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| Reviews Summary for MFJ-1798 80m - 2m Vertical |
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Reviews: 23
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Average rating: 3.9/5
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MSRP: $289.95
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Description: Full size performance . . . No ground or radials . . . Operate 10 bands: 75/80, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12, 10, 6 and 2 Meters with one antenna . . . Separate full size radiators . . . End loading . . . Elevated top feed . . . Low Radiation Angle . . . Very wide bandwidth . . . Highest performance no ground vertical ever . .
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Product is in production.
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More info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/products.php?prodid=MFJ-1798
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write your own review of the MFJ-1798 80m - 2m Vertical.
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N7CPU
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Rating: 4/5
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Aug 18, 2011 18:50
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probably the best vertical in it's price range
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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After having to remove my doublet that was causing problems with the microcontroller on my new AC, I did some research and purchased this ugly beast.
All parts were correct and included with plenty of extra hardware. Well packed with padding filling the extra in the 'hy-gain' box that it was shipped in.
Assembly: Actually, it's pretty enjoyable to construct. There is a couple points that you have to use your noggin and actually think about the assembly. Machining is good to excellent throughout. The manual really needs more diagrams or photos.
Tuning: took about 45 minutes with it vertically at 3 ft agl. Tuning did not shift in frequency when I moved the unit to my roof. Most bands hit target frequency with only one or 2 adjustments. MFJ hit tuning right on the head in the manual.
Performance: actaully I'm pretty impressed, I can hit beacons on reversebeacon.net with 10 watts that I couldn't with a doublet at 125 watts.
It's less noisy than the doublet on all bands. Picks up less then 1/2 the powerline noise and local garbage. Signals seem to experience a little deeper fading than they do with doublet.
Bandwidth on 40 and 80 are a little narrow, but it is wider than they state with 2:1 bandwidths of 80khz on 80m and 60khz on 40m. The higher bands are much less than 2:1 across the entire band. 10 being wide enough to cover (blech) 11m to 30mhz with under 2:1. Actual radiation performance covers from fair to great with 80 meters on the low end and 10 meters on the best. 20,30, and 40 is adequate if not good.
The bads: there are a few. First being that it really isn't all the strong. The counterpoise is 6 foot lengths of 1/4 inch aluminum with 18 gauge wire on their circumference. 40mph winds do bounce them around severely to the point you pretty much figure it isn't going to survive. The solder rings on the coax shield is too small for the bolts they are suppose to mount on, but I consider this only a very minor overview.
The ugly: With winds 20mph and up the SWR bounces so badly, your afraid to use it. 2:1 peaks when swr is 1:1 at rest. I know this is expected from any antenna that is bouncing around, but this seems more severe than I have ever seen, even worse than most yagis.
Overall, it's really a good antenna except for the material strength. I guyed mine at 14ft up from the mount, and it does help survivability ALOT and should be recommended in the manual, Tom from MFJ also recommended tying it down.
I'm only rating it a 4 out of 5 because of material strength and poor manual, performance is a SOLID 5 out of 5
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KI6RRX
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Rating: 2/5
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Sep 5, 2010 16:16
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Rube Goldberg strikes again
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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The bad: parts missing, wrong thread size on PEM nuts, mis-color-coded wires, takes 8 hours to assemble & tune (alone,) wind resistance poor, performance so-so. I was able to get some help on the phone w/o a long wait on the color coding issue; the remaining problems were silently corrected in my shop.
The good: after this menagerie of crap was permanently retired after fewer than 6 months in service, it generated a lot of good-quality parts.
More or less a waste of time and money. But a nice pile of spare parts. Beware broadband HF verticals that advertise, "No ground radials required!" ONLY as a lost resort.
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W6TMV
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 15, 2009 20:25
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Even better now!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Since my last review comments I have mounted the antenna on top of a 25 ft tower so the top is up around 50 ft or so (with a 5 ft mast) - and it is even better than before - the extra elevation improved bandwith/tuning a great deal (not sure how) and in recent contests I have been able to work the entire USA and other countries using only 500W at the most (that is all I have right now) - interested in others experience with elevating this antenna.
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KG4MUW
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Rating: 3/5
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Jul 14, 2009 16:22
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poor instructions, weak structural design, good performance
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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If you follow the instructions you will unlikely assemble it incorrectly. You will most likely have to dissemble and reassemble certain parts to figure it out. There is even a self-appointed 'evaluator' on the internet who has put his ant together incorrectly (while complaining about the instructions). I tried to use his 'guidance' and after I finished I realize he had the 80/40m stub facing the wrong direction.
