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MFJ MFJ-495, Instruction Manual

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MFJ-495 Memory Keyer 

Instruction Manual

 

6

 

©

 2001-2009 MFJ Enterprises, Inc. 

Basic Operation 

 
The Memory Keyer is simple to operate.  The Power button controls power to the unit.  Start sending with 
a paddle or keyboard.  Adjust the volume and speed to your preference.  If the speed is still too fast or too 
slow, adjust the range of the Speed control using the Speed and Ratio commands. 
 
All characters or code sent by the user are played on the sidetone speaker.  This allows the user to hear 
what he is keying, typing, or sending with a computer.  Only when the keyer is used with a paddle is the 
code sent as soon as it is keyed.  When using a keyboard or keyer terminal, you may type ahead of the 
code that is being transmitted.  This allows you to enter words and phrases faster than the transmitted 
code.  This permits smoother code with less pauses because you can fix misspelled words and think of the 
right phrase to use while your previous sentence is being sent. 
 
When you are in command mode, memory save, or configuration mode, the code sent to the speaker is 
not sent to the Keying Output or your radio.  This keeps all erroneous code off of the air. 
 
 

How to Use the Menu System 

 
You may set up the MFJ-495 to perform any of its many functions by making the appropriate selections 
from its menu system.  This system consists of seven main menus and 22 setup menus.  You make your 
selections using the five buttons under the LCD display - Menu, F1/Previous 

◄

, F2/Next 

►

, F3/Down 

▼

, and F4/Up 

▲

.  These buttons do the following: 

• 

Menu - Scrolls through the main and setup menus when press briefly.  To enter the setup menu, press 
and hold this button for two seconds.  To exit the setup menu, press and hold this button for two 
seconds to go back to the main menu. 

• 

F1/Previous - Selects the main menu command or the previous setup menu. 

• 

F2/Next - Selects the main menu command or the next setup menu. 

• 

F3/Down - Selects the main menu command or the previous item in a setup menu. 

• 

F4/Up - Selects the main menu command or the next item in a setup menu. 

The main menus are arranged in a "wrap-around" structure, so that momentarily pressing the Menu button 
will bring up another main menu in a sequence.  Figure 5 shows the sequence of the main menus.  When 
power is turned on, the main menu displayed is the one that was displayed when the unit was last turned 
off. 

Summary of Contents for MFJ-495

Page 1: ...ead All Instructions Before Operating Equipment MFJ ENTERPRISES INC 300 Industrial Park Road Starkville MS 39759 USA Tel 662 323 5869 Fax 662 323 6551 COPYRIGHT 2001 2009 MFJ ENTERPRISES INC C Model MFJ 495 VERSION 0D Memory Keyer ...

Page 2: ...itional handbooks or other official publications The copy of this manual provided to the customer will not be updated to reflect current data Customers using this manual should report errors or omissions recommendations for improvements or other comments to MFJ Enterprises 300 Industrial Park Road Starkville MS 39759 Phone 662 323 5869 FAX 662 323 6551 Business hours M F 8 4 30 CST ...

Page 3: ...Command COM Button 9 Decrement DEC Button 9 Carrier Tune CXT Button 9 Pulse Tune PXT Button 9 Speed 10 Farnsworth 10 Weight 10 Tone 10 Changing Memory Banks 10 Miscellaneous 10 Setup Menus 11 Speed Ratio 11 Overall Speed 11 Farnsworth 11 CCW Weight 12 CW Weight 12 Character Space 12 Word Space 12 Keying Compensation 13 Keying Delay 13 PTT Hang Time 13 Tone 13 Serial Number 14 Leading Zeroes 14 Oth...

Page 4: ...m 29 Setup Commands 29 Message Memory 34 Uploading and Downloading Messages 34 Loading a Memory Block from the Computer 34 Sending Contents of a Memory Block to the Computer 35 THE MEMORY Message Memory 36 Preparing Messages 37 Embedded Commands 37 APPENDICES Resetting the Keyer 41 Factory Defaults 41 Message Memory Reset 42 Self Test 42 Power Down Circuit Test 43 Troubleshooting 44 Technical Assi...

