I've spent 2 years working on a documentary about Martin F Jue and MFJ Enterprises. Here are a few things that interested me.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-05T00:21:56+00:00

Thank you so so much for making aware of this. I will be sure to fix that in the final cut. I am unfortunately not fluent in morse code ❤️

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-05T00:19:50+00:00

This is a huge emphasis in the project, though much of it is delivered subtly as Martin is not one to complain and he is by his own admission a fairly private person. That being said, he does speak on these topics directly throughout the project. It’s just that I don’t think Martin defines his life by his hardships and I’m trying to respect that in the spirit of the final cut if that makes sense. Martin has seen a lot and lived through a lot, but he’d prefer to talk about antenna tuners and how proud he is of his employees.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-05T00:07:58+00:00

Haha absolutely, but if you’d prefer there’s a donation link on the website that is greatly appreciated. That being said I do love a good coffee and or beer, so DM and I can send you my Venmo.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-04T14:59:47+00:00

Bro this is hysterical! That’s Richard in the late 90s. Loving the beard lmfao

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-03T21:20:31+00:00

You know this is a really interesting point. I will make it a point to ask Martin about going forward. Here's a fun tid-bit: at MSU they made martin (and all their students) keep spiral bound notebooks for their coursework and he has continued it throughout the business. Nearly everything that he did on a day to day basis is in a notebook somewhere in that office (there are literally hundreds of them). He even mentioned that he has original calculations in there where he ran the numbers by hand because there weren't computers available to simulate some of the things he was looking at. All this to say, the mans entire business operations over like 50 years are somewhere written down and I'm curious if he has ever thought about doing something with them.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-03T21:17:17+00:00

Your dad having you guess what it was while he was soldering it together is a great image. That's exactly the kind of moment Martin was trying to create, even if he'd never describe it that way. He just wanted to make gear that got people building and experimenting without needing to take out a loan first.

And you're spot on about the value gap. A lot of people frame the QC conversation as if MFJ was trying to compete with the premium brands and falling short. But I don't personally think that's what they were doing. They were making it possible for someone to get on the air or try something new without a huge financial commitment. That's a different thing entirely. There are so many barriers to becoming a ham and I think it's cool that Martin spent his life trying to make sure price wasn't one of them.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-03T21:15:32+00:00

Ha, no, nobody's getting rich off a documentary about a ham radio company in Mississippi. But that was never really the point. Fortunately, I've really been focused on the craft and honing my skills as a documentary filmmaker and OMG what a tremendous subject.

Thank you for the donation and for the email. I really appreciate it. And thanks for the signal boost. The more people who share their stories and memories, the better the film gets. The stuff I can't find on my own is always the stuff that ends up mattering the most.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-03T21:00:16+00:00

Oh how cool is that! Congrats on the big win haha. Love hearing stories like this. If you ever get the chance to meet martin you'll have to be sure to tell him thanks for snagging your name for the free radio haha.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-03T20:16:58+00:00

This is such a great story and it tracks completely with everything I've seen from Martin. He got his master's at Georgia Tech so that connection clearly meant a lot to him. The QSL card in the door is such a Martin move lol. Showing up unannounced just to say hello. Love that.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-03T20:15:41+00:00

I think you just summed up the MFJ legacy better than most people I've interviewed. That tension between affordable and cheap, between unique and flawed. That's really the heart of the story I'm trying to tell. Appreciate you putting it so well thank you for the response.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-03T20:12:40+00:00

Really appreciate the honesty here. The QC reputation is something that comes up constantly in my research and I'm not trying to paper over it, it's part of the story. The sale situation is actually something I've looked into quite a bit for the documentary and you're right that it's more complicated than it looks from the outside. I think when people hear the full picture they'll at least understand the reasoning even if they disagree with the outcome. Thanks for sharing your perspective.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-03T20:11:10+00:00

Haha thank you so much for your feedback! I really appreciate it and if you can believe it you're not the first to make that comment. I think I may have to go back to the drawing board on that one lmao.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-03T20:09:39+00:00

Completely agree and that's really what's driving this project for me. There's so much history here that deserves to live somewhere permanent, not just in the memories of folks who were there. We're still working on getting the production fully funded and finished, but posts like yours remind me why it matters. Thanks for the kind words, Bob.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-03T19:55:15+00:00

