As it turns out, this was a Cushcraft product and issue. The manager of Customer Service, Richard Stubbs wrote me this morning that this issue has been resolved.

Guess I'm lucky. I've never had an issue with any MFJ company product. Not even a bad solder joint. I have had issues with LDG and Yaesu. LDG immediately sent me a replacement part while Yaesu never responded. I sold that product "as is".

MFJ sells over 2,000 products now. I'm sure there's a lot of "inherited" parts (older Mirage, Cushcraft, Hygain) that later got modified or changed in product revisions. But it's still their responsibility if they sell the product. Richard Stubbs does a heck of a job to bend over backwards to support customers....even when they call his employer "ass holes" on eHam! Indeed, God bless you Richard...and enjoy Dayton!

Are you referring to a Hygain antenna? Ameritron? MFJ? The downloadable MFJ catalog has many part numbers listed. It's difficult to evaluate your complaint without this info. Have you tried to look up the PN for what you think you need?

No, Martin does not directly deal with customer service reports. Richard Stubbs is in charge of CS. Martin manages five companies with multimillion dollar total sales. I will say that for the month run-up to Dayton, most amateur radio manufacturers (and MFJ now offers over 2,000 products) have all-hands-on-deck to ready for new product launch there and readying the inventory for shipment in the Dayton aftermath...as well as the usual "please bring me an XYZ to Dayton". That's not an excuse for anything but just a practical fact. So a phone call might be in order here. That might be the same for Yaesu, Icom, or Kenwood.

You state on your QRZ page this:

"Remember, you only go around once in this life so make your attitude and behaviour appropriate and kind/respectful to others. God bless and see you on the bands."

Your declaration of MFJ employees being "ass holes" appears a bit hypocritical, wouldn't you say? May God indeed bless you and help you stay true to your ideals!

73,

Frank
K4FMH

Great discussion, folks! We other sdr folks can only benefit from non-inflammatory exchanges like this.

I am interested in a portable SDR HF but prefer open-source whenever possible so the Aoache Labs line with a possible Juma amp looks promising!

Frank
K4FMH

AC2EU,

I wish I could argue with you based upon actual data but I cannot! Some of behind the scenes leadership that you speak of seem to think that clubs would be great if not for the membership!

73,

Frank
K4FMH

AC2EU,

Thanks for the posting. I don't disagree with our shared observation that this is commonplace but I wonder if the way it "is" is due to a lack of leadership experience in other successful volunteer groups? I'd like to think that leadership training on how successful volunteer groups in general function (outside or inside of ham radio) would change things.

The Delta Division of ARRL had its first leadership development seminar, taught for free by the state Extension Service, at the Mississippi Section ARRL annual convention in January. Director David Norris K5UZ plans to hold them in other Division states in the coming months. It's a start!

Frank
K4FMH

Hey, just another thought, guys.

The quadrocopter "drones" are very popular right now among hobby folks. They have a camera in them but use 2.4 Ghz WiFi for communication. The issue is the battery life. I would love one that I could set up somewhere and just hover in place for, say, 30 minutes or so...but the batteries are currently the problem.

On the one hand, commodity wifi doesn't require a license and using a ground-mounted parabolic dish to hit the copter probably won't raise many eyebrows (even though it probably does violate the ERP level). But HSMM-MESH in the amateur portion of the 2.4 Ghz with a few watts of BDA added to the reflashed wifi "base" might give some really effective range.

Did I mention that the battery was a problem?

73,

Frank
K4FMH
 

Hi Dale,

I'm sympathetic to your issue as most of us have had "great ideas" for amateur radio products. However, as Martin Jue himself has told me many times: having ideas is not the difficult part as decent engineering can usually contruct a working prototype and a final product. The challenge is to turn a great idea into a product that makes money! MFJ and there other companies get ideas for "great products" each and every hamfest they attend and boatloads through e-mail. But Martin's still in business because he has a great sense of which ones will sell in volume to make a profit over and above the R&D costs.

73,

Frank
K4FMH

Amen, N0IU!

"Some people just take the job too seriously. C'mon, its just a radio club! Lighten up! Sometimes being president or taking some other leadership role of a club can surely be a PITA at times, but overall it should be fun and enjoyable. But that being said, I was not all the sad to turn my gavel of authority over to the next "victim" once my rein of terror was done!"

I've seen this guy's ad for one or more TS-940S rigs described this way. He described the 20-mil serial numbers as numbering in the very, very few. I sent him an eBay message, telling him that I had a 940 with a 20-million serial number. I paid a lot less than he was asking from an ad on QTH.com. He replied with a lame answer about how rare my rig was, etc.

It's used car trading, IMHO. Love my 940 but I'd buy the much newer ts-590s for that money!

Frank
K4FMH

Seems like a consensus on this....

I recently resigned from the Board of a local club after being accused of "discussing" matters taken up in a Board meeting. Although not in the club by laws, I was told that this was a verbal agreement amongst the Board, although I was never told of it. What it amounted to was crossing swords with an internal power clique and this was their way of maintaining control.

I've never seen a volunteer group work effectively under such a "blackout" mentality.

Frank
K4FMH

AC2EU:

"On the other side of that coin are the clubs who have an entrenched cadre of people that control everything and more or less lock the other members out of decision making and participation in anything else, other than physical labor.
You just know your suggestions will go nowhere. Don't ask questions either! The cadre is like a club within a club."

Thanks for this disclosure. I just resigned from the Board of a club rife with this pattern. I stayed through the annual hamfest since I was Forums Coordinator.

Frank

K1CJS,

thanks...great disclosure. One thing I'm working on both in the eHam Forums and through the ARRL surveys conducted by the Delta Division is the context of leadership in amateur radio clubs. In our 2011 survey, the respondents seemed split into about half of those currently in clubs and those who are not. "Bad" leadership---however they defined it---seemed to be a key thing in those who are not members.

Getting a sense in these comments here about what various hams want in a Club, if they hold interest in Clubs at all, will help leadership at large do a better job.

73,

Frank
K4FMH

Great (and civil!) comments, all around!

One thing mentioned that is subtle but very important, it seems to me. The underlying theme of a club to be a social gathering rather than one focused on actions...be it a hamfest, set of repeaters, EmComm, DX, Field Day, and so forth...is certainly legitimate. A small number of members of a club with this ethos will find themselves frustrated if they want to "do" things.

Good discussion...let's keep it up.

73,

Frank
K4FMH

I bought a companion frequency converter to work with a RTL TV dongle for cheap SDR. They were reasonably quick on the shipping as they were back-ordered when I actually placed the order. Probably not a big company, focusing on open-source types of hardware, so the profit margins cannot be great.

The patience Grasshopper comment is perhaps the best thought! It will get there...

73,

Frank
K4FMH

AC4RD:

I think most hams have made the mistake of jumping to the complex problems (my autotuner's at fault) first before checking the basics (coax connector)! I know I have.

After getting to know the MFJ folks in the repair area, I suspect that at least one or two of the "junk" comments could be due to this. Not all but a few! I know they get returns and just cannot replicate the reported symptoms.

Glad it was a "cheap" solution...

73,

Frank
K4FMH