Page 5: ...ut 5 Figure 4 Dvorak Keyboard Layout 5 Figure 5 MFJ 495 Menu Flow and Button Action Chart 7 Figure 6 Code Weight 12 Figure 7 Keying Delay and PTT Hang Time Timing 13 Figure 8 Rise Time and Decay Time Timing 14 Figure 9 MFJ 495 Message Memory Structure 36 TABLES Table 1 Keying Output Jumpers 3 Table 2 Manual Key Jumper 4 Table 3 Keyboard Jumpers 4 Table 4 Setup Commands 48 ...

Page 6: ...MFJ 495 Memory Keyer Instruction Manual iv 2001 2009 MFJ Enterprises Inc THIS PAGE IS LEFT BLANK INTENTIONALLY ...

Page 7: ...upports both Direct and Grid Block outputs and has a port for an optional remote control Some of its features 2 line by 16 character LCD display Iambic keyer with dot and dash memories automatic semi automatic or hand key mode 32 messages four banks of eight messages each total over 8000 characters Messages may call other messages and contain programmed functions Message editing capability Input q...

Page 8: ...ume Control Used to adjust the sidetone audio volume to the internal speaker and Audio Out jack Turn the control clockwise to increase the volume and counter clockwise to decrease the volume PWR LED Illuminates when the power to the unit is on It also blinks when the keyer is in message program mode and command mode Speed Control Used to adjust the code speed in a 2 1 to 20 1 ratio within the rang...

Page 9: ...damage to the unit may result Audio Out A 3 5 mm stereo phone jack for connecting to an external speaker or headphones This jack accepts both stereo and mono plugs When this jack is used the internal speaker is disabled An optional external speaker the MFJ 281 is available from MFJ Enterprises Inc WARNING To prevent suffering hearing damage when using headphones turn the Volume control to minimum ...

Page 10: ...Configure the software for 1200 baud 8 data bits 1 stop bit and no parity set the flow control to Xon Xoff Keyboard Accepts most standard AT style keyboards XT keyboard does not work with the MFJ 495 The MFJ 551 keyboard is guaranteed to be fully compatible with the keyer and available from MFJ Enterprises Inc Two jumpers JMP4 and JMP5 inside the unit configure the keyboard operation Jumper JMP4 s...

Page 11: ...its one stop bit and no parity set the flow control to Xon Xoff If you see extraneous linefeeds on the computer screen when receiving data from the MFJ 495 you may configure your software to strip out these extra linefeeds During sending the characters sent by the MFJ 495 are sent through the serial port so you may use your computer to monitor the transmitted copy You may find this particularly co...

Page 12: ...t sent to the Keying Output or your radio This keeps all erroneous code off of the air How to Use the Menu System You may set up the MFJ 495 to perform any of its many functions by making the appropriate selections from its menu system This system consists of seven main menus and 22 setup menus You make your selections using the five buttons under the LCD display Menu F1 Previous F2 Next F3 Down a...

Page 13: ... 6C 7C 8C 5D 6D 7D 8D COM DEC CXT PXT A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D SPEED FARNSWORTH WEIGHT TONE MENU MAIN MENUS Bank A Bank B Bank C Bank D Bank A Bank B Bank C Bank D Bank A Bank B Bank C Bank D MENU For 2 sec BUTTON ACTION Press to decrease setting Press to increase setting Press to go to previous menu Press to go to next menu MENU Press to navigate menus MENU F1 Press to select Bank A MENU F...

Page 14: ...sider the following example EXAMPLE To enter the setup menu press and hold the Menu button for two seconds If the display shows that you are in the Overall Speed menu pressing the Next button would put you in the Farnsworth menu and pressing the Previous button would put you in the Speed Ratio menu Pressing the Down or Up button would lower or raise the overall code speed Once you have selected th...

