[HCDX]: MFJ-1026

["Paul Ormandy" <paulorm@xxxxxxxx>]

Review of MFJ-1026 Phaser

Following numerous favourable reviews of the above unit, I was very keen to
lay my hands on one and when fellow NZ DXer Steven Greenyer purchased one,
I rang him to see what his opinion was. Steven was very pleased with the
possibilities the unit offered and his recommendation was enough for me?
now all I had to do was to save a little (more than a little actually!) and
I figured it would be a late Xmas present to myself.  However, Steven rang
to tell me there was one available from a deceased ham's estate, and it
took me no more than a couple of seconds to make up my mind! Many thanks to
Steven for thinking of me (and to Arthur Williams for tracking it down in
the first place!).

US DXer Mark Connelly, had used one extensively and suggested several
modifications so after some another 'phone call to Steven and some initial
fiddling with the componentry, I set it up at home and was pleased with
some of the results I could obtain using relatively short wires, i.e. one
25 metre horizontal and a 6.5 metre vertical. I could phase out semi-local
4XO 1206 just 100km away to reveal Fiji and make a significant hole in
local Radio Waitaki 1395 allowing clear reception of NZers on 1386 and 1404
? with the phaser off they were both splashed into oblivion! I was very
keen to get to my Beverage site at Waianakarua and see how it performed
with longer wires and the opportunity came over our Labour Weekend holiday.

When I arrived and set up the gear, I was almost in too much of  a hurry to
connect up the phaser but quickly realised that I had all the cables etc to
hook it up ? that turned out to be a great idea! Now, I bought this thing
to phase out pests and even after Steven told me it was great for enhancing
signals by adding the signals from the two aerials required (in this case
two 310 metre Beverages, aimed at Florida, one terminated and one
unterminated), I didn't know how good I it was for enhancing signals until
I tuned in KCJJ 1630 and decided to use the phaser to try and remove the CW
from the Ohura aero beacon on the same frequency. As soon as I switched the
phaser on, and before I thought about phasing out the beacon, I gained an
immediate lift in signal and the fact that both wires were directional
towards the USA, meant that I didn't need to phase the beacon as the
resultant aerial bearing was in the right direction for the desired
station, and about 60 degrees off the pest.

So once KCJJ was firmly in the bag, it was time to experiment! Over and
over again I was amazed at how I could deal to a pest and clean up co and
side-band channels. I was initially sceptical at how well it would work on
skywave signals as past experience with the R-L-C type of phasers had shown
they worked well on groundwave but not too hot on the former because of
signal variation? to sum up just how well it worked on skywave, not only
was I able to get significant nulls on almost every NZer tried, I was able
to phase out KCCN 1420 in Hawaii and hear a mainland US station running
sports talk!

To sum up, If you're a serious MW DXer, have access to long wires or
Beverages and have contemplated buying something to give you an edge (maybe
even a new receiver), you have just got to have one of these! 

Note: the modifications are necessary though anyone with some experience
with a soldering iron would find it relatively easy. Also, there are two
models, the MFJ-1025 and 1026, difference being that the 1026 comes with an
active whip input which is probably not necessary, my recommendation would
be to save yourself a few dollars and get the MFJ-1025. The latter is also
easier to modify than the 1026 as it has standard discrete components
rather than the surface-mounted variety used in it's "big brother".

Lastly, a big "thank you" to Mark Connelly for making the modifications
public and encouraging MW DXers to get into this unit. Anyone wanting
details of these mods could contact me or check out Mark's data at the
www.nordicdx.com web-site.



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Paul Ormandy, 33 Greta Street, Oamaru, New Zealand, paulorm@xxxxxxxx

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