| Customer Reviews for the MFJ-1020C.
| From: Harry Hicks SWL | | I own a vintage MFJ 1020 (model year 1979) and reciently purchased a MFJ 1020C. I also own a Palstar AA30 active antenna. The vintage 1020 is the most fun to use but the newer 1020C is effortless to use. The AA30 is a very contrary and difficult unit. All these active antennas I use as preselectors for long wire antennas. I would recommend to anyone that the 1020C without a doubt is the ideal preselector for short (<75 ft.)simple longwire antennas. I have yet to use these units as dedicated active antennas and have no opinion on their utility as such. |
| From: Ian Baines VE3DJI | My MFJ 1020 has seen good use for over twenty years and continues to perform well. I use it as a pre-selector for long antennas and is does a credible job of reducing BC overload the plagues receivers using a long wire. My interest lies in beacon DX listening, from 200 - 500 kHz. The unit tunes below the specified 300 kHz with a long wire input. I replaced the variable capacitor supplied with a larger ceramic unit for easier tuning, and added a larger tuning knob.
The Q of the circuit is quite low, so it is not a sharply tuned pre-selector. That said, it does provide some selectivity (maybe 10 dB if off-tune) and a wide variability in gain. With modern receivers, the gain is not as important as the ability to reduce interfering BC signals.
As a short antenna tuner, it is superb, where the additional gain is handy. In this case, front end overload is not a concern. The unit does not saturate and create spurious images, which shows good design.
Suggested improvements to future designs (this unit is no longer made):
- lower frequency tuning on VLF;
- calibrated gain control (plus and minus);
- much higher Q (sharper) tuning;
- metal box to reduce local interference;
- larger tuning know.
A tough little unit that has survived lightning storms, much travel and has the scratches to show for it.
Ian Baines, P. Eng. |
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 MFJ-969TUNER, HF+6M, 300W Only $219.95!
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