Martin announced today that as of May they will no longer be manufacturing products.
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MFJ to stop Building
- Thread starter AudioShockwav
- Start date
Wow ! Their stuff wasn't always the highest quality, but I had a mountain of it over the years, and it all got a ton of use. Dummy loads, antenna tuners, meters of various kinds and on and on.......
To this day I would be totally lost without my MFJ-1026 noise eliminating phase cancellation box. So long as you use a good noise pickup antenna that thing will take 9 S units of noise down to 0. Between noisy hydro lines and neighbors with noisy devices I use it almost every single day and sometimes for weeks on end. It makes receiving distant signals easy instead of a chore.
I almost think I should buy another one to have a spare if MFJ is truly done
To this day I would be totally lost without my MFJ-1026 noise eliminating phase cancellation box. So long as you use a good noise pickup antenna that thing will take 9 S units of noise down to 0. Between noisy hydro lines and neighbors with noisy devices I use it almost every single day and sometimes for weeks on end. It makes receiving distant signals easy instead of a chore.
I almost think I should buy another one to have a spare if MFJ is truly done
My most recent dealings with them, have been very frustrating. High dollar items, quality issues, tech support issues and gave up. I am not going to miss them much.Wow ! Their stuff wasn't always the highest quality, but I had a mountain of it over the years, and it all got a ton of use. Dummy loads, antenna tuners, meters of various kinds and on and on.......
To this day I would be totally lost without my MFJ-1026 noise eliminating phase cancellation box. So long as you use a good noise pickup antenna that thing will take 9 S units of noise down to 0. Between noisy hydro lines and neighbors with noisy devices I use it almost every single day and sometimes for weeks on end. It makes receiving distant signals easy instead of a chore.
I almost think I should buy another one to have a spare if MFJ is truly done
Every time I bought new stuff from MFJ I already knew that it was best to open it before you put it inline....
I do hate to see the whole thing go down the tubes, they have there place in the market, I got my share of mighty fine junk.
73
Jeff
I have a few MFJ items that seemed to do alright. Took 2 trys on the 259c analyzer but I got a good one now. Sad to see another American based business go under but yes QC was an issue that most likely contributed to the demise.
Wow. I had to send back a brand new MFJ 986 tuner that essentially self destructed on 1st key with my amp.... I just recently came across a used one at a silent keys estate sale for 150 bucks and took a gamble and it works perfectly! Thus I can appreciate they have had some quality issues but when they do work they work well. It's unfortunate that the hobby will lose them and that price point.
Martin was the genius of "insourcing". When a supplier closed, he would tool up to make a part in-house.
In an age when outsourcing the manufacture of every part you use is the dominant style, it made him stand out.
I'll miss them as a source of parts. Just the same, it's like adopting a dog. From day one you know there are only two possibilities. Either you will outlive the dog, or he'll outlive you.
One or the other. Nothing lasts forever.
Now if someone with real money were to make Martin an offer on his parts inventory, the price of all those parts would probably double or triple. But at least there would be some place to buy them.
73
In an age when outsourcing the manufacture of every part you use is the dominant style, it made him stand out.
I'll miss them as a source of parts. Just the same, it's like adopting a dog. From day one you know there are only two possibilities. Either you will outlive the dog, or he'll outlive you.
One or the other. Nothing lasts forever.
Now if someone with real money were to make Martin an offer on his parts inventory, the price of all those parts would probably double or triple. But at least there would be some place to buy them.
73
I have quality issues with the AL-1500 and ATR-30. The idiot at Ameritron tech support would be better suited slinging burgers and fries somewhere. They were not professional in their responses to the issues. I hope a real company absorbs Ameritron and Hy-Gain. MFJ....buhbyebye bye.
Never had an issue with anything I bought from them, it all just worked. Sorry to see them go, there has been a rash of older established companies closing lately.
Shadetree Mechanic
Delaware Base Station 808
MFJ usually put enough parts in the product to make a complete working unit......
Still hate to see them go.
Still hate to see them go.
Even though their prices are literally 100% higher than they were less than 20 years ago on their amplifiers, it's still hard to find a comparable ham amplifier for the same price. Except for some of their bigger stuff, when you're looking at $8,000 for a 1500 A7 box. I mean at that point you can start looking at the alphas and get Auto tuning and stuff like that
Yes if no one picks up and carries on with Ameritron I mean who else is there at that price point....
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At $7200 for the AL-1500, $850 for the ATR-30, it is no bargain yet, they are still mighty fine junk. I am hoping someone that cares about quality picks up the brand.
I've got 3 of their bench SWR meters and for a small time operator I wouldn't part with them. Can't remember exact details but one meter had a problem so I called them up and talked to some older gentleman who had a Great customer service attitude and was happy to help me over the phone explaining and sent the parts out to me ASAP. Told me to call him when I got the parts if I needed any help. I got the parts, fixed the problem and all was Golden. If you get 1 meter calibrated it is easy to make then all read the same. If I was going into radio repair I might think different but as a hobbyist they saved my bacon. Going to miss them !
Try talking to Ameritron support and see how that goes. I have had more intelligent conversations with toddlers.