Page 15: ...other four messages buttons where the digit 5 8 is the message number and the letter A D is the current memory bank For example 8D is message number 8 of bank D To play a message press and release the corresponding message button To save a message press and hold a message button for two seconds until the keyer responds with GO dah dah dit dah dah dah You may then key in a message using the paddle ...

Page 16: ... is placed in the main menu to allow easier access to change the weight of code elements in the range of 25 to 75 Weight is the duty cycle of a continuous string of dots which is 50 for perfect code The weight shown on the display corresponds to the current position of the Speed control When WEIGHT is displayed press the Down button will decrease the code weight and the Up button will increase it ...

Page 17: ...rent position of the Speed control in the range of 5 to 99 words per minute WPM There are three numbers on line two of the display The first number is the speed at the full counter clockwise position of the Speed control the second number enclosed within and is the speed corresponding to the current position of the Speed control and the last number is the speed at the full clockwise position of th...

Page 18: ... two of the display The first number is the CCW weight the second number is the weight corresponding to the current position of the Speed control and the last number enclosed within and is the CW weight Constant weighting is achieved when all three numbers are the same Weight is the duty cycle of a continuous string of dots where 50 for perfect code A higher weight produces a heavier sound and a l...

Page 19: ...ith the PTT line to delay the keying output until all the switching is finished that is the keying output is lagged behind the sidetone audio and the PTT output This controls the time between when PTT is asserted and when CW keying will start PTT Hang Time The PTT Hang Time menu is used to set the PTT hang time from 1 to 9999 milliseconds This controls the time between when CW keying is ended and ...

Page 20: ...and three single characters on line two of the display The character enclosed within and is the replacement for the leading zeroes in the serial number Other Zeroes The Other Zeroes menu is used to set whether the non leading zeroes in the serial number are sent as 0 O or T There are a four digit number and three single characters on line two of the display The character enclosed within and is the...

Page 21: ...FJ 495 will not display the code sent or record to the keyer memory Also the difference between this and the Handkey command is that this command affects the paddle only Monitor The Monitor menu is used to toggle the sidetone speaker on and off If the sidetone is turned off it will still play command messages and status information To conserve power the keyer should be operated with the monitor of...

Page 22: ...ser to insert a dot by tapping the dot lever while holding the dash lever in The dash insertion feature allows the user to insert a dash while holding the dot lever in The iambic operation allows sending alternate dots and dashes when both levers are squeezed The first lever contacted will determine whether a dot or dash occurs first Note It is recommended the Farnsworth mode be disabled when send...

Page 23: ... the Farnsworth speed not the overall speed G Gap word space increases the word space with standard intra character spaces where is a single digit from 0 to 9 This allows the normally seven unit long word space up to 16 units long Note the word space is always at least four units longer than the inter character space H Hand key enters the hand key mode to use the paddle as a hand straight key Dots...

Page 24: ...atic bug You also may use this unit with a straight key or a bug connect the straight key or bug to the ground and the dash line With the hand key option both the dot and dash lines can be used to connect to a straight key Notice hand key mode may not be used to enter messages or commands Note In hand key mode using the paddle the MFJ 495 will not display the code sent or record to the keyer memor...

Page 25: ...495 normally expects the dot paddle to be connected to the tip of the plug and the dash paddle to be connected to the plug s ring If your paddles are wired in the opposite manner or you wish to change between right and left handed operators you may reverse the paddles W Weight sets the automatic code weighting between percent at the counter clockwise position and percent at the clockwise position ...

Page 26: ...gnize your code as a valid character the keyer will display a block character and that character will not be saved Continue keying in the rest of the word If you make a mistake entering a word you can back up over it by keying in at least 10 continuous dots The keyer will erase the previous word Also press the Menu button momentarily will delete the last character press and hold the Menu button fo...

