I am considering ordering the MFJ-269 HF/VHF/UHF Antenna/SWR/RF
Analyzer.

It sounds like a Swiss Army knife device and I should be able to send
a lot of old equipment to Ebay. Does anyone have any comments to make
on it? Good or bad?

I have read the review in May 2005 QST and the manual available at
their website.

John Ferrell, W8CCW

"Swiss Army knife" is a good metaphor. In your pocket, it's always
available and handy for that simple job. It's got a saw good for fast,
rough cutting, but no competition for a chain saw for speed or a scroll
saw for precision. The file will cut metal, but it's not a Swiss file
set or a wood rasp either. And so forth. Likewise the MFJ. I use is
frequently for a quick measurement, and that's often good enough. But
when I really need precision, out comes the GR bridge, network analyzer,
and whatever other real tools are required.

Ironically, the thing it does worst, in an urban setting at least, is
actually measure antenna impedance. Like any broadband impedance meter,
it's dismally bad at that particular job because RF from broadcast and
other sources drives it bonkers.

So by all means get one. You'll find you use it a lot. But don't be too
quick to unload your other gear.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

John Ferrell wrote:
I am considering ordering the MFJ-269 HF/VHF/UHF Antenna/SWR/RF
Analyzer.

It sounds like a Swiss Army knife device and I should be able to send
a lot of old equipment to Ebay. Does anyone have any comments to make
on it? Good or bad?

I have read the review in May 2005 QST and the manual available at
their website.

John Ferrell, W8CCW

It's ok, but has one known short coming (other than its known and accepted
general low/ medium accuracy). It appears to do worse at LOW freqs that the
259. Mine shows about 25% X for a purely resistive 4:1 load (either 200 or
12.5) in the 1-4 Mhz range. A post here not to long ago reported that the
QST review showed the same thing.

you can't expect lab accuracy for $300...

73, K9DCI


"Roy Lewallen" wrote in message
...
"Swiss Army knife" is a good metaphor. In your pocket, it's always
available and handy for that simple job. It's got a saw good for fast,
rough cutting, but no competition for a chain saw for speed or a scroll
saw for precision. The file will cut metal, but it's not a Swiss file
set or a wood rasp either. And so forth. Likewise the MFJ. I use is
frequently for a quick measurement, and that's often good enough. But
when I really need precision, out comes the GR bridge, network analyzer,
and whatever other real tools are required.

Ironically, the thing it does worst, in an urban setting at least, is
actually measure antenna impedance. Like any broadband impedance meter,
it's dismally bad at that particular job because RF from broadcast and
other sources drives it bonkers.

So by all means get one. You'll find you use it a lot. But don't be too
quick to unload your other gear.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

John Ferrell wrote:
I am considering ordering the MFJ-269 HF/VHF/UHF Antenna/SWR/RF
Analyzer.

It sounds like a Swiss Army knife device and I should be able to send
a lot of old equipment to Ebay. Does anyone have any comments to make
on it? Good or bad?

I have read the review in May 2005 QST and the manual available at
their website.

John Ferrell, W8CCW

Thanks for the quick reply.
The "old equipment" I am referring to is pretty primitive and quite
old.
The only really good pice of equipment I wonder about replacing is an
Heathkit IM-4190 directional coupler for 100-1000 mhz. It was not
available for long and it has served me well on 144 & 440 mhz.

John Ferrell, W8CCW

On Fri, 04 Nov 2005 12:13:06 -0800, Roy Lewallen
wrote:

"Swiss Army knife" is a good metaphor. In your pocket, it's always
available and handy for that simple job. It's got a saw good for fast,
rough cutting, but no competition for a chain saw for speed or a scroll
saw for precision. The file will cut metal, but it's not a Swiss file
set or a wood rasp either. And so forth. Likewise the MFJ. I use is
frequently for a quick measurement, and that's often good enough. But
when I really need precision, out comes the GR bridge, network analyzer,
and whatever other real tools are required.

