‰  NOW 40 WPM  ‰  TEXT IS FROM JANUARY 2015 QST  PAGE 56‰
NOT TO BE EXTENDED, OR IT COULD DAMAGE THE ROTATOR BEARINGS.  THE MANUAL
ALSO ADVISES US TO MAKE SURE THE ANTENNAS ARE WELL BALANCED AT THE ROTATOR
ATTACHMENT POINT.  SETTING UP IN THE FIELD I TOOK THE 12PR1A ROTATOR OUT TO
ONE OF MY FAVORITE PORTABLE OPERATING SITES, A FIELD BEHIND A GRADE SCHOOL
ABOUT A HALF MILE FROM MY WEST HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT APARTMENT, AND USED IT
IN ONE OF MY STANDARD PORTABLE OPERATING CONFIGURATIONS AN ALL MODE QRP
TRANSCEIVER WITH A 7 AH AMP HOUR SEALED 

IS A UNIQUE FEATURE OF THE MFJ 223.  WHEN THE DDS SIGNAL SOURCE IS ON
MEASUREMENTS ARE BEING MADE, THIS TYPICALLY SHOWS AN S6 TO S8 LEVEL.
HOWEVER, WHEN THE DDS SOURCE IS OFF, THIS ALSO GIVES AN INDICATION OF
EXTERNAL RF SIGNALS THAT CAN DISTORT ACCURACY GREATER THAN S2 OR EVEN
DAMAGE THE MFJ 223 GREATER THAN S20.  THE SCAN MODE IS CONVENIENT FOR
LOOKING AT INDIVIDUAL BAND SWR CENTERING, AND EVEN PERMITS MULTIBAND
ANTENNA RESONANCE CHECKS.  YOU CAN SELECT ONLY FIXED SWEPT BANDWIDTHS OF
300 HZ, 600 KHZ, 1R2 MHZ, 2R4 MHZ, 6 MHZ, 12 MHZ, 24 MHZ, AND 48 MHZ.  THE
DIGITALLY DISPLAYED DATA CORRESPONDS TO THE CENTER FREQUENCY OF THE DISPLAY
AS SELECTED BY THE ROTARY ENCODER.  FIGURE 4 SHOWS A 300 KHZ SWEEP OF THE
20 METER BAND WHERE I ADJUSTED MY TRIBAND DIPOLE FOR LOWEST SWR AT 14R07
MHZ.  THIS GAVE ME A REASONABLY LOW SWR IN THE CW MY PREFERRED MODE PORTION
OF THE BAND, AS WELL AS IN THE LOWER PART OF THE PHONE BAND.  FIGURE 5
SHOWS A BROADER 24 MHZ SCAN INDICATING THE ANTENNA RESONANCES ON THE 20,
15, AND 10 METER BANDS.  ONE NICE FEATURE OF THE SWEPT DISPLAY IS THAT THE
LAST DISPLAY IS SAVED IN MEMORY WHEN YOU TURN OFF THE MFJ 223.  THIS

USING THE MFJ 223 TURN ON THE MFJ 223 BY DEPRESSING THE ROTARY ENCODER FOR
ABOUT 3 SECONDS.  AFTER A SERIES OF BEEPS, A START UP DISPLAY WILL LET YOU
SELECT A HELP MENU, THE SYSTEM MENU, OR SINGLE OR SWEPT MENUS ALL FROM SOFT
KEYS.  THE HELP MENU PERMITS YOU TO SELECT A VARIETY OF TOPICS AND REVIEW
THE MFJ 223 SPECIFICATIONS.  THE SYSTEM MENU PERMITS SETTING A START UP
MESSAGE I USED MY CALL SIGN, ENABLES OR DISABLES THE AUTO OFF FEATURE, AND
DISPLAYS THE MFJ 223 SOFTWARE VERSION AND BATTERY VOLTAGE.  I FOUND THE
WELL WRITTEN 19 PAGE PRINTED MANUAL EASIER TO USE THAN THE ONSCREEN MENUS.
I FOUND MOST FUNCTIONS TO BE VERY INTUITIVE.  FURTHER, AS YOU CHANGE
FUNCTIONS, SOFT KEY LABELING CHANGES AS WELL AND HELPS GUIDE YOU THROUGH
THE SETTINGS.  THE SINGLE FREQUENCY DISPLAY FIGURE 3 WILL NORMALLY BE USED
WHEN CHECKING OR ADJUSTING AN ANTENNA.  SET THE DESIRED FREQUENCY BY
PUSHING THE ROTARY ENCODER TO SELECT THE TUNING INCREMENTS, AND THEN TURN
THE ENCODER TO SELECT THE DESIRED FREQUENCY.  PRESSING THE RUN/STOP SOFT
KEY STARTS A CONTINUOUS READING OF THE ANTENNA PARAMETERS.  THE ACTUAL
MEASUREMENTS OF SWR, Z IMPEDANCE, R RESISTANCE, AND X REACTANCE ARE
DISPLAYED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN.  THE BAR GRAPHS MAKE IT EASY TO MAKE
ANTENNA ADJUSTMENTS AS YOU CAN ADJUST THE ANTENNA WHILE WATCHING THEM
CHANGE DYNAMICALLY.  FINALLY, YOULL NOTICE THE S ANTENNA BAR GRAPH.  THIS
‰  END OF 40 WPM TEXT  ‰  QST DE W1AW  ƒ