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Reviews For: MFJ-464

Category: Decoders, multi-mode

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Review Summary For : MFJ-464
Reviews: 21MSRP: 179.95
Description:
Code reader and sender
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/products.php?prodid=MFJ-464
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00212.7
KC2SPX Rating: 2009-05-17
Two Thumbs up! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had my MFJ 464 for a little over a year and haven't had ANY Problems With reading code, or the unit itself.
I remember being frustrated the first couple of days trying to get it to read reliably..but I blame myself and not the 464, ya know me,
I was never one to read the manual. Anyway, I found that by adjusting the VFO on the radio to get the 464's green LED at it's brightest then adjusting the volume on the radio so that the green LED only flashes with CODE and not NOISE, would result in good copy. Tone not to your liking? you can adjust that too on the 464. Also, it's important to allow the 464 a few seconds to readjust to any changes you make. The only reason I ever had to take the top off was to adjust the readout's contrast, other than that I'm happy with it. It reads as well as anything else I've used. It doesn't do well on weak signals below the static level. or high level of QSB, but I haven't found anything else that does better! That's my two cents.
PE1PAL Rating: 2009-02-13
not bad Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I used the decoder with a Kenwood ts570 and nice small keyboard. On nr-2 the decoder give good results (much better than my bad morse practise)
The decoder does not have a backlite display. Possible there is a modification for this?
73
Paul - PE1PAL
WA4JM Rating: 2008-12-27
Works as advertised kinda... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Received mine from AES in Orlando. Arrived well packed and documentation on a scale of 1 to 5 was a 4. The reason was that there is some ambiguity with regard to the use of the work “Line Out” from the radio. It takes more than line level signals to trigger the code reader. You actually need to drive the unit with a speaker level output. Once that is established, the code reader works as advertised.

I read earlier comments about soldering. Since the PCB is almost all SMT, I find that observation questionable.

The keyer with or without the use of a keyboard is near perfect. An added benefit is that it contains the ability to burp the right duty cycle to tune amps and transmitters for peak output. There is actually a command to do this.

I agree with one observation that the keyboard input should be PS2.

Aside from that, I found it the 464 to be fun to operate and a great complement to my Ten-Tec 516.

73, John
RFDANNY Rating: 2008-02-29
Simply Awful Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
A ham I elmer brought over this MFJunk-464 to see if I could "fix it". I found this peculiar since he had only had it for a week. It powered on but did nothing. Whenever I'm asked to fix an MFJ product, I always warm up the soldering iron before taking off the case. Sure enough, had to re-solder a few things due to cold joints and awful QC.

Once the unit was "working" - we hooked it up to the rig. This thing is pure crap. Even with loud, clear, perfect code, this unit barely decodes. If you try to use it to copy a "real" QSO, it looks like it's speaking to you in a different language.

It will be returned for a refund. With very few exceptions, MFJ products generally don't work very well. Most of them don't work at all out of the box until you open them up and fix the solder joints. It's amazing to me how this company enjoys so much success by consistently peddling the worst of the worst.
W4ETB Rating: 2008-02-29
%#@$* JUNK Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The very last time I buy anything with out first checking out the eham reviews. That was $200 [S&H] down the tube. Save your time and money. THANKS MFJ!
N2NVH Rating: 2008-01-21
Not At All Impressed Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My XYL bought me an MFJ 464 for Christmas. Nice gesture, but its been nothing but an irritant.The instruction manual reads that the unit is easy to use, so I purchased the necessary cables (NOT included by MFJ with the unit)and the PS2/ATT adapter needed for the vintage 1985 keyboard input. After doing so I learned that, regardless of how I fiddled with the VFO, the unit will only read CW if the radio is in a sideband mode, and then only if the incoming signal is strong and on a clear frequency! What's worse, when I tried to send code my Kenwood TS480 won't recognize the keyer at all. I asked MFJ about this and I was told that I needed to "turn off" the internal keyer in the radio. I spoke with Kenwood technical support who told me the obvious... that there is no "on/off switch" for the internal keyer, and the MFJ must be joking. There's a joke here alright...its on my XYL for buying this thing and me for trying to use it.
LX1LH Rating: 2007-06-22
Good KB Keyer - fair decoder Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Good Keyboard Keyer and versatile in connections in and out - brings parallel a PTT control for PA usage ... nice ! You can still connect a paddle or other in parallel.
Bad things are: Decoder is very tricky to adjust and the TTL catch is only a few Hertz to catch. If you do so he reads just fine even with some QRM, if not or you do not hit the exact QRG he reads nothing ... I mean nothing.
Another bad thing is that the decoder does not have a backlit LC-Display - it should have.
K8RBW Rating: 2006-07-26
Fails to Deliver as a Reader Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought the 464 because I was having trouble consistently copying CW above 35 WPM. Went to AES-Milwaukee to buy it and took it home. After two days of frustration and a useless phone call to MFJ for advice I gave up on it and drove back to AES to return it. It copied the CW I was sending with my paddle perfectly, but it mostly generated E's and T's on received signals. MFJ told me to adjust an internal pot with each contact. I couldn't believe what they said!! If such was the case, why wasn't the pot placed on the front of the unit? It works fine as a keyer, but it never should have been marketed as a reader. It is really the MFJ-495 keyer with a poorly designed attempt at a reader. Unlike many others, I normally like MFJ products. Not this one!!!

73 de Dick, K8RBW
KE5B Rating: 2005-02-04
Should be better than this Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am dissapointed in the MFJ 464. It doesn't read as well as it should. I have almost no line noise at my shack and receive good signals, but I get more jibberish than I should on the reader. It will not read at all if the incoming signal is matched to my sidetone. I have to fiddle with the RIT of the VFO to get it to read. It should read ANY clear CW signal when there are no other enterfering signals. It doesn't do it. As I am typing this, I am receiving good, clear CW on my TS-450 and am getting gibberish on the reader. I talked to MFJ and told them I could not read the signal unless I was above the receiving frequency. The response was,"That is what your VFO is for." Some better engineering needs to happen on this contraption before I can recommend it to anyone. As a keyer it is great. The reader is awful. I thought it might help me get back into CW after a five year absence, but I guess I'll just do it the old fashion way. 73
KE5AKG Rating: 2004-04-04
very disappointed Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am using this unit with a Kenwood TS-50, which has no DSP and no dedicated CW filter. So some of the problems might be due to the radio, but overall I am still very disappointed.
The unit will read perfect code under ideal conditions, but with ANY QRM or QRN it will read
only a garbled string of Es and Ts. Also, some clear, slow code which even I can read is misinterpreted, such as "C" being read as "TETE".
Originally I never wanted to operate CW anyway,
but I thought it would be a shortcut to CV without having to improve my less than marginal code skills. Instead, it was just a waste of money. MFJ makes great equipment, but this one is the sad exception.