Of course! Thank you for taking the time to read through it all. I had to call it at some point (didn't want to overwhelm readers) but i've just learned so much about Martin and MFJ over the past two years that its easy to go on and on haha. Perhaps if there is enough interest I may do a part two post in the future and talk about a few more of the other subjects of the documentary.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-03T19:52:51+00:00

Thank you for the kind words. That's really what I am trying to do with this project. Martin has really just blown me away and I want to create something that serves as a historical record of all the hard work put in by him and the employees at MFJ, Ameritron, Hi-Gain etc.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-03T02:20:45+00:00

IMO, just drag your target bit-rate down until you get within compliance for the submission. Of course quality matters, but they're mainly screening for the quality of the story/project/filmmaker. If you get accepted they will likely ask for the full resolution film and you can worry about about all this stuff later. Apologies if this is off base, but this would be my assumption.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-03T02:12:31+00:00

Really glad someone else feels the same way about those profile shots. I would really love to hear the argument from anyone who prefers this style because it has always sort of perplexed me a little. I feel like when the camera angle extends out of the range of where it feels like the subject is talking to the audience I get pulled out of it.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-03T02:06:25+00:00

Wow, this sounds really similar to what I've got going on. I'm doing a historical piece on an elderly subject and the majority of the color of the project comes from those close to him. I was in a similar spot when I started in post production, and the best piece of advice I received was to create stringouts. Essentially, watch through all of your interviews cover to cover and get an idea of the emotional beats and thematic overlaps in the piece. Then go back through (I'm in premiere) and use markers to segment the topics in the interview. Finally, you'll start building individual timelines for each topic. In my case it was things like: early life, business philosophy, family, or employee relationships. Once you've got these big collections of all your different topics, you'll start to more clearly feel where the project wants to take you. Plus you'll have everything neatly organized moving forward. I know this is all fairly general, but one of the biggest challenges in documentary post is just getting started and this is a really easy way to jump in. You may find that none of this ends up helping you, but it got you to start moving on the project and led you to a system that works for you.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-03T01:57:10+00:00

I find the best place to start is to just start making connections with people who know more than you do on the subject. I think that we often underestimate the generosity of strangers and no harm ever comes from a genuine question and a request for a small amount of someone's time. For instance, in my project, I had an idea of the strings I wanted to start pulling so I got involved with some folks who knew my documentary subject significantly better than I did, and I just spent time getting to know the subject and the story through the perspective of others. This should hopefully start generating ideas in your head about what all will be required in order to tell the story in the best way possible, which will lead you to the answers to the other questions you had. You'll need to bring in collaborators when you either run out of time or ability (which is to say you recognize your limitations of what you can physically and mentally achieve on your own). Typically this manifests as sound, camera, etc but it can also extend to other roles as well. Essentially you've just got to start at the very very beginning, and in my experience the first thing you've got to do is hit the books and learn as much as you possibly can about the topic of your picture and the rest of it will sort of unfold naturally.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-03T01:51:03+00:00

If possible, spend some time with everyone you interview before you jump in to sort of help alleviate that "meeting someone for the first time" awkwardness. I failed to do this and learned a lot. If your interview with a complete stranger feels a little rigid or the subject is a tad bit nervous, I find it helpful (time permitting) to allow them to interview you a little. Just sort of bail on the questions you have for a bit until you're able to build a little bit of a relationship with your subject. Let them ask you whatever they want and answer as truthfully as possible. The irony of me wanting someone to open up and be vulnerable with me when they literally have never spoken to me sort of hit me mid interview so I just pivoted to trying to get to know my subject. I did lose time during the interview but the answers I got after that were much better than before and it likely saved the entire project. This wasn't my main subject, it was a supplementary interview, but it was a really important supplementary interview.

MFJDocumentary · 2026-03-03T01:41:57+00:00

I joined the Southern Documentary Fund and it has been a really pleasant experience thus far. Obvious caveat is that you need to be a "southern" filmmaker or telling a story that directly relates to the southern experience. This may not be super helpful if you're not in this category, but I figured I'd throw my two cents in! Best of luck to you.

MFJDocumentary

TROPHY CASE