MFJ Aquires Cushcraft

[L Cee]

The ARRL Letter
Vol. 28, No. 31
August 7, 2009
***************

EXCERPT



* MFJ Acquires Cushcraft: On August 7, MFJ Enterprises <http://www.mfjenterprises.com/> announced they had purchased the Cushcraft Amateur Radio antennas product line from Missouri-based Laird Technologies <http://www.lairdtech.com/> effective July 31. According to MFJ, Cushcraft -- makers of HF/VHF/UHF vertical, beam and Yagi antennas for the Amateur Radio community -- will continue to be manufactured in Manchester, New Hampshire. "We are excited to have the Cushcraft Amateur Radio Antennas product line alongside our other five companies," said Martin F. Jue, President and founder of MFJ Enterprises, Inc. "This product line increases our ability to offer our customers a wide range of antenna options at different prices. Customers will be able to choose from Cushcraft Amateur Radio antennas, Hy-gain and MFJ antennas through one source." MFJ purchased Hy-gain in 2000 the company also owns Ameritron, Mirage and Vectronics. Jue said that the Cushcraft line will bring more than 50 new products to MFJ's Amateur Radio product line. "We will add more new products to this antenna line and will continue the Cushcraft Amateur Radio antennas name long into the future. Cushcraft Amateur Radio antenna product customers will appreciate the continued and expected top-quality manufacturing of this product in New Hampshire and the MFJ commitment to superb after-the-sale service and tech support in Mississippi," said Jue. The 120 page 2010 MFJ catalog will include the entire Cushcraft Amateur Radio antennas product line. MFJ has set up a special customer support line -- 662-323-5803 -- to handle Cushcraft antenna product technical support, parts requests and customer services.

 

[cmradio]

That is news. I thought MFJ was the weaker of the two

Peace!

[Fansome]

Cushcraft has a good reputation. MFJ has been interpreted as "More Fine Junk". It will be interesting to see where this goes.

[Seamus]

Hey, now!  Be fair - MFJ sells some very nicely produced kits.

It's just unfortunate that they sell them as complete, ready-to-use products.   

I have NEVER received an MFJ product that didn't have some sort of manufacturing defect that had to be resolved prior to use.  From tuners with shorted leads to a dummy load with spare pieces - that didn't match anything from the construction of the dummy load - rattling around inside of them (how does a rattling dummy load make it past quality control?!), every piece of gear I have ever purchased from MFJ has had some sort of issue.  They usually work well enough after you fix them, but coming pre-broken from the factory should not be among a company's major selling points.

The only MFJ gear that I have never had a problem with are a second-hand TNC-2, and an electronic keyer that I inherited from my grandfather.  Both units have had work done inside of them prior to my receiving them, so I can only assume that they had manufacturing defects too.

Like many people, I bought MFJ gear early in my career because their stuff was affordable, only to find out that it was pretty cheap as well.   (Not to mention potentially radio-destroying, as in the case of the shorted tuner.)

Best piece of advice that a new ham can receive:  If you buy MFJ, make sure to have it opened up and checked out by someone who knows what they're doing, and what to look for before you connect it to anything!

[cmradio]

Well, that's what I mean....

I had bought some LowFER stuff from them many years ago and it was on par with the lower end Ramsey stuff

But all the copshops, firestations, public buildings around here are either Cushcraft or AEA.

That would be like Mercedes selling out to Lada.

Peace!

[L Cee]

I have had a Cushcraft 2M/70cm 6 element yagi for a number of years now.  The quality is excellent and the performance the same. IMO Cushcraft antennas have no equal. It scares me to think MFJ will now be involved    I think it's only a matter of time before Cushcraft becomes MFJed