Magnetic Loop vs. Vertical Antenna (A/B comparison)

The RX and TX A/B comparison between the UltraLight MC-20 Magnetic Loop Antenna and the Ground Plane 1/4 wave vertical antenna. Magloop is only 1m in diameter small. Ground Plane telescopic vertical is 5m tall with 3x 5m long counterpoises attached. Both antennas are set on the same tripod stands in the same hight above the ground.
Transceiver was used the XIEGU X5105 with output power 5W. Sorry for shaky video and low light condition pictures, this recording was originally not planned... Thanks for understanding :) In the future I plan to make an another the same comparison but by better conditions, on another place and both antennas will be much further from each other.
Thanks 4 watching and best 73!
The Magloop MC-20 website here on this link: om0et.com/ultr...
#UltraLightMagloopAntennaMC20 #GroundPlaneVerticalAntenna #Comparison

[@kp4md]

This video shows your compact loop performs quite well on 14 MHz. You properly oriented the loop to minimize its coupling to the vertical. I have similar experience comparing a magloop and vertical on 20m. On 7 MHz and below, a magnetic loop of that size would have poorer radiation efficiency than the vertical but it can offer a better received signal to noise ratio. 73

[@AlteSchutze]

OM0 ET is my favourite Ham channel ! Always find here the interesting info and experiments .Wish you well Peter in our fantastic hobby !

[@OM0ET]

Thank you so much for your big support my friend. It means a lot for me and my work here! Best 73 de Paul

[@aldist70]

Congratulations dear Paul, your magnetic loop antenna works great and setup is very easy👍👍👍73!

[@OM0ET]

Hi my friend! Thanks! :) I hope you are happy with your MLA v.4 ;) Thanks for watching! 73

[@gbamck]

Another great video, Paul. Thanks. I didn't realise you were manufacturing and selling the loop yourself now on your website. I will be looking at getting one of these I think for my portable QRP operations. Good work my friend - take care and 73. Mick.

[@OM0ET]

Thanks for the nice comment Mick! 🙂 No problem, just use an Order form on my website 🙂👍 Have a nicr day and 73! Paul

[@TEGEscalator]

very good demonstration best 73 Paul , greetings from Belgium.

[@OM0ET]

Thank you so much for nice comment and watching! 😊 73 Paul.

[@RafaGarTier]

Hi Paul, First, congratulations on the new intro. This video is yet another demonstration of the quality of your antennas. Thank you for sharing your experiences with all of us. 73´s

[@OM0ET]

Thank you very much for you nice comment and support! Best 73! Paul 😉👍

[@icorezx14r]

I always thought that verticals where better for permanent/semi-permanent installations. You need at least triple the radials to beat the ground loss. Where as the loop is a pleasingly effective portable, or HOA/apartment antenna. But your video does prove that as portables, but antenna work well! Thanks for the vid.

[@kishascape]

Yeah, you just use wire for the radial to make easier. Plus for receive only purposes it doesn't really matter as much. You would do surprising fine as well without them. It's when you transmit that things get tricky.

[@OM0ET]

Normally full sized 1/4 wave vertical in ideal conditions is 1S point better than the Magloop antenna. In this video are both angennas installed in difficult enviroment like metallic fence, tree atc.

[@barrykery1175]

I'm not surprised at the results. For the size of your Magnetic Loop, it's pretty efficient. If you make the same test on forty meters, you may notice a small difference? The only real downside of the Magnetic Loop is the bandwidth. Thanks for posting the video. It was interesting to watch. Barry, KU3X/QRP

[@o00scorpion00o]

2 days ago I used 2 meters of 10 mm copper pipe bent into a loop and connected it to the mfj 935c loop timer and made contact with a ham in Belarus on 20 m 5 watts, 2,223 Kms. The loop tuner was sitting on a patio table. Using the 4 meter loop I made contact with a ham in Canada from Ireland 20 watts on 20 meters.

[@crazyham]

That is a very interesting demonstration thankyou. I would be interested to see you transmit on one antenna and check the both antennas with an RF field strength meter. There is a possibility that both antennas were actually radiating simultaneously. Keep up the great work and thanks for a very interesting video ⚡🙏⚡

[@G7VFY]

Suggestions. 1. more radial on your 1/4 wave. The length does not matter but ideally, off the ground, and they really only need to be 10/wavelength (2m for 20m, 4m for 40m and 8m for 80m) but you need at least three times as many. 2. You magnetic loop is directional, so you might want to try turning it for maximum signal. 3. Keep your magnetic loop away from other metal items. 4. Us lower loss coax. regards G7VFY

[@michaelagner4355]

No the directionality of the loop is gone once you get above 2-3 Mhz or so. You still have the lower noise characterstic, and this is what makes it useful for many urban plots and areas where HOAs are a problem

[@OM0ET]

1. Yes of course it will work better with more radials, but then it wouldn't be the point of simple and lightweight portable antenna :) 2. in this test my Magloop was pointed to the incoming signal direction to be fair comparison 3. not always is it possible, not in this video. But both antennas was placed in comparable amount of the metal fence for fair comparison 4. I am using just 5m long feedline of the RG58CU, which is only 0,3dB loss on 14MHz, it's OK ;)

[@crazyham]

@@OM0ET Agreed. Coax loss for a matched load would be minimal.

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Excellent demonstration of an all coax, tuned 1 Meter Loop!

[@OM0ET]

Thank you very much! Best 73, Paul

[@MIKROWAVE1]

@@OM0ET Paul, how do you tune it? Just noise increase, or SWR?

[@OM0ET]

Yes, first I catch the noise peak by ears or s-meter and then push PTT in carrier mode like AM/FM/CW for fine tuning to best SWR 🙂👍

[@KX4UL]

Good comparison Paul. The magnetic loop does a great job. Nice work. 73!

