Whip, short wire, long wire and MLA30+ loop antenna compared on XHDATA D-808
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- Опубліковано 12 лип 2024
- This is a comparison between a short wire (3 metres, 10 feet), long wire (10 metres, 32 feet), the MLA30+ loop antenna and the whip antenna on the XHDATA D-808. Very distant signals received in Johannesburg, South Africa, during daytime.
The signals are Reach Beyond Australia from Kununurra, 15460 kHz; Far East Broadcasting Company from Iba, Philippines, 9345 kHz; and Adventist World Radio from Agat, Guam, 11795 kHz. Guam is the most distant signal, 13000 kilometres or 8300 miles.
The comparison is somewhat inconclusive. What it does show is that any kind of external antenna, even the short wire, definitely performs better than just the whip. In one case the MLA30+ performed very poorly. This may be because my connection between the MLA30+ and the radio is not ideal, I just clip the SMA cable to the whip antenna.
I also uploaded another video today where I compare the 10 metre wire and the MLA30+ on the Kenwood R1000. In this video the MLA30+ clearly outperforms the 10 metre wire on almost all the signals. You can see the Kenwood video here: • MLA30+ loop antenna fa...
#antenna #radio
00:00 Introduction
01:11 Reach Beyond Australia 15460 kHz
07:19 Far East Broadcasting Company 9345 kHz
13:04 Adventist World Radio 11795 kHz - Розваги
Very good comparison!
Thanks!
You remind me to listen to my shortwave receiver more often. I've got an RSP1a and built an active loop for the window frame for it. MIKROWAVE1 showed an amplifier for it spread out over multiple UA-cam videos. I get some peak reception around 22MHz with my implementation of it.
I couldn't do without looking for a schematic for the MLA 30 + but only found one for the previous version. According to the Official SWL channel the new version looks better at high frequencies. I have the suspicion they fixed their mismatched amplifier.
I am glad that I reminded you to listen to shortwave more often :-) I also read somewhere that the MLA30+ works better at high frequencies now, it does seem to work fine on higher frequencies for me. But it seems to be slightly better on lower frequencies, in my experience. Seems to be best from the 60m to the 31m band. And slightly less good in the 25m, 22m, 19m, 16m and 13m bands. Although this is not based on any kind of real test, just a general comment when I think about where I mostly receive the best and most interesting signals.
10m wire is a winner as it should be.
I'm kind of torn between the 10m wire and the MLA30+, I think these two are both good.
HJCB 11 years ago was the same station as beyond
Interesting! I did not know that, thanks.
nice comparison! hope you get that adapter for the mla30 soon, should be even better with a 'proper' connection. the whip in comparison to the 3m wire was interesting. i would not have expected the whip to perfom that well.
Thanks! Yes, I think the MLA30 will perform better with a proper connection. The whip on the XHDATA does quite well by itself! But with weaker signals you really see the difference between the whip, the 10 metre wire and the MLA30.
@@swlistening yes wires in urban spots tend to have a rather bad signal to noise ratio.
funny thing is most HAMs i have talked to consider the MLA30 a rather bad loop antenna. it is often better than a wire but still has a bad S/N ratio for a loop antenna.
there seem to be many good reviews of the 'wellbrook' loop antenna, which is pretty pricey though. there are also people selling a copy called 'wellgood' for way cheaper or you can get a schematic and build one yourself. i think the original costs around 200€, the copies go for around 50€
@@VintageOils It is true, some people seem to really dislike the MLA30+ but I don't know why. It is much cheaper than any other magnetic loop, and for my purposes it seems to work really well. Not noisy at all.
@@swlistening agree it is actually not noisy at all. but my comparison is all wire antennas. wonder how much better a high end loop set up on the roof might be.
in the end i guess antennas are a rabbit hole and the only solution would be to have all the antennas set up simulatniously and always check which suits the frequency and the weather the best.
@@VintageOils Imagine what that would look like! Some years ago I went to a party, people I did not really know, was invited through a friend. The owner of the house was really into SW and ham stuff. He had a big garden, but the entire backyard was just antennas. It looked like a military installation to me 🙂 No space for anything else in the garden. I don't have such a big garden, so I will just be happy with my wires and the MLA30+ for now...
I am residing in Malaysia.
Can anyone sent me a link to buy original MLA-30 +.
Thank You
A Chinese original, I have taken up the challenge but I have had no luck yet.
40 minutes later I have found that even the Radiomuseum doesn't know the original manufacturer.
The Tecsun site in Australia sells it, here: www.tecsunradios.com.au/store/product/mla-30-shortwave-loop-antenna/ I am quite sure that will be an original one.