Ironically, the thing it does worst, in an urban setting at least, is
actually measure antenna impedance. Like any broadband impedance meter,
it's dismally bad at that particular job because RF from broadcast and
other sources drives it bonkers.

So by all means get one. You'll find you use it a lot. But don't be too
quick to unload your other gear.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Yes, it works fine. Not a precision piece of test equipment but also does
not carry the price tag. Like everything else in life it is a trade off,
great price with reasonable response. All in all it is still one of the best
pieces of equipment I have bought for amateur radio work and I would not be
without it.

Sam

On Fri, 04 Nov 2005 19:43:07 GMT, John Ferrell
wrote:

I am considering ordering the MFJ-269 HF/VHF/UHF Antenna/SWR/RF
Analyzer.

It sounds like a Swiss Army knife device and I should be able to send
a lot of old equipment to Ebay. Does anyone have any comments to make
on it? Good or bad?

I have read the review in May 2005 QST and the manual available at
their website.

John Ferrell, W8CCW

My main complaint is if you punch buttons in the wrong sequence to
activate its 440 mhz capability, you can blow a diode, or so I've read
in the eHam reports. I haven't done it yet, but the it apparently can
happen. The capabilities on 440 mhz are quite limited, compared to
other frequencies, so you may want to consider the 259, unless you
need to measure swr on 440.

bob
k5qwg

Interesting....if there is something better out there what is it?......been
using a 259 since "98" and its done the job for me from beams-wires...co-ax
measurement....ans the latest, balancing out the 1/4 wave stubs on a Hygain
HighTower, as I added 17 meters to the array!!
"John Ferrell" wrote in message
...
I am considering ordering the MFJ-269 HF/VHF/UHF Antenna/SWR/RF
Analyzer.

It sounds like a Swiss Army knife device and I should be able to send
a lot of old equipment to Ebay. Does anyone have any comments to make
on it? Good or bad?

I have read the review in May 2005 QST and the manual available at
their website.

John Ferrell, W8CCW

The Palstar ZM30 Digital Antenna Z Bridge - VFO is also an excellent
unit.
http://www.palstar.com/zm30.php
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/4782

John, N9JG

"Bill" wrote in message
...
Interesting....if there is something better out there what is
it?......been using a 259 since "98" and its done the job for me
from beams-wires...co-ax measurement....ans the latest, balancing
out the 1/4 wave stubs on a Hygain HighTower, as I added 17 meters
to the array!!
"John Ferrell" wrote in message
...
I am considering ordering the MFJ-269 HF/VHF/UHF Antenna/SWR/RF
Analyzer.

It sounds like a Swiss Army knife device and I should be able to
send
a lot of old equipment to Ebay. Does anyone have any comments to
make
on it? Good or bad?

I have read the review in May 2005 QST and the manual available at
their website.

John Ferrell, W8CCW

After reading the remarks here and researching the past posts to the
newsgroup on the MFJ-269 I feel I have been missing out on a lot. The
best overall description I have found anywhere (including the MFJ web
site) is in the current ad in QST.

I ordered it Saturday morning and am eagerly awaiting its arrival.

John Ferrell, W8CCW

On Mon, 7 Nov 2005 07:12:20 -0500, "Bill" wrote:

Interesting....if there is something better out there what is it?......been
using a 259 since "98" and its done the job for me from beams-wires...co-ax
measurement....ans the latest, balancing out the 1/4 wave stubs on a Hygain
HighTower, as I added 17 meters to the array!!

The only problem with the Palstar is that it only goes to 30 MHz., while the
MFJ goes well into the VHF range past two meters with (I believe) an option
to go to 440.

Jim



"John, N9JG" wrote in message
news:RUIbf.527814$_o.286485@attbi_s71...
The Palstar ZM30 Digital Antenna Z Bridge - VFO is also an excellent unit.