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Reviews For: MFJ 130RC

Category: Ham Shack Clocks

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Review Summary For : MFJ 130RC
Reviews: 27MSRP: 39.95
Description:
Thermo Wall Clock
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00271.4
W5KI Rating: 2011-06-12
Not the best choice Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The earlier reviews are correct. After several weeks, the unit will regularly lose data and give erroneous time and/or date. Even folks that live near WWV might have the problem! I added an external antenna connection (BNC), put a small length of wire hanging from it, and it actually does MUCH better. Though it still loses the correct hour every 3-4 months, that is good enough for me. Only so much money I care to spend on clocks.

I like MFJ products. But recommend a different unit from MFJ or other company.
W8LV Rating: 2011-05-04
Works just fine and dandy! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Mine works perfectly, been on the wall for a few years. A GMT clock that displays not just the time but also the DATE is handy, as it makes it easier to record the correct time AND DATE in your logbook.

The CORRECT offset for this clock if you live in the EST zone is "5" by the way...



K4NP Rating: 2011-04-26
Junk- Don't waste you money Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Would lose sync with the time signal. Sent it back for another one. Same thing. Wish I read the reviews first.
NJ2H Rating: 2011-02-28
Horrible is too nice a word Time Owned: more than 12 months.
At first the clock seemed to work fine. But soon I learned that if it can't find the signal, it goes haywire, just like others have said. I've put it all over the shack in all different orientations. No luck. I have three other atomic clocks in the house, and all work fine. The only good thing I can say about this is the thermometer works fine, hence the 1 rather than a zero.
N6RLS Rating: 2010-07-23
Goes haywire when it loses synch w/WWVB Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
As others have noted, this clock has trouble keeping time without clear reception of the WWVB time signal. Of course, there's nothing "atomic" about the clock itself, perhaps that's a reference to the "atomic" clock that the NIST uses... who knows?

In any event, as long as the MFJ-130RC hears its WWVB radio signal each day, things are fine. However, unlike other "atomic" clocks, this thing goes haywire and jumps to some rendom time (and year) which may or may not correct itself the next time it does get reception of WWVB.

The first time, it jumped to the year 2034... today it had jumped back to 2000... and the time was some random hour which made no sense.

You can manually set it back to near the correct time and, if it gets a strong WWVB signal (at 3am), it will "zero" to the exact second. But to have to go through this every few days is a real annoyance. Other such clocks usually just coast along at about the right time until they next get a reference signal. Not this gem.

Also, the instructions as to how to set the clock to UTC are incorrect, as near as I can tell: It says the "offset" is 8 hours from Eastern Time and 5 hours from Pacific Time... I think that should be 5 hours from Eastern and 8 from Pacific.

I'm calling MFJ soon to see what can be done - and to let them know that I'm not the only person with a problem clock. The Oakland HRO has one of these clocks on the wall there (they sell them!), and they have to reset it all the time, too.
KB3BTO Rating: 2009-10-25
EXTREMELY POOR PRODUCT Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am in full agreement with all that has been posted here. I just wish that I had read the posts prior to my purchase. When will I learn?
After approximately 6 weeks of accurate time display, I awoke today to find that year is 2058, the month is April, the day is Thursday, and the UTC is off by 7 hours. The only display that was correct was the temperature. Swell.
This product is low-grade junk, nothing more.
KE1IN Rating: 2009-03-04
Poor Performer Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Bought this clock last fall directly from MFJ. Performed flawlessly for just six weeks. Then it began having trouble syncing to the WWVB signal and setting garbage for date and time. Sent it back for replacement under their 12 month "No Matter What" warranty. New unit performed flawlessly for just six weeks. Again, begain having trouble syncing to WWVB and setting garbage for date and time. This time I returned it for refund under the "No Matter What" warranty. I will praise MFJ for honoring their warranty terms. Their mistake was in putting their good name on a worthless piece of electronic junk.
WALTERB Rating: 2008-09-21
Can't read it at an angle. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I got this clock a month ago because of the price (under $30) and because it allowed me to set it to Universal Time and not just for North America. It did automatically set itself to the correct time, but not immediately. It has one Major problem, in that it can only be viewed directly in front of the clock. I mounted it on the wall and from my chair I can not read the LCD display. 9:48:02 from my chair looks like 88:88:88. Once you move 15 degrees or more away from dead center, you can’t read the display. It’s hung right next to my $20 Radio shack atomic LCD clock and I can read it perfectly. Unfortunately the Radio shack model doesn’t allow setting to Universal / GMT, otherwise I would have bought two of those. It also maybe a bit of a battery pig, but I’ll need to keep it longer before I’m willing to confirm it.
AE6OU Rating: 2008-07-04
Buy a LaCrosse! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Forget the MFJ junk. Bought the LaCrosse (www.lacrossetechnology.com/) WS8117U-IT-OAK and it worked great out of the box. Does UTC and 24 hour time the right way (8pm displayed as 20:00 unlike some other models). Date is displayed as D/M and you have to trade off the year for the seconds display. Comes with external temperature transmitter. Got mine from www.ambientweather.com for $24.95 plus $8.08 s/h.

Got it to replace the MFJ 130RC which continuously would lose correct time even though the antenna symbol showed the clock was receiving WWVB. The date would jump randomly also. It always beeped at 4 minutes after the hour! It's heading to the recycle bin. And the LaCrosse time digits are 2.25" high the same as the MFJ.
WA6EKP Rating: 2008-05-04
Dead OOTB! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought one of these from HRO in Burbank, CA. When I got it home and installed the batteries, it was dead. No LCD display, nothing. Took it back for a refund.