I figured mine out but I would suspect some folks might be well advised to call the manufacturer when they hit the first snag. It might let them know they need to revise the manual.
Mine has handled 70mph winds atop a 51' tower and 5' mast. It bent a little but it is still working. I would recommend you spend a lot of time waterproofing with liquid electrical tape and 999 silicone. Some of the other reviewers have noticed the lack of waterproofing.
I have other antennas with which to compare so this is not just a report of the number of contacts made with this particular antenna. I have a 204' G5RV at 70' and a 160M off center wire meandering through the pines. From 80M-30M my wires will beat it hands down. I could not imagine using it on these bands effectively. It tunes on 160M and 60M but don't waste your time. On 20M and 17M it is about a wash as compared to my wires. DX on 20M seems to be a little better on the MFJ. The MFJ1798 is always superior on 15M-10M. It works on 6M but really can't compare to my 6M longwire or my 6M beam. However, when 6M is open it does not take much to have a good time and this ant will be adequate. I have not made any signal comparisons on 2M but it does work fine.
The match on 20M-10M is impressive. You can use these bands without a tuner. The worst SWR on any of them is 1.3. I did spend a lot of time tuning but it really is not that hard to tune and adjust and once tuned it seems to be very stable, even after it got bent. How it got bent is coming up.
The aluminum tube and the attachment to the mast is too weak. Mine now has a bend right at the point where the fiberglass insert goes inside the tube. It looks bad but still works fine. It will likely break there in the near future. I have begun lowering the tower when high winds are predicted.
KG4MUW
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KD0DQV
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Rating: 2/5
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May 10, 2009 17:22
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Missing Quality Control
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Bought this based on suitability for site and reviews. After three weeks of trying still haven't gotten it assembled. Numerous errors in manual (parts and assembly don't agree with descriptions), missing and wrong parts, wrong phone numbers in manual. Have been promised replacement parts twice but still nothing. My opinion may change slightly once I get it assembled and operating but right now I'm pretty disappointed. I'll follow up with another review based on performance (or lack thereof).
I'm giving this a 2/5 because I'm a pretty forgiving sort of guy.
I must add that this is the third MFJ product I've purchased and had quality issues with all of them.
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W0XS
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Rating: 2/5
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Apr 4, 2009 19:19
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Not a great antenna
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've had this antenna up for 2 1/2 years and it's one of the poorest antennas I've ever used. A ham from the local DX association helped me put it together and used his antenna analyzer on it so it should work but it hasn't. Parts were missing and had to be ordered. I had a long wire up about 15 feet in the air but my landlord made me take it down so I had to settle for this mounted to the chimney. The long wire, at far less than optimum height, did a much better job than this vertical. Very disappointing after spending $300 on it.
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KA2UUP
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 21, 2009 07:32
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Going on 9 years
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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9 years later, it is still working great. Finally, after getting an antenna analyzer, I tuned the antenna to the center of each band. Bandwidths are as advertised, no problem there.
Only thing found was a deterioration of the fiberglass standoff insulators due to UV rays. However, the structural integrity is still excellent. I would recommend this antenna to anyone, without hesitation.
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G0HCI
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Rating: 4/5
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Jan 21, 2009 07:05
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Mod
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Oh well, it had to happen. Storm broke ally mast which had a weak point. But the 1798 bounced and only damage was two c'poise arms (bent up bad).
I re-mounted on a steel pole and rather than use the original raised counterpoise, left two 'far' arms supporting the c'poise wire on far side from house and securely soldered and clamped down an insulated earth cable as replacement for counterpoise on closest side (wire has a slight angle down to house entry point).
WOW! The reduction in noise, 80m is now far superior than my long wire and there's little movement of the antenna now.
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VA3NBM
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 5, 2009 13:38
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DXCC in first year!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I put up this versatile antenna in 1997 (my first and only HF antenna so far) and I achieved DXCC status in less 1 year (at the bottom of the sunspot cycle) operating 100w almost exclusively on SSB. I am still using it although it is a little "worse for wear" now and and I am considering replacing it with the same antenna. It is a wonderful 'limited space' antenna with a great operating range.
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WG5J
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Rating: 3/5
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Nov 15, 2008 16:38
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It is an OK product once you get it working - QC issues
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have a MFJ-1798 and I have worked a bunch of countries on it. Overall, it is a decent antenna. The instruction manual is OK, but needs more diagrams. Mine was missing some bolts and nuts and some holes were not drilled. The bolt holes for the top hat were not drilled and only half the hardware was there. Better QC and a manual with better diagrams would make it a much better product.
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