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Reviews For: MFJ-1275/1275M Sound Card to Rig Interface

Category: Interfaces, Radio to computer, amp, rotor, coax switch, internet

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Review Summary For : MFJ-1275/1275M Sound Card to Rig Interface
Reviews: 34MSRP: 89.95
Description:
Allows use of sound card and rig for all digital modes.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/products.php?prodid=MFJ-1275
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00343.4
AL7B Rating: 2003-02-22
Good Value Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have found this interface to be a good value. It seems solid and performs well. The jumper settings can be a bit confusing to figure out but allows great flexability.

I do with one more jumper were included, that to remove the speaker termination resistor. This would allow the unit to be used with 600 Ohm, fixed level, audio sources. I lifted one lead of the resistor and is how I am operating mine.
K1DX Rating: 2002-12-20
Nice package, but very poor workmanship. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought one directly from MFJ as soon as they came out. Unfortunately, very poor manufacturing (lack of solder) rendered it useless. Continuity was missing at multiple points, and for what it cost, I wasn't willing to repair it. I returned it to MFJ at a loss of shipping cost. These are easy enough to build, but having a nicely packaged unit is desirable. BTW, this is the only "junk" I've received from MFJ. Generally, they give good value for the cost, but this one was a dissappointment.
KF9Z Rating: 2002-12-20
Fine accessory Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
How can people knock this interface? Obviously people fulfill their own prophecies regarding MFJ. They hear it is bad stuff yet they buy it anyway and when it doesn't work right away or to their overly high expectations they complain. I own the above-mentioned interface and I found it to be well made and better than the West Mountain Radio interface (simply because of the isolated INPUTS and OUTPUTS). So what if you have to set a few jumpers? Read the manual. I have used this interface on MANY radios with no issues at all. The reason for internal jumpers is for support. More radios for less money. The unit is well made and works out of the box. I am not sure what people expect? Not everything in life can be plug-and-play. On the difficulty scale this product rates very low (meaning it is very easy to set-up and use). Open the case and set a few jumpers, plug it into the radio, power it up and your ready to work PSK31. I find that people are overly hard on MFJ because they hear it is junk. That is what we call a self-fulfilling prophecy. MFJ gear is fine if you keep this one fact in mind...it costs less than the rest. Some sacrifices need to be made to appeal to cheap hams (myself included).
KP4TR Rating: 2002-11-05
I like my unit Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased my MFJ 1275 about 2 weeks ago at AES in Orlando. I purchased the model with the 8 pin connector and left the store. About 10 minutes going to Tampa I decided to open the box while at a stoplight, and to my surprise, the model was one with a modular connector. The box apparently was mislabeled, a quality control problem at MFJ. I had to drive back to AES for an exchange and the people at AES were surprised as well and gave me another one. Other than this I was able to hook the unit up relatively quickly and was using it on SSTV in less than an hour. I had a hum in my audio but quickly discovered it was sitting next to my power supply. Also had a problem when I turned on my amplifier, so keep the unit away from any power sources. It allows you to connect your PC speakers to it and will switch the speakers out and into your radio when turned on. The cables were 6 feet long, but I see that they are now shipping them with shorter cables (to save $$$ ?) unless the 2 feet cable were the older ones and now they ship with 6 feet cables (who knows???).

Documentation is ok, and jumper settings were straightforward for my Yaesu FT1000MP. I'm happy with my unit.
KG5EB Rating: 2002-10-15
Mighty Fine Junk Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The MFJ-1274M (Modular) was shipped direct from MFJ and received 2 days after shipment. The first thing noticed was the instruction manual was lacking detail as to how to set the numerous jumpers on the board to interface with my Kenwood TM-G707. The instruction book had instructions for setting jumpers for several radios non of which were modular and non of which were currently marketed radios. Checked the MFJ WEB site and there was no help there either. After studying the 1274 manual and other manuals on the Kenwood WEB site it was finally worked out as to how the jumpers were to be set.

Then came the 6 cables that need to be run between the 1274M, the radio and the computer. It appears the 2 foot cords have been improved upon as the cords were about 6 foot (see earlier review).

However, after plugging in the MFJ supplied 12 volt power transformer the unit did not appear to operate. Testing the supplied power transformer it was discovered that the unit did not work (new out of the box!) as no voltage was available.

As mentioned in an earlier review I also noticed the burned smell when taking the unit from the box. There was no evidence of burned parts when the unit was inspected.

Since the 12 volt transformer supplied did not work I attached it to the Astron using the recommendations provided in the manual. All it did was burn fuses.

Then there is the software. An OK selection of software. All were shareware versions which required additional expense to acquire a version that would consistently worked. How the software actually worked with the 1274M was never tested.

I may have received a lemon but in my opinion this was a lesson learned. I was so disgusted with this product I did not even attempt resolution with MFJ. It is now just junk in our local might fine land fill.
W6TCP Rating: 2002-10-06
Works well - Good Value Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Took some time to set up but no real problems. Well constructed in side and I have received good reports. The supplied software is worthless !
WW5X Rating: 2002-09-09
Burned Again Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This has got to teach me - fianlly - that this company lacks any decent quality control. I am sick of being "inspector 3A" for them and not getting paid for it. I bought this unit, and after 4 hours of screwing around with it have finally come to the conclusion that there is a faulty xmit relay (sticks on) and will need to be exchanged. I don't know if a "good" unit works, but I do know I will ship it back for a refund and buy something else - and avoid MFJ at all costs in the future.
AA5CH Rating: 2002-07-22
For a few dollars more... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
For a few dollars more, you can purchase the Rigblaster Plus which has everything you need to get on the air with the digital modes.

A few days ago I helped an older ham hook up a 1275 interface that he had just purchased. The first thing I noticed was the smell of the unit as I unwrapped the plastic...I did not expect the unit to work when powered up because it smelled as if resistors had been burned. In fact, I called the dealer and advised him that if the unit didn't work on first power up, it would likely be because it had been burned up at the factory. The unit did appear to work normally when powered up, however.

The next issue was the audio cables...they are 2 feet long. What the hell can you do with 2 foot cables? If the interface sits directly on top of the rig, you can use one of them; otherwise, you must make up cables or visit the nearest RS for new audio cables or extensions, and of course the RS232 cable. We had to spend an additional $25 for the necessary cables in order to hook up the interface to the computer. His was what I consider to be a typical set up, with a tower on the floor next to the operating position.

I did not attempt to load any software from the MFJ disk as I had my Rigblaster disk handy. The Rigblaster disk has an "autorun" feature that simplifies browsing and downloading the software.

The jumpers were no problem. My friend is using an older radio, but it was listed. We did have some difficulty as none of the software was able to open the COM1 port. I don't know, but suspect this was a computer problem rather than an interface problem. We were able to use the COM2 port.

After connected, the unit appeared to work normally.

If they are not going to provide cables that are of any use in a typical installation, I would suggest that they be omitted from the "package" so that the price can be dropped further. Otherwise I see no reason to purchase this product in lieu of the Rigblaster Plus or similar product.

73,

Brad
AA5CH

AB0UK Rating: 2002-06-06
Pleased with it...but it is complicated to setup. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Picked up one at Dayton from R & L Electronics for $79 as compared to $89 at MFJ across the isle. The first one was actually an "M" in a regular box. It was still nicely wrapped in plastic so MFJ had put the wrong one in the box in Mississippi.

The jumpers inside to wire the mic connector for my IC-718 was a bit tricky but not a serious problem. My interface came with three stereo cables. Stereo to mono adapters from Radio Shack were needed to make a couple work the way I wanted. You will need to supply your own RS-232 cable. A cable is included for 12 volt operation. However the manual strongly cautions to not operate without a fused input. Neither a fuse or holder are included.

The program the CD trys to load is for a multitude of modes and would not operate PSK31 on my rig. A program named WinPSK a couple of folder level down works find for PSK31.

Including a ground and mic cable there are a total of nine cable in the back. There are several buttons and LEDs on the front plus a mic connector.

Due to the complexity of the unit and interface to a computer and the software involved it is not something you can make happen 15 minutes after you open the box.

However, with all of the above said the interface works well after getting everything hooked up and the software installed and configured.
N2GFF Rating: 2002-06-06
burned twice Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought my first one of the 1275,s from MFJ direct. It would not work with my laptop and it was missing some cables. That effort cost me about $15.00 bucks in shipping. The June issue of QST has a review on this card, and it was raves. I bit on that one and ordered a second unit from HRO. After spending 10 or so hours trying to get the CW and RTTY software to work on my laptop, I bought long cables (the cables offered are way too short) and tried to get it going on my desktop. Another 10 or so hours. The software is mostly dos or demo (the demo from MFJ is just that, a demo, it doesn't do anything but give you storm warnings in Germany.) A call to my dealer landed me here, but no solutions. The rig is a Kenwood TS-930s, and the manual is clear on setting the jumpers. MFJ claims no responsibility for the software, and I can see why. Hopefully, I can find some working software on the net. Construction seems OK, but both units smelled like they had been fried when the case was opened. Is it possible that I have received 2 defective units from 2 sources?