Wednesday, July 15, 2009

MFJ-259B Antenna Analyzer


Hi,

Last week I purchased a MFJ-259B Antenna Analyzer from HRO. First and for most, remember that HRO (incidentally like West Marine for boating things), has an excellent price matching policy. So, remember prior to buying anything at HRO, do a Google or Froogle search for the best price. In my experience on the East Coast, I've found the Delaware store to be the most responsive via e-mail. In the end I got the MFJ-259B for $239.00.

So, to the 259B. First, this is probably the best piece of equipment I've bought yet. I quickly connected the 259B to my current antenna (20M dipole) and discovered I was way off with my SWR (the cutting will commence this weekend! However, I discovered that I had a perfect match on the MP-1 (SWR 1:1) on 20M using noise as my only source of tuning. 40M on the MP-1 was similar, however I could not get better than SWR ~2:1, most likely due to my counterpoise (the BBQ grill).

The 259B is a great addition and I'm looking forward to constructing some new antennas for 10M and 6Ms.

73s
--Chris