Richard, You are so right about that static issue. I even seem to remember the Rig Experts manual says to short the antenna leads together to remove any static build up before connecting the analyzer. I think that was why I wasn't too impressed with my MFJ-259b. Probably my own fail when I first got it. But I did seem to get some pretty Squirrely results that didn't reassure me that it was a solid performer. Now look how it saved the day. But at least my Rig Experts is back in operation after correcting a poor solder joint on the SO-239 connector.
Terry KI7m > On June 10, 2018 at 7:56 PM "Richard (Rick) Karlquist" > <rich...@karlquist.com> wrote: > > > On 6/10/2018 10:27 AM, Jim Thomson wrote: > > > ## Seems to me MFJ supplied a HP filter when using the MFJ-259B, to kill > > anything < 1.8 mhz. > > > > Jim VE7RF > > > > IIRC, what MFJ supplied was a tunable NOTCH filter, which might work OK > in situations where there is only one station that is strong > enough to upset the MFJ-259B. Of course you can't calibrate out > the filter, so it could degrade measurement accuracy. Far from a panacea. > > My QTH is 6 miles from a 50 KW station on 1140 kHz. My 259B > is useless on 160 meters and marginal on 80 meters. I vaguely > remember the 259B getting messed up by a channel 3 TV station > that is 8 miles from me running 100 KW. I don't have the MFJ notch filter. > > I recently got a Rig Expert AA-55 and it is unaffected by AM BCB QRM and > works perfectly on my 160 meter vertical with no help from > external filtering. It has many other advantages over the 259B. > > One thing you have to be careful about is to always use a DC > block between the Rig Expert and the antenna. (You can calibrate out > the DC block). Otherwise, static DC voltage could blow out the front > end. I'm guessing that that is the likely reason why your Rig Expert > failed. > > Rick N6RK > _________________ > Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband