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Reviews For: MFJ-296Y

Category: Microphones for ham radio

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Review Summary For : MFJ-296Y
Reviews: 1MSRP: 21.95
Description:
MFJ Speaker/Mic w/ Volume for Yaesu HT
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Product.php?productid=MFJ-296Y
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0014
NQ4T Rating: 2017-06-12
It's Ok for the money Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
SO I'm getting ready to go on a trip and I realized a speaker/mic for my Yaesu FT2D would be a handy thing to have; except spending $40 on one wasn't sitting well with my ham-related vacation budget. A quick visit to eBay uncovered someone selling a MFJ-296Y for a very reasonable price. After verifying the Y version was compatible with my radio, I purchased it. I've made the assumption that all the MFJ-296 models are pretty much the same except for what plug they put on it.

Physically it doesn't feel any worse than the ones you get with a Baofeng, it's about teh same size and feels to be of the same construction. The PTT button requires almost no effort to press...though I don't see the PTT lock they mention; maybe that's on newer ones. The onboard volume control is handy.

Audiowise the speaker is what you'd expect, it's a little tinny and easily distorts. I didn't have rattling issues with mine; but I also tore it apart to check for bad solder joints...a habit for any MFJ product I buy. Transmit quality seemed ok when I did some self-tests with another HT. Microphone actually seemed very sensitive compared to the internal mic and the fidelity sounded about the same. It should perform on-air pretty well.

My major issue was this did not work when I first plugged it up. There was no audio output and PTT did not work. I verified the wiring and it was in fact correct. The problem wound up being the microphone jack not going in to the FT2D all the way. I removed a bit of rubber surrounding the TRRS plug and that solved the problem.

I can't say I've done any real-world tests with it; but my initial impressions are if it lasts as long as the trip I'll be happy...I did pay half of retail for it so maybe I'm not being nearly as picky as some.

If you need a hand mic/speaker for an HT and you find one of these; it should last you a little while.