Vince, N1VS wrote:
"My first choice was the MFJ 269 but, after some research I wonder about
the Autek VA-1. I will appreciate any and all comments or suggestions
for another choice."
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I have both the MFJ-259 and the Autek VA-1. The only plus I have for the
MFJ is that for "quick and dirty" antenna tweaking, the MFJ's analog
meters make the job easier than watching the Autek's digital display.
On the downside, the MFJ is strictly a 50-ohm instrument, i.e., it will
not be accurate unless the feedline is 50-ohms.
However, the Autek can be used with accuracy with any impedance line from
25 to 450 ohms balanced or unbalanced. It will also display the sign of
the reactance, taking some guesswork out of the measurement.
The MFJ-259 can eat a bank of 8 AA cells in short order (unless you use
NiMH rechargeables) while the Autek seems to run forever on a common
9-volt battery.
The MFJ-259's bottom end is just a bit lower than 1800 kHz. This can be
a problem sometimes when working with a 160-meter antenna. The Autek
will make measurements from about 500 kHz to 30 MHz.
The Autek has a feature whereby you can program the proper correction for
the line length so that the measurement will be accurate. Without this
correction, the measurement's accuracy will suffer (unless you ensure
that the line length is a multiple of 1/2-wavelengths). The MFJ does not
have this feature.
I probably use my MFJ more often because of the ease in using the analog
readouts, but when I want to nit-pick analyze an antenna feedpoint, I use
the Autek.
73, de Earl, K6SE
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