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You can
write your own review of the MFJ 93X0 Cub QRP xcvr.
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K5TTE
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 10, 2011 13:47
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MFJ's simple triumph
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I can't add much to these positive reviews. I've owned 4 of these little guys, the last being from a nice fellow on eBay .
The 80 meter kit is on my desk, ready for assembly.
I've bought many MFJ items; the simple small wire tuner
has been a steady reliable performer for over 20 yrs.
I can't say a thing about MFJ service except......I've never needed to call them yet!
The cub's deficiencies seem minor: I can live with the drifting
VFO that eventually stabilizes, the hair-trigger VFO knob that requires a light touch, the lack of a BNC connector,et al.
My only challenge has been to wrestle with a stereo-plug
that you must use for a small speaker. These rigs will power a small speaker nicely in a quiet room. In the car, not so much.
There's no point in comparing my cubs with my Argonaut V:
apples vs oranges.
I can't think of a good reason not to have one of these guys.
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HB9OBZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 24, 2011 07:42
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NICE LITTLE QRP RIG
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I ORDERED THE 20M WIRED VERSION AND, DESPITE MY POOR ANTENNA CONDITIONS (HALF G5RV MOUNTED VERY LOW ON THE GROUND), I SAY WITH PLEASURE THAT IT OUTPERFORMED MY EXPECTATIONS. EUROPEAN QSO'S WITH EASE AS WELL AS CN8WW AND A FEW US STATIONS HEARD. I NOTICED ONLY 2 DRAWBACKS: 1. YOU HAVE TO SWITCH ON THE CUB 10 MINUTES BEFORE ATTEMPTING A QSO IN ORDER TO AVOID FREQ. DRIFTS AND 2. YOU MUST BE VERY SENSITIVE WHEN TUNING ESPECIALLY WITH WEAK STATIONS. A TEN TURN POT WOULD BE MUCH BETTER. BUT YOU CAN LIVE WITH IT ! I LOVE THIS LITTLE QRP RIG AND IT IS WORTH THE PRICE. YOU WILL HAVE FUN WITH IT !
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W1JKA
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 18, 2010 06:03
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ideal first rig
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I ordered the 40m Cub/tech study guide from the ARRL in 2009 after being off air for 43 years, I was a novice in the 60"s.I took my time building the kit,about 12 hrs total over a two week period. Anyone with good eyesight and up on current construction practices could put one together in a lot less time.
Step by step instructions were easy to follow as well as tune up and calibration which was done with just my SWR and no other test equipment,I only had a few cold solder points to redo.
My power supply at the time was a 12v dc 700ma. wall wart and my antenna a 40m dipole up 20 ft. With this set up here in Maine I regularly work europe,scandinavia and west coast USA propagation permitting.I have since built the 20M cub,Elecraft K-1 and upgraded to General.
The Cubs work just as well as the K-1,just less power and functions and a lot more rugged.I use the Cubs portable very often. Simple efficient Qrp rig .
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WB0FDJ
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Rating: 4/5
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Aug 14, 2010 17:58
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Simplicity....
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I ordered this radio because I had decided to get into kit building and needed to log some hours with the soldering iron. This filled the bill. I apparently had better luck with mine than others: once assembled it worked without drama or surprise. As others have noted at first theres some drift, after 30 minutes it settles down. I get about 2 watts out. In retrospect this is a very simple kit to build and I would recommend it to the ham who hasn't done much building. I've made quite a few fun contacts with my 20 meter Cub and usually run it off a small 12 v battery pack that I ordered for my smaller QRP rigs. It's a real gas to build your own stuff and got me started in building.
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KU4UV
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Rating: 0/5
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Apr 12, 2010 20:54
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Be afraid, be very afraid
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Gee, I really wanted to like this kit, but after seeing all of the tombstoned SMD components on the circuit board, I am very reluctant to even finish building and testing it. The circuit board of the kit has about 5 different SMD capacitors that are not even completely soldered to the circuit board. One end is soldered to the board, while the other end is standing on it's end! MFJ quality and QC rears it's ugly head once again. I have contacted MFJ and requested a return shipping label. I will be requesting a full refund of my money from MFJ, and wish me luck as to getting a refund. I just can't in good faith recommend this kit after seeing the poor quality of this circuit board. To those who have built and are enjoying this kit, God love ya. I know now why everyone knock's MFJ's quality, because they deserve their poor reputation. It is really a crap shoot whenever you purchase an MFJ product as to whether or not you will get a dud. This is in no way knocking Mr. Littlefield who designed the kit. I contacted Mr. Littlefield and he was very helpful. I just can't recommend this kit at all. I will purchase a kit from Oak Hills Research or Ten-Tec. I can trust Ten-Tec because I know they will help me out if I have a question or need a replacement part. I think I have purchased my last MFJ product.
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WB6IYM
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 11, 2009 15:07
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Another great kit building experience.
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I built the 40-meter version of this little radio last Christmas and was quite impressed with its performance. So, having nothing planned for the July 4th weekend, I bought the 20-meter version now available from ARRL and gave it whirl.
Everything went together nicely, except when I applied power and went through the testing and alignment procedure, I discovered there was no output whatsoever! The receiver worked great, and the radio keyed, but no power out - zero!
