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Reviews For: MFJ-1896 6M Rigid Moxon Antenna

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Directional (Yagi, quad, etc.)

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Review Summary For : MFJ-1896 6M Rigid Moxon Antenna
Reviews: 8MSRP: 69.95
Description:
MFJ-1896 6M Rigid Moxon Antenna
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
1484.5
WA1YIH Rating: 2022-11-24
Better than I expected Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've been looking for a good 6 meter Moxon antenna over the last few months hoping that a used one would show up. No chance, and I wasn't into homebrewing one either. So I started looking at new. This was the least expensive one available, $99.95 as of now, so I went to HRO in Salem, N.H. and picked one up. I assembled it in about an hour. The instructions are bare minimum information on assembly but doable. All the parts were there and the tubing was drilled properly but I had a piece of tubing that had a bow to it and some of the corner L tubing wasn't bent to 45 degrees but the antenna did go together fine. I did trim the pigtail like others had and heat shrunk the ferrite cores near the SO-239. Originally the pigtail ends weren't made long enough to connect to each side of the driven element so I made them longer so they'd connect fine. The antenna match needed some adjustment, it was too long but I did achieve a 1:1 match at 50.1 mhz. At 51 mhz the SWR was only 1.3:1. I've yet to contact anyone yet here in Southern Maine but time will tell.
N4THC Rating: 2019-06-26
Fun to use Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This antenna surpassed all of my expectations. I first installed it three years ago on my 30' push-up mast. I pointed it where I wanted turning by hand. I then got a TV rotator and could see the received signals changing while rotating. I really like the width of the forward pattern. I've dabbled in SSB, JT65, MSK, and now FT8. It has lasted in the Oklahoma wind and ice. Priced so low, you could get two.
K9RE Rating: 2018-06-25
Works a treat! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought the MFJ-1896 Moxon for use at my summer cottage where I have it mounted on a push-up mast and light duty TV antenna rotator about 6M above the ground. All of the holes were drilled correctly and my antenna went together very smoothly and easily in less than 1/2 hour. I used their tuning dimensions and the antenna was spot on at 50.150 MHz. I did not have to make any adjustments. The antenna is very light but appears well made and I believe it will survive the elements quite well. The supplied balun works fine and I did not have to trim the leads. I have worked a stack of states and provinces all over the U.S. and Canada with this amazing little antenna and gotten great reports. Even made a few DX contacts! Its broad pattern means you don't have to keep moving the beam to catch new stations. This is a great antenna for local or Es work although it would not be my first choice for extended groundwave or meteor scatter because the gain is fairly low. I have to give MFJ credit for making a solid performer. There was one minor part missing (one of the boom end caps) and I am still waiting for a replacement for that. Not a big deal though.
W2OZ Rating: 2017-08-14
After repairing,good value Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
It took several months but eventually MFJ made good on the mis drilled booms and we could assemble the 2 antennas . The provided feedpoint lead had to be trimmed to as short as possible from the coax breakout point to the antenna terminals, it is too long as provided and lowers the feedpoint to 30 ohms . Once this is corrected the antenna shows 1.1 SWR at 50.1 MHz with the suggested dimensions properly adjusted . This is a good value , but not sure of the overall delay in realizing this . Wrote this second review because the antenna is suffering due to poor QC not the design .

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Earlier 0-star review posted by W2OZ on 2017-08-01

The boom drillings are not square, so the elements are skewed weirdly !, Have corresponded with MFJ, they are involved in internal finger pointing, still no resolution and no antenna in the air ! Ordered in April 2017, is dragging out like a root canal ! The drilled holes in the boom are not at good angles, elements not in the same plane and the mast mount is not at 90 deg , replacement parts are just as bad .
W4LCM Rating: 2017-06-14
Great Little 6Mts Antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
If you looking to get in the 6Mts Band and don’t want
to spend too much in this Magic/crazy band; This is
the right antenna.

After one year of used, I have no problem.
45 feet up on a TV rotor and 100 watts, I make lots of contacts.

I just order a new one, for field day and portable used.
K0IVK Rating: 2016-06-21
Great F/S & F/B ratio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've been working 6 meters when it opened up for several years, but with a "make shift" antenna. The internal tuners in my radios will tune my tri-band yagi on 6M OK, but it doesn't tune the RX side, so the receive was poor. I looked at several antennas, but didn't want to donate much of my very limited space for an antenna to be used on a band that was open such a small amount of time. This year I stumbled onto the Moxon from MFJ. That looked like the answer to my 6 Meter problem. I searched for the on line manual, to check out the specs before I ordered, but couldn't find it. Maybe because it must be a new addition to the MFJ line. I ordered one anyway and when it arrived I immediately saw a problem, because the supplied U-bolt was for a 1 3/4" mast only. I intended to put the Moxon above my HF Yagi, where my 2M SSB antenna was. but my mast is 2". This created a delay installing the antenna. Why would MFJ skimp on the size of the U-bolt?? The antenna went together easily. I was skeptical about the tiny balun assembly being able to handle much power. Hope I don't blow finals because of that. The SWR is good on both the CW and JT-65 part of the band, under 1.5:1, with no mods to the balun leads. It's hard to say if I'm working anything I wouldn't have worked before, but received signals are much stronger for sure. I gave it a 4 because of the lack of support for a 2" mast. All the antennas I own will handle a 2 " mast. I am very impressed with the F/S and F/B rejection, signals drop off to almost nothing when You turn the antenna. I never expected such from a reduced size antenna. If MFJ came up with a 17 meter Moxon, I would be interested, I now use a vertical , but would welcome a little gain on 17.
KT4EP Rating: 2016-05-10
going to be a winner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Give it " good " for now since I am only testing it. Easy assembly. No parts missing. Instructions clear but there might be an error on the completed antenna diagram. Following the prior review I cut the leads from the balun to 1.5 inches and the swr at 51 mhz went from 2.6/1 to 1.5/1. I think this would be a great antenna for field or camping/portable/mountains, etc. I don't know how it will hold up to an ice storm - it seems sturdy enough, though.
NR7N Rating: 2016-02-22
Surprisingly Good. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I needed a new 6M antenna so I scouted around on the Internet and this popped up. I found it on the HRO web site and it seems to be relatively new. I normally am not fond of MFJ antennas as the fit and finish is not always the best and performance can be variable.

I decided to take a chance so I dropped by HRO and picked one up. When I got home the first thing I did was unpack the box and to my surprise everything was there. The hardware is stainless steel, the spacers fiberglass rod and all of the aluminum tubing was cut squarely and was nicely finished.

Assembly was easy, although some careful measuring was required. It took about an hour. This antenna is supplied with a balun that is made of coax with ferrite cores over the coax. Everything is held in place with shrink tubing that was properly done. The coax connection is a SO-239 type pigtail jack that is of good quality and shrunk wrapped as well.

The only thing that was a bit strange was the leads that came out of the balun end (for connection to the driven element) were about 5-1/2" long. I felt this might be an issue but I tried the antenna out after mounting it on a 7' PVC pipe. Sure enough, the VSWR on my Comet analyzer was 4.5:1 an resonance. At this point, it was a good chance that the long leads, which added a lot of inductance, were the culprit. I unsoldered the ring terminals off each lead and cut each wire down to 1.5". After soldering the terminals on again I tried the antenna out once more. The VSWR was an impressive 1.03:1 at 50.125 MHz (this is 50 MHz not 5 MHz)and I did not have to adjust any element lengths. At height the antenna maintained its low VSWR.

This is a surprisingly good quality 6M antenna at a bargain price.