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MFJ-1432 High SWR

loner556

Member
Apr 17, 2011
12
0
11
47
Conroe, TX
I've been running a Comet 2x4 SR for about a year now on my mobile rig. I was at the local shop today at lunch and picked up a MFJ-1432 on a whim.

I ran it this afternoon and it seemed to perform satisfactory. Pulled in the driveway tonight and hooked up the SWR meter and I'm reading 4:1.

Put the Comet back on and I'm back down at 1.5:1 on 2M and 1.3:1 on 70cm

I'm running an NMO mount on the roof of my Cherokee and am a bit puzzled by the results.

Does anyone have any ideas on what's going on or did I just get robbed on the antenna? Transceiver is a TM-D710a and the SWR meter is a Jetstream JTWVU
 

MFJ's quality is not of the highest caliber so I would say that there is something wrong with it and should be returned. They don't call MFJ Mighty Fine Junk for nothing. That being said I have bought several MFJ products and have not been burned.... yet.

Double check your connections, make sure electrical connections are correct.
 
I've been running a Comet 2x4 SR for about a year now on my mobile rig. I was at the local shop today at lunch and picked up a MFJ-1432 on a whim.

I ran it this afternoon and it seemed to perform satisfactory. Pulled in the driveway tonight and hooked up the SWR meter and I'm reading 4:1.

Put the Comet back on and I'm back down at 1.5:1 on 2M and 1.3:1 on 70cm

I'm running an NMO mount on the roof of my Cherokee and am a bit puzzled by the results.

Does anyone have any ideas on what's going on or did I just get robbed on the antenna? Transceiver is a TM-D710a and the SWR meter is a Jetstream JTWVU


Was the 4:1 SWR on both bands? You didn't say. If it was then you may have to adjust the top section a little bit. If it was just on one band then there is definately something wrong.

BTW I also use a Comet CA2X4SR. Great antenna. I have had it for nearly a dozen years and it still works good and still exhibits a nice wide bandwidth.
 
Was the 4:1 SWR on both bands? You didn't say. If it was then you may have to adjust the top section a little bit. If it was just on one band then there is definately something wrong.

BTW I also use a Comet CA2X4SR. Great antenna. I have had it for nearly a dozen years and it still works good and still exhibits a nice wide bandwidth.

It was high on both bands. When I saw the readings in the red on both bands my mind went into figuring out what the heck is wrong mode :censored: and I didn't retain the exact readings. I went back and looked at the meter as I knew about where the needle was pegging. I'm bad about things like that.

I'll get out there sometime this weekend, put it back on and play with the stinger height to see if I can get it down to acceptable levels (taking more accurate readings this time). If I can't get the SWR down to 1.5:1 or better, it's going back to where it came from.

Thank you both for your responses. I'll let you know how it turns out.
 
OK, finally got some time tonight to mess with it. I adjusted the top end with no results. I originally had it on a Opek NMO 8. The MFJ antenna came with an NMO to so-239 adapter. The MFJ adapter had a longer throat on the 239 side so I gave it a shot.

Long story short, I've got the MFJ-1432 at almost 1:1 on 2M (barely even moves the needle) and at 1.3:1 on 70cm.

It must have had a bad contact in the Opek adapter. I was cringing every time I keyed it up and it was in the red.

I'm happy now so I'll run this to see how it performs. You can never have too many antenna's laying around right?
 

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