MFJ is shutting down

[David Fannin]

News today from MFJ: 

 As many of you have heard by now, MFJ is ceasing its on-site production in Starkville, Mississippi on May 17, 2024.  This is also the same for our sister companies’ Ameritron, Hygain, Cushcraft, Mirage and Vectronics.

article: 

https://mailchi.mp/62e24f2ccc99/a-heavy-sad-heart?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2MaE7Tvxr3zxuWNTyRLK4Eo4GV9UYa1g59oiMN2vRyHcvHFyJl3eKsgLU_aem_Af5Lvh2pueXDs9QHCazJ9i-9uEUVxD18byxrVDfKqxT_MVZihD63J4yHnVQe4UxPFuyLqtWl9Ih0kHwwgiiSjg9g

[Rod Johnson]

Yes, I got a phone call from my young friend in Idaho, telling me taht.  By the time I arrived home, it was all over the various feeds I see.

  I would not be surprised if Martin finds buyers, or at least interest), for segments of the business empire he has put together while buying the various entities of his conglomerate. He might just find folks who could be interested in a piece of the action, somewhat as a hobby.

  Certainly there should be at least some value in the various sub companies.

  Technology has marched on over the years, and some of the equipment had fallen behind in capability and cost.

Many of the recent transceivers already have a built-in ATU ( so the market for external 'tuners is decreasing), and the NanoVNA's have pretty well superseded the capabilities of the MFJ antenna analyzers in physical size (way smaller), price ( way less expensive) and ability ( way more information available) and no more AA 8-battery packs.

   The Cushcraft, HyGain, and Ameritron lines could possibly stand on their own, as an add-on business, if someone ( younger) already had the expertise and an available production facility.  Mirage has been around a long time, and still has some respect in the market place ( although some will argue the quality declined somewhat when it was absorbed over by MFJ )

   I have had no luck trying to order replacement parts for Cushcraft yagi antennas, since MFJ acquired them. It was very difficult to get anybody on the phone.  If that is indicative of the other product lines, I do not know.

  I am sure QST magazine will be disappointed in loosing the advertising revenue.

  It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds over the next year or so.

 Stay tuned!

  Rod

 

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[David Fannin]

MFJ was the Harbor Freight of Ham Radio, without the free buckets. 

I rarely purchased  parts or antennas from them, and there are a lot of alternate suppliers for most of their equipment.  It will be interesting to see the impact on Ham Radio Outlet, GigaParts and the ARRL/QST.  As you mention, they had to be one of the biggest advertisers.  Sort of a chicken-and-egg situation:  Did the  ARRL stop printing QST knowing MFJ was going out, or did MFJ decide to stop because QST stopped being sent out.   (Yes, Yes, QST is still around, but does anyone actually read the electronic ads?).   

I end up using Aliexpress and Ebay for most of my parts and components, and HRO/GigaParts for radios now.  There were several very good surplus electronics parts stores in Silicon Valley, but they have all closed now:  Halted/HSC , Excess Solutions, Weird Stuff, Al Lasher, Fry's. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/issaquah-arc/1783059442.2194967.1714100958601%40mail.yahoo.com.