| VK7JJ |
Rating:      |
2008-01-28 | |
| Hopefully helpful hint |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Some observations that might help you decide:
1. It works best on any very strong local noise, eliminating it by near 100%
2. As the noise gets lower and more distant it is pretty much pointless.
3. When tuned to broad local noise it fixes the whole band, not just a spot frequency.
4. The instruction manual describes badly how to tune it. If I had not read the quick start mentioned by AE6CP on page 2 of this review I would probably have thrown the thing against the wall.
5. If you find it hard to find a null then TURN YOUR AGC OFF it makes a great difference. On my FT-857 the null is hard to notice until you turn the AGC off and then it is quite obvious and sharp.
6. In use, the RX signal strength of the wanted station is less than when the unit is turned off but the signal to noise ratio is hugely improved and that is what counts.
7. Your secondary noise antenna needs to be a good external antenna because the noise signals from your two antennas have to be the same amplitude or they cannot cancel out. So if the received signal from your second antenna is low, then the gain of your main antenna has to be reduced to that level and therefore the overall received signal level is reduced to that of your secondary antenna.
PS. My MFJ-1025 is a fully fledged MFJ-1026 inside with just the preamp switch spring disabled. It is easily restored and by placing a saddle on two pins to activate the preamp (download the MFJ-1026 manual and you will understand) and voila, you have the more expensive model. But after playing with the preamp for a while I felt it is a waste of time as it introduces obvious internal noise (as preamps do) and the variable preamp gain makes the tuning job more difficult. |
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| NL7Y |
Rating:      |
2007-11-24 | |
| Works! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
After fussing with an ANC-4 Noise Canceller for 12 years, I finally got a current model (Ver.4) MFJ-1026...local city noise runs S8-9 on 160M CW w/500Hz filters, mainly from power lines and electronic gadgets...my rigs-IC-765, TS-940SAT, and MK-V Field often struggle to break out a clean signal...the MFJ-1026 hooked to my GAP Titan as a sense antenna, then phased with the 160M Inv-L send/receive aerial cuts the noise to S0-1...BTW, I'm running the unit in-line with the receiver output/input RCA taps, and not feeding RF through it to the amp...the ANC-4 was not as effective at my QTH in a similar configuration, and gave at best 2-S units decrease in noise level.
The fuse bulb glows a bit when I run a KW, but who cares?...W8JI has some mods to improve performance on his Webpage.
73 Gary NL7Y |
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| K6ZB |
Rating:     |
2007-10-12 | |
| Good solution with external protection |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I obtained a model 1026 through an estate sale as I wanted to try this to remove severe power line noise in the 80 meter CW band. My main antenna is a screwdriver and the noise antenna is a vertical wire in a tree about 15 feet away. As I transmit QRO, I was concerned about overloading the AUX input, which has limited protection using an small incandescent bulb. W0EWM was helpful with his suggestion of a T/R relay.
What I found instead is a passive device from Array Solutions and ICE called the Receive Only Signal Processing Equipment. It looks like a small LPF and contains a matching transformer that saturates on high power, a blocking capacity to prevent high voltage spikes, and another incandescent bulb. Cost is under $50, and the only connections are at RF - using RCA jacks(!). The unit protectet the MFJ 1026 at my full 1 KW, but some of the power got back into the shack: I noticed that my keyer beeped on voice peaks. However, I had not grounded the ICE box, so after doing do (directly to my external station ground), that problem disappeared.
Performance of the unit is very good in terms of noise cancellation - nearly taking it to the ambient noise. The signal is suppressed also in my system, but not as much. I can fiddle with the controls to bring the signal up while keeping the noise at an acceptable level.
I'd give the unit a 5 if it had the protection built in - all it takes is that isolation transformer built into the ICE box. |
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| K1GUY |
Rating:      |
2007-04-26 | |
| Very Good Unit, MFJ 1025 |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I felt compelled to write this considering all the bashing of MFJ. I was looking for a Noise canceler and considered a few. The first one from MFJ didn't seem to work well. I returned it and after talking with others, there is a T/R switch that caused headaches with many others. They replaced it with a new unit where this problem was corrected. People that took my calls were very helpful and polite. I will now consider MFJ when I purchase other ham equipment.
The unit is well made and performs great. Good Job MFJ. |
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| EB5ESX |
Rating:  |
2006-11-19 | |
| Very BAD |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
MFJ 1026 has a very high cost in Spain, and then i bought it new in USA using Ebay.
In a week it was in my house.
A 10 over 5 for Gentry Electronics, but a 0 for MFJ.
My 1026 is broken. Phase button doesn't do anything and paint of the box is really really bad ... horrible !!! I think that they have painted my 1026 with hand.
It isn't a good quality for a 180$ product.
Now i have to pay the cost to return it to MFJ :-(
Very bad for MFJ and its quality. |
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| W0EWM |
Rating:     |
2006-11-19 | |
| Big Help with Local Noise |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have been using the MFJ-1026 for over a year. I bought the first one to use with low band (80M and 160M) receive antennas. I use a 30' vertical copper wire to collect the local noise (noise antenna). My problem is with local noise sources in the area that "come and go" particularly on 80M. The MFJ-1026 will null an S-9+ local noise level to the residual band noise level of S-3(I turn the preamp off and insert attenuation to limit the "normal band noise" to S-3 on 80M and 160M).
