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Reviews For: MFJ-148RC Dual Time Zone Clock With ID Timer

Category: Ham Shack Clocks

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Review Summary For : MFJ-148RC Dual Time Zone Clock With ID Timer
Reviews: 14MSRP: 59.95
Description:
Dual Time Zones, Digital Readout, Atomic Timekeeping Thru WWV, 10 Minute Timer for ID reminder
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Product.php?productid=MFJ-148RC
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
15144
W0EKS Rating: 2023-01-07
Works as it should Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought this clock because it displays both the local North American time zone + UTC. I live in Minnesota, roughly 900+ miles from WWVB and it reliably synchronizes each night from my basement shack. It corrects itself by approximately 1 second each night. I've owned it for almost 6 months and it's still running on the original batteries.
N8MRC Rating: 2022-02-26
Nice Atomic clock for the shack Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I had to keep it by a west window for it to sync up with WWV, after that it's working great. Nice addition to the shack
AE0Q Rating: 2022-02-15
Nice display ! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Got this 2 years ago, specifically for portable operating from parks in the car. Not the smallest clock but it lives in a big hard case with the radio, keyer, headphones and keyer paddle so size and weight isn't an issue. The plastic case won't scratch any other equipment, unlike some other small clocks in metal frames.

The only annoyance is the switch on top that turns on the 10 minute ID timer which is not needed, it gets bumped at times when setting up or packing up.

It's nice to have a big, visible UTC clock when operating, and the local and UTC are synced together. The original batteries are still OK after 2 years.
KE0GXN Rating: 2020-08-02
So far so good! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Has kept atomic time with no problems for me so far. The one important step one must follow is making sure if you want to receive the WWV signal is to set the switch on the back to "receive" PRIOR to installing the batteries. It is in the instructions that come with the clock, however many do not follow that step, then complain they can't receive the WWV signal :/

A little pricey IMHO, but if you want an accurate digital clock, with a large display made for hams, then this is the clock for you.



N3AE Rating: 2019-10-27
Eats Batteries Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Nice clock but poorly engineered with respect to current draw. Alkaline AA's only last a few weeks even with no use of the light or timer and keeping the WWVB radio off after initial sync. Should have come with a jack for external power and a wall wart.
K4HZF Rating: 2019-03-25
Still happy after all these years Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This a re-review of my original review of September 2016. Still like this clock - my main time source during QSO's. Maybe just lucky but have not had any of the problems others have mentioned. Not sure but may be on my original batteries - certainly haven't replaced more than once. Note despite MFJ's statement, the two time clocks are fully independent. One may well lock up at night, and the other one fail to snchronize with WWVB. I said in original review that clocks sync'd nearly all the time in poor hamshack location. This was a bit optimistic...if clocks haven't re-synched in a few days, and I notice discrepancies between the two, I take the clock to a first floor location and they sync there, overnight, nearly l00% of the time. A bit pricey but would certainly repurchase. BTW, have never (routinely) used either the 10 min ID timer or the backlight.
KB4LHP Rating: 2019-02-26
I must have gotten a bad one Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Appearance-wise it is the perfect ham shack clock!
This is where my praises end.
Eventually, the "Local-side" clock goes blank and the "UTC side" will only show partial numerals. Perhaps about once every 4 or 5 days.
In the beginning, I thought it was eating my batteries, but I took them out and they still showed as very good with plenty of reserves.
I replaced the batteries the first few times this did this and decided to do a test. Even with a brand new set of batteries, it will do this again within a few days.
Now I just reset the clock whenever "it goes stupid" and we are back to the races for a few days until it does it again.
I would love to keep this clock prominently displayed, but it is turning out to be a lot of work and human intervention to keep reliable time on my desk. *sigh*
I will see if I can get a replacement from MFJ, but since I bought it from Gigiparts, my confidence that this will be possible is not particularly high.
KT0DD Rating: 2018-09-03
3 year review update Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Mine has not been a battery eater at all, but I use the top of the line Energizer Lithium AA batteries. Changed them 2 times in 3 years. It still is exactly on time with WWV as long as I leave the time receiver on all the time. Turn off the WWV receiver and it doesn't stay very accurate. I never use the backlight and the timer. Overall I think it's a 5.
K2OY Rating: 2018-09-03
Battery Eater Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Took a while but it works as it's supposed to.
What bugs me is having to replace a pair of AA batteries every couple of weeks. It is a battery eater! I only use the internal light and ID timer when I hit them accidentally, not often. When I find a suitable wall wart, I plan to wire it for permanent power.
NT7X Rating: 2018-06-21
Give it time Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
MFJ-148RC Dual Clock Review.
My experience with this clock.
I was frustrated for the first week or two after purchase because I couldn’t get clock to reset automatically. (No radio signal mark indicates the receive signal was not successful)
Hitting the reset button worked sometimes but the following day I would lose the radio signal mark again.
Played around with clock positions and even placed it outside a couple of times to try to get better reception.
After some trial and error here is what works best for me in the USA/Pacific Northwest
Only press the Reset Button at time of best propagation (In my case between 23:00 hrs and 0300 hrs)
Here is a link to best propagation times
https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/radio-stations/wwvb/help-wwvb-radio-controlled-clocks
Now the clock receives successful signals 97 % of the time. Occasionally I may miss a signal due to poor propagation but learned to leave it alone as it will correct itself the next day.
Other observations.
As you know this clock has two separate times and on my clock they synchronize at different times.(ex. At 2300 hours the PST time will synchronize and at 0000 hours the UTC time will then synchronize. Occasionally the clocks will be off a split second of each other. I’m thinking it could be because the UTC Daylight savings time is off and PST daylight savings time is on. I have to play around with this some more to see if that makes a difference.
Other than that it seems to make a nice addition to the ham shack.
My recommendations for a better design would be to add dates to both time zones. You can tell me the date and five minutes later I’m looking for a calendar.
Also thought the price was a little high.
Thanks to Erik KJ4YZI Ham Radio Concepts- (you tube channel) for a great informational video on this clock.
73’s
Terry KX2TX