My 9340 draws about 240 ma on transmit and puts out about 2 watts on the meter. The 9320 drew only about 120 ma and no output power. I triple checked all components and their locations without finding any errors. Then off to Fry's Electronics for a new PA (2N5109). Still nothing. A digital multimeter revealed some significant voltage discrepencies (from what is published in the manual) on the pins at U5; so I think I had a PC board with some bad SMD's installed.
Monday morning I called MFJ and they shipped me a new kit forthwith. I had it by Friday via UPS and 2 hours later, I was happily transmitting on 20 meters. I certainly need to tip my hat to the MFJ customer service department for that one! The first one goes back via prepaid label from MFJ on Monday.
The rig is every bit as good on 20 as it is on 40. However, for about the same power out (2 watts +/-) it draws about 340 ma on 20 compared to the 240 ma on 40. Don't know what's going on there.
This morning I worked Alaska, Hawaii, and several stations in the mid-west in the IARU HF Competition. Antenna was a Butternut HF9V on the ground. So the thing works!
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K8JD
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Rating: 4/5
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Dec 26, 2008 12:19
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More thoughts on the 9380.
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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A few more things about my 80M cub, I like this rig enough that I just ordered a companion, 40M version of the CUB. I hope the grief I had with the shipping time is not repeated !
Makes a nice travel kit along with a roll of antenna wire,tuner/swr meter and my old 9030 rig and battery pack!
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WA6L
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Rating: 4/5
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Sep 2, 2008 13:53
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Best $99 radio kit around
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have completed many kits from Heathkit, Elecraft, and Ten-Tec, and the 9380 is by far the easiest kit I ever built. The majority of the components on the board are pre-mounted SMT, so you are left with just a couple of dozen "through the hole"" items to finish the radio. My total construction time was about 3 hours, including alignment.
You can say what you want about MFJ quality, but this kit was top-notch. All the parts were there, the instructions are clear and complete, and the alignment went without a hitch. The little cub worked the first time power was applied to it and has not had a single problem.
If I was going to pick a nit about the kit-building process, it would be that the instructions are not detailed enough concerning winding and installing toroids. This kit is geared toward the first-time builder, and they are probably going to need more help with toroids than anything else. The instructions were complete, but it would have been helpful to provide more information on stripping and tinning the coils.
Once the kit is complete and aligned, you have one nifty little $99 radio. You have to keep that figure in mind, and it is unfair to compare the cub with radios costing much more.
The receiver is impressive for a rig with this parts count. It appears to be very sensitive and the bandwidth is quite narrow. On transmit, my 9380 puts out a solid 2.5 watts and the signal is clear and clean.
The VFO is varactor-based and the drift is considerable when you first apply power. It takes a good 15 minutes for everything to stabilize; after which it is steady enough. This is just an operating hint and not a complaint.
The one complaint I do have concerns the tuning range of the cub. On my 9380, I have a range of approximately 70 kHz. The problem with that is the tuning control is a single-turn 10K potentiometer. With a large range and a single turn, it is difficult to accurately tune in signals. You can go right past a strong signal without hearing it, and once you find it, it takes a very, very sensitive touch to get it centered in the receiver bandwidth.
I don't see the need for that wide of a tuning range for a QRP rig. Half of that would be fine. I think that an easy mod would be to put a 10K resistor in parallel with the pot and reduce the tuning range in half. I will give that a try as time permits.
With that aside, the little cub is a fun project and well within the capabilities of the first-time kit builder. Once completed, you have a very serviceable QRP rig that can be a lot of fun to operate.
73,
John, WA6L
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K2PGB
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Rating: 4/5
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Jun 9, 2008 14:53
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FUN RADIO
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I HAVE THE SET OF CUBS. MY BEST DX EVER WAS WITH THE 15 METER MODEL. THE FIRST QSO WAS JA1NUT. WILL NEVER BEAT THAT MILES/WATT AS THE BRIDGE WAS SHOWING ONLY 1 WATT OUTPUT.
GOOD VALUE.
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WD8DSB
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 15, 2008 06:29
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Great little QRP rig (almost perfect).
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Yesterday I built the MFJ-9340, and so far very happy with the results. Using a 13.0 volt supply, power output was a hair under 2.0 watts using the stock 2N5190 output transistor. Then installed the MRF-237 in place of the stock output transistor and output power came up to around 2.75 watts, and adjusted it back down to 2.5 watts.
I like the QSK on this rig, and have had good reports on quality of signal (tone). Worked DX last night (YN4SU) from near Indianapolis using my 100 foot attic dipole.
Only major problem was a surface mount capacitor (C33) was standing on end (one end not connected to anything). Broke C33 trying to move it back into position, so replaced it with a standard through hole cap.
Wish the rig had a little more audio volume during the day with weak signals on 40 meters, but it's acceptable. Tried using a little Radio Shack external audio amp and this really helps crank the audio level up to ear banging levels.
You will need a good magnifying glass to read the capacitor values when building this rig, and good strong alignment tools.
My other QRP rig is an HW-8, but I can already tell that the MFJ-9340 has become my favorite 40 meter QRP rig due to its single signal reception (super het receiver), size, QSK, and power output.
Don
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