Page 27: ... the buffer fills to 190 characters each new key press will be lost It is best to never type much faster than your code speed Transmitted characters and type ahead buffer memory may be monitored using the LCD display on the MFJ 495 This readout is comprised of two lines of text each containing 16 characters The top line shows the characters currently being transmitted The bottom line shows the con...

Page 28: ... 1 F2 Play Message 2 Select User 2 Program Message 2 F3 Play Message 3 Select User 3 Program Message 3 F4 Play Message 4 Select User 4 Program Message 4 F5 Play Message 5 Toggle Monitor Program Message 5 F6 Play Message 6 Toggle Output Program Message 6 F7 Play Message 7 Toggle Queue Program Message 7 F8 Play Message 8 Enter Carrier Tune Program Message 8 F9 Select Bank A Get Quick Speed 1 Set Qui...

Page 29: ...haracter space Press LEFT or DOWN to decrease or press RIGHT or UP to increase the character spacing or enter one digit 0 to 9 to set the character spacing Press ENTER to accept and exit or press ESC to cancel and exit D Decrement decrements the serial number by one effectively canceling the automatic increment applied when last played from a message The decrement function accommodates re sending ...

Page 30: ...s to your liking for on the air sending Press LEFT or DOWN to decrease or press RIGHT or UP to increase the hang time or enter up to four digits 0001 to 9999 to set the hang time Press ENTER to accept and exit or press ESC to cancel and exit K Keying compensation sets the keying compensation to millisecond where represents two digits in the range of 00 to 25 Some radios have a key delay of 5 ms or...

Page 31: ...to the keyer can be used with a single lever key with dots generated automatically and dashes formed manually by the user This emulates the function of a mechanical semi automatic bug You also may use this unit with a straight key or a bug connect the straight key or bug to the ground and the dash line With the hand key option both the dot and dash lines can be used to connect to a straight key No...

Page 32: ...e that of a good CW transceiver Notice an alternating series of dots and dashes are sent to the sidetone monitor to assist in the setting of the desired sidetone frequency Press LEFT or DOWN to decrease or press RIGHT or UP to increase the tone frequency or enter two digits 30 to 99 to set the tone frequency Press ENTER to accept and exit or press ESC to cancel and exit U User selects the current ...

Page 33: ...ther zeros as 0 dah dah dah dah dah and the nines as 9 dah dah dah dah dit Play message play message where the first is the message number 1 to 8 and the second is the memory bank A to D Alternately press F1 to F8 to play messages in the current memory bank Press F9 to F12 to select the current memory bank Save message save message into the keyer memory where the first is the message number 1 to 8...

Page 34: ...pen square bracket tells the keyer to replace the ENTER key with the close square bracket as the end of message key Refer to The Memory section on page 36 for explanation of the MFJ 495 s message memory and how to use the embedded commands to enhance your message Quick Speeds Each of the four Users has four pre set memories to store the overall speed so the speed can be quickly changed during an e...

Page 35: ...prosign Any prosign can be made this way even special local prosigns Another method is to enclose the prosign with backslashes such as SN Note The open angle bracket enables prosign mode and the close angle bracket disables prosign mode while the backslash toggles the prosign mode on and off A word space also disables prosign mode Tip All keystrokes and commands from the Keyer Terminal can also be...

Page 36: ...sable Farnsworth mode Press either the or or to decrease or increase speed or enter two digits 10 to 99 to set the Farnsworth speed or 00 to turn off Farnsworth mode Press ENTER to accept and exit or press ESC to cancel and exit Note It is recommended the Farnsworth mode be disabled when sending with the paddle When Farnsworth mode is enabled the paddle will send code at the Farnsworth speed not t...

Page 37: ...TER to accept and exit or press ESC to cancel and exit M Monitor enables Y or disables N the sidetone monitor or toggles the sidetone monitor on or off without the If the sidetone is turned off it will still play command messages and status information To conserve power the keyer should be operated with the monitor off in favor of the rig s sidetone To change Monitor mode type M followed by Y for ...

