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Reviews For: MFJ-1762 6m 3 element yagi

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

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Review Summary For : MFJ-1762 6m 3 element yagi
Reviews: 20MSRP: 79.95
Description:
6 Meter Yagi quadruples your effective radiated power over 1/2 wave dipole. 6 foot boom 2 pounds. Can use TV rotator and mast. Handles 300 Watts PEP SSB. Mounts vertically or horizontally. Current balun decouples feedline. Great front-to-back ratio.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/products.php?prodid=MFJ-1762
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
14202.9
N1MG Rating: 2006-02-16
Low quality Time Owned: more than 12 months.
A disappointment. Poor workmanship. Poor performance. Lousy matching network. You could do better yourself with $25 of aluminum and some tools.
KG4RUL Rating: 2005-08-27
Good but fragile Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had mine up for about 18 months. One side of the driven element got bent about 45 degrees down from horizontal when a tree branch got whipped onto it during hurricane Charley. Otherwise, it stood up to the wind.

Getting the antenna delivered safely in the first place was a different story altogether. The UPS man threw the antenna onto the front porch, pushed the doorbell button once and ran like hell. By the time I got to the door, he had the track rolling away.

I discovered the reason for this haste was that the antenna, in it's box, was broken so badly that it flopped like a rag doll. When I went to the UPS center to see about the damage, they told me that they no longer hadled claims and I would have to make an appointment for the 'inspector' to come from a 2 hour drive away, to my home, to inspect the damage. Also, the closest they would give me to an appointment was that he would be their 'sometime' during the day.

To MFJ's credit, when I called them about this, they shipped the replacement the same day. The included the RMA with the replacement and I used the reinforcments from that box to send the original antenna back.

So, MFJ Good!

UPS BAD!!!!

Dennis KG4RUL
K7MBL Rating: 2005-08-27
Yes....and no!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Finally received my 1762 from MFJ. Ordered it on a Monday, shipped Thursday...and only bacause I called them. They acted as if they couldn't find my order. I had the same problem with them before when I sent an item in for repair. Customer support folks are polite, but the actual service sucks.

UPS delievered the box beat to crap - not surprising! MFJ had taped a piece of sced 40 pvc pipe to the outside of the box, probably the only thing that saved it's life. Took it out in the shop, had it built in about 20 minutes, including a "Pigtail/balun" setup with SO239 so I could disconnect it from the feedline. This should have been included! Here's what I found during assymbly:

This has to be the cheesiest antenna I have ever put together. Nothing like my Cushcraft beams. It really looks like all the holes were drilled with a hand drill. The chamfered holes were extremely rough. The elements did not line up, they had to be bent into place. When the boom was attached to my rotator all of the elements were drooping to one side more than the other. Being the anal kind of guy I am, I bent the elements once again so everything was straight. The director holes in the boom were too large, leaving the screws on the other side to soak up the stress. The insulators through which the driven elements pass could be improved.

On the plus side, it builds really quick. I put my MFJ-269 analyzer on it, this is what I found:

Bandwidth (@ 2.0 SWR): 49.4 to 51.00
Bandwidth center: 50.3
SWR @ 50.125 1.4

No adjustments were made to the antenna, these readings are "out-of-the-box". I felt it should be closer to 1.0 at the optimum freq, but I can live with 1.4. The hairpin match is a breeze - like it. Listening-wise, I don't hear much difference between the 1762 and my homebrew rotatable dipole.

Yes, I know, you get what you pay for. But, that's no excuse for shody worksmanship! MFJ really should be embarrassed! It's a really good design, just poorly constructed. Kinda wished I had gone with a 4 or 5 element beam now. Oh well... I would have given it a "4", but I felt that too much was required to whip this little antenna into shape.

In summary, it's not a bad antenna if you wanna tinker. It performs quite nicely. It's tuned right out of the box, is inexpensive and doesn't take up a lot of room in your farm. I just wish after all these years MFJ would get their act together.