After using the first MFJ-1026 for a while - and seeing its performance - I bought a second one to use with my normal transmit/receive antennas (Because of my automatic antenna switching system there wasn't a good way to share one MFJ-1026 between all of the antennas). I find that the MFJ-1026 also does a nice job eliminating local noise sources on the 40M, 30M, 20M, etc. bands (I have a second 30' tall vertical wire for the noise antenna on the second MFJ-1026).
I would rate the MFJ-1026 higher then a 4 for normal operation, but I believe the 1026 is missing a necessary antenna relay. The "light bulb fuse" on the noise antenna input is a poor way to protect the unit from being overloaded while you are transmitting. I installed noise antenna external relays for both of my MFJ-1026's to disconnect and ground the noise antenna for the unit when the transmitter is operating. This added significantly to the complexity of "integrating the MFJ-1026" with the rig due to needing external relays and additional "AMP KEY" outputs to key the additional relays. However, these external relays fully protect the MFJ-1026s from being overloaded and damaged through the external noise antennas while the transmitter is operating.
I don't know about other uses for the MJF-1026, but if you have locally generated "neighborhood noise sources" that are impacting your receive capability, I would definitely try the MFJ-1026. |
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| N4JTE |
Rating:      |
2006-09-13 | |
| Patience pays off. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I should have posted this months ago but this unit {1026} got me back on the air after considering giving up 40 at night and I never took the time to say how well it worked for eliminating an horrendus pulsing, frequency shifting, 20 over noise that had me going bonkers.
To make it most effective put up a vertical away from transmitting antenna and that will be your noise antenna, mine doubles as 40 meter vertical.
DO NOT EXPECT INSTANT RESULTS!, you have to play with the knobs and follow instructions EXACTLY to get results. If you need help email; bobr1919@hotmail.com. |
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| NO9E |
Rating:      |
2006-07-24 | |
| A useful gadgets but beware of burning light bulb |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I find the unit useful. In many cases it makes a signal buried in local noise copiable. There is one catch, though. When the noise antenna is too close to the transmitting antenna,the bulb inside lights at low power levels and burns at QRO levels. When burned, there is no signal from the noise antenna. MFJ sells those bulbs cheaply so I ordered a few. Since, I installed a separate noise anntenna close to power lines and far away from the transmitting antennas. No problems any longer.
It would be desitable for MFJ to disconnect the noise antenna when in transmit. However, few things are perfect and especially at such a price. |
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| N1XBP |
Rating:  |
2006-07-24 | |
| Neat unit ..if it worked |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I was skeptical about how well the MFJ-1026 (1025 is the same unit without a whip antenna) would work in my situation. I've got background noise approaching S9 to S9+10 at times and it arrives from many directions (city noise). I thought perhaps the unit would help me at least quiet things down a little.
The first time I tried the unit, like everyone else, I had almost no results. Don't waste the extra 20 dollars on the 1026, get the 1025 if you are going to get one because this unit is useless without an external noise antenna anyway.
So, after checking out the net and reviews I decided to put up a noise antenna. I made sure to set the jumper onto J1 as the manual instructed.
I've got a 20 meter dipole in the attic and I'm restricted in terms of putting up an outside antenna, so my first attempt at a noise antenna was a small dipole running at ~45 degrees perpendicular to the end of the 20 meter dipole (the noise dipole was stretched out along a rafter). I didn't want coupling between the two and my analyzer showed there was minimal change in the characteristics of the main dipole. The noise dipole was about 10 feet in total length, and fed with RG8x, while the 20 meter was fed with RG-213.
This produced little to no results.. a slight change in the noise "sound" was detectable but not much occured.
Still thinking it must be either me or a bad antenna, I took down my two dipoles and put in place two 10 meter dipoles with ends facing each other and a a few feet in between. With the same orientation, height, and relatively similar location these two antennas performed similarly on my receiver.
Still, no effect from the 1026.
At this point I started to think perhaps there was something wrong with the unit, and I put the 20 meter dipole back up and tuned it. Switching the "big" dipole onto the noise input, and turning the gain down on the main antenna, I was unable to hear anything from the "noise" antenna. My unit was completely deaf on that input.
Looking closely at the board to see if anything was amiss, I noticed it was covered in fingerprints that looked as though they were left by someone with solvent on their hands, and the overall construction was poor. The main gain pot was already coming loose!
I returned the unit and due to the construction and failure out of the box, I won't be buying another. In the future I'll either build my own phaser or try an ANC-4. I'll probably think twice before I buy another MFJ product again as well.
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|
| AD6RH |
Rating:     |
2006-04-19 | |
| Works great! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I actually have the MFJ-1025 (same unit minus the whip antenna). I have up to 20 over S9 power line noise and this unit will reduce it to S1-S3. It takes a while to "tweak" but worth the effort. I wired the PTT relay, and another relay that drops out the receiving antenna when in transmit. Now, if PGE would only fix the problem... |
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