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Reviews For: MFJ-17754

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : MFJ-17754
Reviews: 7MSRP: 60.00
Description:
trapped dipole antenna for 20-40 meters
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Product.php?productid=MFJ-17754
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0074
WB8ICU Rating: 2022-12-06
great limited space antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
great limited space antenna. KB1TCD apparently thinks all antennas should be tuned for him. MFJ says in their description the antenna is shipped long. So I measured the 20 meter section in my driveway, and found it to be 19 ft !! Every self respecting ham knows that 20 meters is somewhere between 16 and 17 ft, so I took 2 ft off before erecting it. I work only cw, but even there it's way too long. Took off another 6 inches; and now it is less than 2:1 across the band. 40 meters was below the band, adjusted wire back to 33 inches before it took. according to analyzer, it's now 1.5/1 between 7 and 7050. perfect for cw.Reasonable price and infinitely re adjustable. kudos
K6SDW Rating: 2020-08-26
5 years with no issues Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My 17754 has been in the air for about 5 years and working FB....it did take some time originally to tune for the 2 bands, but once that was done dipole has been trouble free and works like a typical wire dipole antenna.

Using traps the 80meter length is quite a bit shorter which was perfect for my small lot.

I'd recommend this trap dipole.

73
KB1TCD Rating: 2020-08-25
No Quality Control, typical MFJ Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought this antenna thinking I could do 20 and 40m for International Lighthouse Weekend. Antenna would not resonate on 20 or 40m, ended up building my own 2om dipole for the event.
I now measured the wire lengths for 20m, one was 19ft 8in, the other 23ft 1 in! I'm going to have to trim, if you can call it that ,4 ft from one and over 7 ft from the other. They couldn't even get equal lengths part right!
I'm sure I'll have to "trim" the 40m part as well.
I spent $80 on something that I have to basically rebuild.
I'll never buy another MFJ product again though they are living up to their name, More Freaking Junk!
AE5VM Rating: 2019-04-12
Fantastic Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just finished this morning started at 6:30 am. Though I already had the setup to just clip and pull through the pulley. HAD TO KEEP GOING INSIDE TO SEE MY ANALYZERS SWR. I ACHIEVED A 1.29 SWR ON 20m 14.270 AND 1.30 ON 40m 7.230Mhz. I LIKE THE WAY THE DIPOLE HAS THE BRACKETS SO THAT I CAN SHORTEN OR LENGTHEN THE DIPOLES SECTIONS. I HAVE TO 20/40M TRAP DIPOLES. 1. QRPkits 20/40m facing on flat side E and W, then the MFJ-2040m flat side facing S by North. That way I can get different directions. I'm usually on the nets on both bands. Bit of advice, get someone to help with setting up these antennas, makes it a lot easier and cuts the time in half.
WD0BCT Rating: 2018-11-16
Great dual band dipole Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I got this because my 40M dipole would not fit on my property. I got the full size dipole up but my bird feeder stanchions supporting the ends were on HOA common property and in the trees. No one complained...but if they did I was toast. So I decided to give the trap 2 bander from MFJ. I was extremely surprised. It outperformed my full size 20/40 dipoles and required only a single wire. I think it performs better because the shorter length kept the ends away from the trees.

I do not see anyone attempting to tune this antenna via trimming w/o an antenna analyzer would enjoy the procedure. I had no problem with the analyzer, however, the antenna came quite a bit longer than required and needed lots of trimming. W/O an analyzer trimming in small increments (being afraid to trim too much wire) would have taken forever!

Now that it's trimmed it works wonderfully and is even more stealth than my dual 40/20M dipole. The coils are almost undetectable from the street and bike path nearby. Also my bandwidth on 40 meters was not quite as limited as the other review. Could be because my installation was a sloped inverted vee.
KD8UEI Rating: 2016-10-16
It's OK after all Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I wanted to edit my review but I don't see any way to do that so this is an update on my review below. After a LOT of trial and error, I am finally able to tune 40 m. So the antenna is working and I'm reasonably satisfied.

I'm also pleasantly surprised that my 991 will tune 6 meters on this antenna. I think it's great that I have effectively a tri-band antenna.

The reason for the 4 is because I don't think the advertisement reflects the fact that you only get 30-50 khz bandwidth on 40 meters without an antenna tuner. I think that should be clearer to the buyer before someone thinks they are getting an antenna that completely covers both bands. Also, they don't say it in the instructions, but it would be a GREAT help to have an antenna analyzer or an SWR/power meter. Trial and error is a long and tedious process. It took me a week to tune this antenna whereas if I had an antenna analyzer, I'd probably be done in one afternoon.

In sum, despite my earlier review, I'm satisfied with this antenna. Would I buy it again? Probably not, but despite this, I'm glad I have it.
WA6MCL Rating: 2011-08-18
trapped dipole 20-40 Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Always a builder of my own wire antennas I decided to try this trapped dipole out. As a city dweller we are limited for space and the ragged look of multi-wire antennas is just not permitted. It was shipped as promised and packed nicely. There is no assembly just put it up and make the adjustments. As expected with loaded antennas the bandwidth on 20 is very broad while on 40 is about 100KC.

The design is straight forward and in actuality the lengths supplied were a bit too generous for resonance. In my installation as a horizontal dipole I found the measurements to be 16 Feet 6" to the trap and 38" after the trap for 40 meters. With those measurements the antenna resonates at 14.150 and 7.050. A perfect fit for the CW operator. The total length stated is 42 Feet but mine was 40 feet including the traps and ends.

It loaded for me fine with 500 Watts out. A great little antenna for the limited space Ham who wants a quick and easy installation.