I have the NCC-1. Bought it NIB on eBay for $400 a few years ago. I
use it with a pair of rotatable Pixel Loops. The NCC is a very well
made box. It is superior to the MFJ phasing box and probably also the
Timewave, although I have never owned the Timewave ANC(?) so I can't
say any more about it. The NCC is also much more expensive; you get
what you pay for. The MFJ phasor can be improved -- I think W8JI has
modifications for it somewhere on line, and it is certainly better
than nothing but the NCC overcomes its limitations. All of these
phasing / cancelling devices take some fiddling and practice, and a
receiver with a spectrum display is most helpful in setting them up.
I had a problem with RF getting into my NCC via the DC supply line,
causing the internal relays to chatter. A pair of small pie wound
chokes in series with the DC at the entrance fixed the problem. You
can't transmit through the NCC-1. If you have a lot of local noise
and are just interested in ragchewing and therefore, are not bound by
DX award and contest rules, you may as well get a shack PC and use it
to go online to a Kiwi SDR at some location in your region optimized
for low band reception and use that. One other thing to consider:
Unless they have changed their policy, DX Engineering does not make
NCC schematics available to owners.
73 and Merry Christmas
Rob
K5UJ
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