Page 38: ...o cancel and exit S Speed sets the overall code speed to WPM where represents two digits in the range of 05 to 99 By overall speed we mean the speed at which the words or groups are sent A word is defined as 50 units of time and the word PARIS is exactly 50 units in length Therefore if PARIS is sent 13 times in one minute the sending speed is 13 wpm Standard Morse code timing defines a dit as one ...

Page 39: ...ght Press either the or or key to change constant weight or enter two pairs of two digits 25 to 75 to set automatic linear weight Press ENTER to accept and exit or press ESC to cancel and exit Tip Type W and then press TAB or ENTER to change only the counter clockwise position weight Type W press TAB and then type to change only the clockwise position weight X Xmit carrier tune gives continuous ke...

Page 40: ...To view the content of a message type where is the message number and bank The memory will echo to the terminal Message Commands To Types Play Message Save Message message text message text ENTER View Message Refer to The Memory section on page 36 for explanation of the MFJ 495 s message memory and how to use the embedded commands to enhance your message Uploading and Downloading Messages To send ...

Page 41: ...rrupted One way of speeding data transfer is to configure your terminal program to strip out linefeeds that follow carriage returns While computers store a carriage return as two characters the carriage return followed by a linefeed the MFJ 495 stores only the carriage return and generates the linefeed following it during playback The additional linefeed thus does not need to be transferred to the...

Page 42: ...ns blocks are filled sequentially moving upward in the diagram If a message begins in block 1B or higher memory blocks K is reserved for each of the previous memory blocks For example a message begun in block 3A will if longer than K characters flow into block 4A then block 5A and so on However it cannot flow downward into block 2A or block 1A Because each of these lower memory blocks has K reserv...

Page 43: ... parameter will remain set during playback of that message When playback of that message is completed or stopped the value of the parameter will revert to the value set prior to the message playback Note Adjusting the Speed control during message playback will undo the settings set by embedded commands S U V and W Embedded Commands While in the message recording mode you may use embedded commands ...

Page 44: ...acter and word spacing J Jump jumps to the message where the first is a single digit in the range of 1 to 8 for the message number and the second is a letter in the range of A to D for the memory bank This allows you to continue your message into another message This command can be used to create loop of multiple messages Note that any character after J will not be sent L Loop creates a loop of th...

Page 45: ...eed of 0 WPM where represents two digits in the range of 10 to 99 For example 10 is 100 WPM and 99 is 990 WPM This command is used primarily for meteor scatter work Note that Farnsworth Weighting Character Space Word Space Keying Compensation and Tone settings are disabled during ultra speed message transmission Also messages using both regular speed and ultra speed can be created To exit the ultr...

Page 46: ...decreases the code weight by percent where is a single digit in the range of 0 to 9 X Xmit keys the keyer for seconds where represents two digits in the range of 01 to 99 When setting time under 10 seconds leading zero must be used Time greater than 99 seconds is obtained by using consecutive commands that total the desired value Set to 00 to key continuously for tuning the transmitter For example...

Page 47: ... msec PTT Hang Time 1000 msec Tone Frequency 701 Hz Serial Number 0001 Leading Zeroes on and send as O dah dah dah Other Zeroes send as 0 dah dah dah dah dah Nines send as 9 dah dah dah dah dit Iambic Mode A Reverse Mode off dot to tip dash to ring Paddle Mode automatic Monitor Mode on Output Mode on Queue Mode on Pulse Tune Speed 75 WPM Pulse Tune Weight 13 duty cycle Quick Speeds 13 15 18 and 20...

Page 48: ...test Note Performing the self test will reset the unit to its factory default settings for all four users and select user 1 as the current user Here is the self test procedure 1 Turn off the power to the keyer 2 Connect a paddle to the Key Input jack Connect a remote control to the Remote port if you have one 3 Turn Speed control to full clockwise position Set volume to a comfortable listening lev...

Page 49: ...connected MENU FAIL Menu button is shorted or improperly connected PD FAIL Power down circuitry is bad SPEED FAIL Speed control is bad Power Down Circuit Test This test checks the power down circuitry It is recommended that this test should be done immediately after the regular self test described above Note The keyer must be reset to factory defaults before performing this test Here is the test p...