Mike
KF4HPY Rating: 2003-09-27
Does as it Should Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Hi, I bought my 6m Yagi at a local hamfest here near Atlanta from Richard Stubbs (MFJ Customer Service) in '98(?)when they were new on the market. I built it and installed it within the hour. Looking it over, I saw many clever tricks in design and manufacture. I liked the sheet metal Beta match spanning the feed point. I use copper wire myself. I wondered about the grommets isolating the elements lasting; no problem. I did notice the holes for the elements were not aligned; allowing the tubes to be above or below center. Bent them to level. The attachment of the tubes was clever and cheap. Mine are still tight in their mountings. So how did it do? Very well! If I heard a whisper in the air on the dipole; it was 57 on the Yagi. I've logged Cuba, Colorado, New England, and points between. This with either a 100W DX 70 or the MFJ 9406; the MFJ Yagi made the difference betweeen contact or no contact. I thought this was pretty good for $80. about half the price of the big names. Before I had been using a homebrew copper pipe 2 element Yagi, a homebrew tube rotatable dipole or a 6m copper J-pole for FM contacts. So if you can't build your own or lack money; try the MFJ 6m Yagi. Ed KF4HPY
KD5VHZ Rating: 2003-09-23
GOOD STARTER BEAM FOR 6 METERS Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
After getting on 6 meters with a Par Omni Loop I found that I wanted a beam. I didn't have a tower, or even a proper mast, just a 22 foot section of fence top rail. The MFJ-1762 went together easily, tuned 1.2:1 SWR on 50.125 "out of the box" and along with a Radio Shack TV rotor I was on the air within an hour of beginning assembly. The antenna is light and I admit I was surprised that it weathered several T-storms this season without damage. I worked most of the US / Canada and several other countries this summer with this antenna and 25 watts. I'm moving up to a larger beam (and mast) and a 100 watt rig but this antenna played well for me and got me started on 6 meters nicely.
Doug KD5VHZ
W5SSG Rating: 2003-06-12
good and don't break the bank Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The antenna is good, went together just fine. Will work with a tv rotor. This my second one sold my first one and got a M2 6M5X. Now I'm back to the MFJ 1762. I got the SWR down to 1.1 at 50.125, and this was mesured with a MFJ 259
I would recommend this antenna to anyone. It took me 17 minutes to assembly it. Be careful the elements will bend But it's a fun antenna you don't need to bride a crew to come over to help you erect it.

I built a Jumper for mine so I can screw off and on coax.


take care and ham it up!
NE0P Rating: 2003-06-12
Worked for me! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I owned one of these for a couple of years, and it resonated fine in the 6 meter band. The only problem I had was when I hooked up a center insulator to it to try and make the coax connection easier. MFJ said not to do something like this in the manual, and they were right!

Anyway, made plenty of contacts with it, including F2 contacts into France, Hawaii, the Carribean, South America. It is extremely lightweight, and very easy to assemble. WOuld make a great rover antenna. Had it fall during an antenna project and bent some of the elements, but they were easy to bend back. I only sold it because I bought a Mini Quad which covered 6 meters as well as HF.
KC0W Rating: 2003-06-12
Junk Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I had two of these antennas over the course of three years. I got rid of the first one because it would not resonate any where near the 6 meter band.

Like a fool, I bought another one & had the same exact problems as the first one. The matching system on this antenna is a JOKE!!!

I built my own 3 element beam after I gave up on this MFJ piece of junk & now have a yagi with a SWR of 1:3 over most of the 6 meter band.

The only MFJ product that I have ever had any luck with is their dummy load. You are a true miracle worker if you can get this antenna to play.

Tom kcØw

AA5CH Rating: 2002-08-16
inexpensive, simple, light, and effective Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had one of these antennas for over a year. It was mounted on a 30 foot pushup pole and turned with a Radio Shack TV rotator. I was able to work deep into Eastern Europe on a good F2 opening and worked a couple hundred grids in North America during Sporadic E openings while running 100 watts. One of the elements did bend after becoming ice loaded.

No, you probably won't be working a lot of weak signal stuff with this antenna, but if there is propagation, it will give you a presence on six meters with minimal expense and hassle.

73,
Brad
AA5CH

W2PSK Rating: 2002-08-16
Works well, bends easily! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought this antenna about a year ago and it's worked fantastic. I've worked all of the UK and many European countries with it only a few feet about the roof of my ranch house. The instructions were pretty simple and it didn't take long to put together.

Recently we had some storms come through with a maximum recorded sustained winds of 42mph. As a result, the reflector was bent into an upside down V shape. MFJ says that this is unusual and that the winds would had to have been much stronger, which is possible considering a sustained wind is any wind blowing for 120+ seconds and a much faster burst could have bent the reflector. MFJ has been great, offering to replace any bent elements.

In summary, if you're looking for a low cost antenna to get you going on 6m SSB, this is a good antenna. If you live in an area subseptible to regular high speed winds, you might want to go for something a little more solidly made. My experience may be a unique one, but remember the old adage "You get what you pay for."