with a fair amount of success. Again, I have no
basis for comparison, so no objective data.
Well, I hope that helps!
kurtt
WB9FMC
2015 Hamfesters Hamfest Chairman
Looking for my replacement since 2014!
http:\\ham-ham.org
On 9/6/2014 20:50, David Guernsey via Elecraft wrote:
Does anyone have any experience using a MFJ-1786 with a K3? I live in a 2nd
floor condo in a 5 story brick building. Considering a magnetic loop on my
balcony to get back up on HF.
73 de Dave KJ6CBS
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