Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best-selling in Ham/Amateur Radio Antennas
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Great AM antenna for LW and MW commercial stations. I live in an urban environment with high level of radio noise, thus making a good reception of AM stations here is a challenge. The A38LMS Soft Loop Antenna really made the difference. It's easy to assemble and to connect to the radio. It's much more convenient than 2-3m mast antennas you would need to use otherwise. I use several SRD-RTL software defined radios (some with direct sampling, others with frequency converters to cover low bands) and this antenna worked well with all of them. When using SDR, you can see how the antenna frequency tunning influences signal strenght. You clearly see the effect of resonance. Btw, I never used the gain of the built-in RF amplifier. It aplifies the signal together with the noise, so you don't really see the difference in the quality of received signal (opposite to antenna frequency tunning). You can search Google to find some hints how to disable one stage of built-in amplifier. This would reduce intermodulation distortion (I haven't tried this hint, just repeating what the Google revealed). The quality of product is OK. Nothing exceptional, just a decent quality for a decent price. The antenna cable (the cable between the antenna unit and the tuning unit) is thin and long (several meters), which means you can hang the antenna unit in the most convenient place.Read full review
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We all knew this was not going to be anything spectacular and it wasn't. I'm only really interested in LF/LW. The LW switch position on the loop doesn't do anything. If you switch to MW you can now pick up some LW. The lowest I could hear anything was some DGPS around 286 - the lowest NDB was RYN 338 at ~400mi/400w on a Sony 2010 - loop was outside in the clear. Haven't had more time to play with it. The loop switch box is held together with tiny phillips head screws and I was told by someone else that is experimenting with his that the LW position has a 4.7uh inductor. Probably needs more. Also the loop is actually a wire so it can be cut and enlarged. I do like the long (I forgot to measure it) cable between the loop and RF amp - 5 meters? Every part is cheaply made but what do you expect for $20? Lastly, using direct connection to the rx or using the small induction transfer module didn't make much difference except direct connection disconnects the Sony's internal antenna and reduces some noise pickup. MW was OK - locals and some distant stations were good. I can't recommend this as a main antenna but ~OK as a travel/vacation/temp antenna but beware some parts may break and you will have to improvise. Within minutes of setting up the loop I broke the little "L" on the tiny clip to hold up the apex of the loop wire. So I let the loop wire rest in the jaws of the little clip. The "L" was actually too small for the size of the wire. One could also use a strong wooden clothes pin instead. Buy one and experiment!Read full review
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I had fairly high hopes for this antenna. I watched a few positive videos. But was I ever wrong. The quality of this antenna is terrible. The signal strength goes down to literally zero once antenna is plugged in. The spring inside the clips broke after one day. The battery life of the amplifier is about 2 hours. So imagine going through batteries like crazy. Absolute junk. Don’t buy it.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
I don't see any difference except the loop seems to pickup more static. Bottom lie, You get what you pay for.
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I tested it with my Tecsun PL-660 receiver. On shortwave, it does help to listen and hear distant stations, it improves the reception. On medium wave the ferrite coupling bar needs to be placed parallel with the internal one. Tuning is tricky with that tiny knob, it is hard to find the sweet spot. The input jack is not the best quality. Anyway, it is a good starting kit, I would recommend it, but be prepared for the lower quality.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New