Page 50: ...g Q The keyer keys continuously when I turn on the power A Make sure the Manual Key jumper JMP3 is set to the correct logic Technical Assistance If you have any problem with this unit first check the appropriate section of this manual If the manual does not reference your problem or your problem is not solved by reading the manual you may call MFJ Technical Service at 662 323 0549 or the MFJ Facto...

Page 51: ... MIM Question Mark or Request for Repetition di di dah dah di dit IMI Fraction Bar dah di di dah dit DN End of Message or Cross di dah di dah dit AR End of Work di di di dah di dah SK Double Dash Pause or Break dah di di di dah BT Semicolon dah di dah di dah dit KR Colon dah dah dah di di dit OS Apostrophe di dah dah dah dah dit WG Quotation Mark di dah di di dah dit AF Hyphen or Dash dah di di di...

Page 52: ...bout OM Old man AGN Again OP Operator ANT Antenna R Are received roger BK Back break RCVR Receiver CPY Copy RIG Station equipment CQ Calling any station RITE Right CUL See you later RST Readability strength tone report CU See you SIGS Signals DE From SKED Schedule DEG Degree STN Station DX Distance rare station TEMP Temperature ES And TKS Thanks FB Fine business excellent TNK Thank FER For TNX Tha...

Page 53: ...ou QRX I will call again at wait QRZ Who is calling me I am QSB Your signal is fading QSD Your keying is defective QSK I can hear you between my signals QSL I am acknowledging receipt QSU Reply on this frequency or mode QSX I am listening to on kHz QSY Change frequency change to xmit on kHz QTH My location home is QTR The correct time is QTS I will send so my frequency can be measured QUB Here is ...

Page 54: ...ap Word Space Word Space COM G G CTRL G G Handkey Paddle Handkey COM H H CTRL H H Iambic Iambic COM I I CTRL I I PTT Hang Time PTT Hang Time COM J J CTRL J J Keying Compensation Key Compensation COM K K CTRL K K Lag Keying Delay Key Delay COM L L CTRL L L Monitor Monitor COM M M CTRL M ALT F5 M Number Serial Number COM N N CTRL N N Output Output COM O O CTRL O ALT F6 O Paddle Paddle COM P P CTRL P...

Page 55: ... User COM U U CTRL U ALT F1 ALT F2 ALT F3 ALT F4 U reVerse Reverse COM V V CTRL V V Weight CCW Weight CW Weight COM W W CTRL W ALT UP ALT DOWN ALT LEFT ALT RIGHT W Xmit carrier tune CXT COM X X CTRL X ALT F8 X pulse tune PXT COM Y Y CTRL Y Y Zeroes and nines Leading Zeroes Other Zeroes Nines COM Z Z CTRL Z Z Note Terminal commands can be used via the keyboard but not vice versa Table 4 Setup Comma...

Page 56: ...MFJ 495 Memory Keyer Instruction Manual 50 2001 2009 MFJ Enterprises Inc Schematic ...

Page 57: ...MFJ 495 Memory Keyer Instruction Manual 2001 2009 MFJ Enterprises Inc 51 ...

Page 58: ...MFJ 495 Memory Keyer Instruction Manual 52 2001 2009 MFJ Enterprises Inc ...

Page 59: ...ervice Department at 662 323 0549 or the MFJ Factory at 662 323 5869 4 This warranty does not apply to kits sold by or manufactured by MFJ Enterprises Inc 5 Wired and tested PC board products are covered by this warranty provided only the wired and tested PC board product is returned Wired and tested PC boards installed in the owner s cabinet or connected to switches jacks or cables etc sent to MF...

Page 60: ...MFJ 495 Manual Version 0D Printed In U S A 06 2009 300 Industrial Park Road Starkville MS 39759 MFJ ENTERPRISES INC ...

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