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Reviews For: MFJ-434/434B

Category: Voice Keyers

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Review Summary For : MFJ-434/434B
Reviews: 39MSRP: 179.95
Description:
Contest voice Keyer (new improved)
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/products.php?prodid=MFJ-434
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00394
G1YBB Rating: 2019-09-14
good features but poor quality Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought this to use in a major contest and ending up taking it out of line. But before we get to that...

Bought new from UK vendor,all looked OK. Set everything up on the bench, all seemed good apart from the 8 pin mic socket was at 11 o'clock not 12 o'clock position. I could live with that I guess.

On to testing/setup. All seemd OK except I could not get the mic to tx the radio. the keyer did using the stored messages. Treble and quadruple checked the jumper settings, all good. Get the DVM out and buzz out the PCB to the 8 pin mic input and the connections were made off 1 position out of step. The human robot I guess just put the wires in the same place without seeing the connector was out of whack.

This'll be why they come set to Yaesu jumper settings as those connectors are PCB mounted and not wired off board,and can be used to perform basic functionality tests.(If they bother)

Fixed that with the solder iron. Where do I send MFJ the bill??

With it working now and testing on a load (no home antennas) my dongle SDR indicated the through audio sounded a LOT better than the recorded audio played from a memory. That sounded heavily compressed. It's not the best setup to gauge so I waited for on air tests.

These gave reports of awful audio on through. After several various tests we deduced RF was getting in as reducing RF power a lot cleaned it up, but still not as clean as when out of circuit. Ferrites added to all leads had no effect so we had to bin it and operate without. Not a great start or £££ well spent!

I will be looking at trying to immunise it so it can actually be used for its purchased purpose, but not impressed.
GW4HBK Rating: 2017-04-07
Poor qc? Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just bought 434b,works as it should good but case is badly scratched both sides and top, how does this happen? I contacted the supplier they say it is brand new, I have no reason to doubt that. I have had the 492 cw keyer for many years,perfect. So QC?
AA2LF Rating: 2016-02-27
usual poor workmanship Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
In preparation for ARRL-SSB I purchased the 434B from HRO. First of all they raised the price to $190. But this is not the problem. The keyer came on time in original MFJ carton but not sealed. I opened the box and I start checking the unit. Not a surprise to find the Audio-In jack and the Level Adjustment pot misaligned to the case holes. This is typical to MFJ products, I had the same problem with a CW keyer. I checked the jumpers and I had to make three corrections to be able to use it with Yaesu FT857. Then, power on and trying to do the self test I realized the push button switches for memories 3 and 4 were stuck inside! Opening the encasement and forcing the switches few times I was able to release them.
But the self test failed anyway...
Then I tried to record the message #1 with the inside mike. Distorted sound. Using the Yaesu mike the sound is acceptable and I was able to set a decent volume using both adjustments. Useable memories are 1, 2 and 5. OK for now although I will eventually need to have them repaired. Repetition does not work at all, one needs to keep pushing buttons.
Trying the unit on the air I've got a good report from France and a not so good one from VE2 but this is not relevant until I hear a record of my voice.
Bottom line: the product is intended to be top of the line but is not even a mediocre one. All this because of poor workmanship and lack of QA/QC associated with very cheap mechanical switches.
The price is a rip off because not too may similar keyers are on the market. (I am still mourning the K1EA DV card from early 90s}.
I would not recommend this product unless the buyer is willing to do a lot of re-work and is willing to pay a very high price. I can send pictures and wav files to anybody interested.
KD2BMX Rating: 2015-03-16
Good Results So Far Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I was reluctant to purchase this unit because of the negative reviews, but decided to give it a try anyway. I use the MFJ-434B with my ICOM 9100 and have been very pleased with the performance so far. All features work as described in the manual. The recorded messages are very clear and according to radio checks more punchy than the regular audio from the radio. I did have to adjust the jumpers for radio brand and audio level pot inside the unit as described in the manual, but that was a simple procedure. Having 5 pre-recorded messages to use does come in handy during DX-ing or contesting.
W0BKR Rating: 2014-12-31
Okay - Needs some help Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Got my 434B from DX Engineering. Found a screw in the top missing, the side screws don't line up from the chassis cover to the chassis. Typical for MFJ.

The Jumpers were supposedly set for Yaesu but mine were configured for whatever...they were all over the place.

One note I found out was I have to connect to my DC Power Supply in order for the PTT to function. Jumpers are a pain and they only show a hand full. Jumper settings should be more documented in the on line manual. Beware, some of the configurations out there may or may not match the unit you have. Configuration control is not a strong point with MFJ. Took a lot to get the unit to work.
EI4KI Rating: 2014-08-19
works fine for me Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The design seems to be improved from one I bought around 10 years ago that was sold off when I moved. Set up and working within 10 minutes out of the box. Does exactly what it's supposed to do. No issues with FT920/950/847. Saves me messing with radios internal DVRs. Didn't add any additional noise to the audio chain. Would buy another.
AB2IR Rating: 2014-05-30
Happy Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just purchased May 2014. Was not to bad to figure out inside jumpers because of prior experience with other MFJ acc. Only needed eight jumpers, and extra pins just put aside of pins. Four rating because, remote paper top is wrinkled, and front metal edge paint job/ poor. So far all MFJ front edge paint jobs are poor. Recording time is "limited". Any time beyond the time design drastically cuts full record times. Ran over second level (10 sec.) and lost half the recordable time. Time limits are 32/10/10/10/12 seconds. Using a Tentec omni 7 and have output adj. to min. on back of unit. Internal mike is best record level. Would buy again.
W2YX Rating: 2012-06-03
5/5 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Echoing earlier positive remarks on this product, I must say it was a snap to set-up for my rig and get on the air. All the supplied cables are first rate. Inside, the unit is a well-built quality piece of work. Just be careful to use either their (MFJ) AC to DC supply or a clean, filtered DC supply of your own. My bad that I had hum and distortion on the output, but that turned out to be my DC supply issue. No fault of the unit. Once that was replaced, it sounded great.
K5TGS Rating: 2011-09-27
If You Need this function you need this item! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I must say I am very impressed with this keyer. First, the manual is written very clearly with a logical flow of instructions. Second, the jumper configuration was very simple to follow with the provided tables. I use an Icom so I had to change the jumper configuration. After removing 4 screws, I imagine it took 3 minutes to make the changes and double check my changes. The table and picture provided in the booklet were perfect. The third item that I found very nice was the inclusion of extra jumpers, a modular to 8 pin round cable, a Cat cable and a power supple cable with the plug.

The unit performs exactly as described, from the very beginning. If you have the need for a voice keyer, or DVR, this is the unit to get.
NY1E Rating: 2011-03-20
Worked out of the box! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought a new 434B, I didn't check the jumpers, I knew I needed to change them for my radio. The manual is a little confusing and was disappointed with using an RJ45 for the output connector. I found an ethernet jumper cable in the junk box and cut off an end to attach the mic connector for the rig. The low impedance input didn't seem to mind the twisted pair instead of a shielded mic cable. Its a handy package compared to the lash-ups I've used in the past to repeat CQ's!