MFJ Shutting Down Production and Going Out of Business

[Sal Ammoniac]

MFJ, a well-known U.S. maker of ham radio equipment, is stopping production on May 17th and going out of business. They will continue to sell existing inventory after that date and continue to do warranty work, but it looks like this is the end for a company that's been around for half a century.

https://mailchi.mp/62e24f2ccc99/a-heavy-sad-heart

[pdenisowski]

Regardless of how one feels about MFJ (and I have bought a LOT of stuff from them over the last ~30 years), truly the end of an era in amateur radio.

I even sometimes used their products when running in-person RF training events (see attached)

[coromonadalix]

Sad 

Here we lost a 46 year electronic company too   ....

[mag_therm]

Oh.. thats a whole group on companies too.

Digi-modes have less need for heavy duty antenna side stuff.
ft8 on 50W to efhw will usually do better dx than 1500 Watt to beam on ssb.

Except for the personal interaction, but that also seem to be on decline these days.
There are small specialist digi mode groups on google etc where they discuss their stuff.

[coppice]

They are moving with The Times, as the newspapers are on the way out too.

[xrunner]

The nickname around here is "Mighty Fine Junk". Sure I've bought some of their products, but the only one that didn't need fixing in some way was a 100W rf load - one of the simplest of their products. I think a lot of the newer available things like the NanoVNA and less of a need for brute force transmitting like the olden days (think FT8) really made a dent in their product line.

But, they did help a lot of hams get going in the hobby, so it is a loss.

[pdenisowski]

I think a lot of the newer available things like the NanoVNA and less of a need for brute force transmitting like the olden days (think FT8) really made a dent in their product line.

Aside from being harder to read in direct sunlight, the NanoVNA is - in my opinion - much a better antenna analyzer than the MFJ analyzers ever were.

There has definitely been a move in the hobby towards computer + store-bought rig (especially for newer hams), which I'm sure didn't help MJFJ's sales.  There are also a lot more companies now that MFJ had to compete with for things like tuners (especially auto-tuners), antenna analyzers, digital interfaces, power supplies, etc.  Even as late as the early 1990s, MFJ was just about the only game in town (so to speak) for many ham radio accessories.

I'm not surprised that Mr. Jue wants to step away from the company at 80 years of age.  And, frankly, I'm not surprised that they did not (try to?) find someone to take the business over.  But it is very sad to see them close up shop - will have to stock up on anything I might need before they close up for good.

[pienari]

I have owned a few products but each time has been a disappointment.
MFJ is been late all the time in product development.

[Sal Ammoniac]

It's generally acknowledged that MFJ products are best considered to be 90% assembled kits.

Some of the MFJ products I've had over the years have had loose screws rattling around in the case and poor solder joints that needed to be redone.

[A.Z.]

It's sad news, aside from what one may think of MFJ stuff, and then the brands owned by MFJ like Ameritron, Cushcraft, HyGain and so on, will disappear as well

I wonder if Mr. Jue considered the idea of letting his dependants carry on and then acquire the company to keep it going

[videobruce]

It was a US company that had quality control issues (cost cutting) that couldn't keep up with all this Chinese 'stuff' that is flooding the US market.