[@OM0ET]

Thank you! Yes, I was suprised! :) Thanks for watching! 73

[@Jim-xz1ew]

Your metal fence will directly effect your test. If you use a field strength meter you will see the fence is absorbing some of your RF and interfering with your test. You need to be in an open field or above the fence to test your antennas.

[@raydavidsonm0ray.777]

Hi there Jim, I agree with you. I was also thinking the very same thing as you regarding the wire fence. I was also about to make a similar point post to Paul/Pavol. The wire fence all around him will screen his signals a bit like a Faraday Cage. Kind Regards, Ray, M0RAY, South East England UK.

[@richardsmith5001]

Loving that VFO B Frq Paul. All bands matter. Thanks for the video.

[@OM0ET]

Yeah 😄 famous triple five I often use as 10m propagations monitor 😃

[@CrittendenIV]

Paul, you are incredible. I am saving for your Mag loop!!!

[@OM0ET]

Thank you! :) For more info here is my website www.om0et.com Best 73, Paul

[@cache4pat]

Great Video. I wonder what the results would be without the tree cover and closeby metal fence.

[@Orvulum]

Interesting.... I have been comparing a half wave dipole with a 1 meter diameter magnetic loop for receiving as well. In my case, the magnetic loop will sometimes (not always) exhibit a lower noise floor in relation to the desired signal, with the half wave dipole often resulting in a higher noise floor. From the standpoint of intelligibility, the difference in signal strength is not as beneficial as compared to the difference in the noise floor. If the noise floor is say, 3dB lower with the magnetic loop antenna, then it doesn't matter so much that the dipole signal strength may be as much as 1 S unit higher... At least for receiving, it appears to be the signal to noise ratio that counts.

[@AlteSchutze]

Great video Peter! I think that vertical antenna with only one radial doing so low useful energy ratio.73 fm UR5X !

[@matsushimamichimasa]

Thanks from Japan.

[@Allocated_Brain]

Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 This Beatles fan had to.

[@Supernumerary]

NOTE! Narrow bandwidth of the magnetic loop is not a detriment. Instead it is an attribute. It is an additional filter. The highest performance magnetic loop antennas have extremely narrow bandwidth, which is a trade off.

[@alfredv9902]

The mag loop works well at ground level, but the vertical antenna would have done much better if placed higher.

[@Brighamdoc]

Great comparison thanks for your work

[@davidefracassa4051]

Thanks 73

[@michaelfuchs1467]

That was a very good demonstration of the mag-loops amazing properties. I really, really need one of those for digital emcomm where you often sit static on one frequency. I'm hoping to be able to order one of yours very soon, Paul! How did it go with your electronic loop-controller? I'm sketching a little on a raspberry based DIY controller myself - with feedback from a field strength meter where I'm doing a quick 360 on the main capacitor to find out in what area on the cap we should do the fine-tuning in next cycle. I'm also thinking of interfacing the controller to the radios CAT for frequency awareness so that tuning can start automatically as soon at the frequency changes on the radio. Also storing of the 'coarse tuning' areas to quickly position the main capacitor - and maybe using a smaller vari-cap or a capacitor network plus relays for fine-tuning. I'm thinking of using small stepper motors with micro-steps + reduction gear for very high resolution, precision and repeatability, not regular servos with position feedback. We'll see what it ends with... 🤓😀

[@OM0ET]

Development is in progress :) RB will be great solution, I believe! :) So good luck with your own project! Looks promising ;) 73, Paul

[@michaeledmonds3027]

Thanks so much for this excellent comparison between your mag loop and vertical with radials. I'm guessing the vertical antenna would yield much wider bandwidth on standard HF bands. I'm anxious to try out my new Chameleon mag loop.

[@OM0ET]

Yes, that's the advantage of the Magloops. They can properly work even in difficult locations like this.

[@pochonietypasjomrutusultim5875]

O super jesteś już czekałem Jony Bravo 1980 pozdrawia

[@chessplayer1000]

I have the same radio and a magnetic loop. BH5HDE QRP Magnetic loop as seen on ebay etc. I think I was on wspr at 5 watts when the radio had a failure. The external dc connector opened up not allowing external power in the radio. Also now the radio wont charge because of this. The radio was working fine for a few hours before this with the same antenna. So I'm wondering if the antenna may have been to close to the radio. Maybe rf got into the power cord of the radio and took out a diode or something. Wondering if you might have any ideas on why this may have happend. I do have a replacement radio on the way. I would like to make sure this does not happen again.

[@jamesacland1041]

A very timely video, thanks very much. I was just thinking about this yesterday. Love your work. I think the vertical might work better with maybe 10 or so radials. Did you make the mag loop antenna yourself?

[@pd9rd]

Yes, Paul does .. www.om0et.com/ 73.

[@OM0ET]

@@pd9rd yeah that is my website :) Thanks!

[@OM0ET]

Yes of course it will work better with more radials, but then it wouldn't be the point of simple and lightweight portable antenna :) hihi

[@jamesacland1041]

@@OM0ET hey Paul. It wouldn't be too much more trouble to add some more and the benefits would make up for it. Did you get a chance to watch any of the Ham Radio DX live stream?

[@antoniomendozachinea6554]

Fantastic video and comparation between anttenas. Very good explication and didactic video. Congratulations!!!!!

[@OM0ET]

Thank you so much! :D Best 73! Paul

[@kishascape]

Wow a tripod mountable telescopic HF whip. I want one of those.

[@erpece]

Hi Paul, thanks for the video - I love comparisons like this. Magloop doing a great job. The vertical antenna in the video is not really a 1/4 wave vertical, only electrically. It would be interesting to see you compare the magloop with a physical 1/4 wave vertical in a future video. Also, did you point the magloop roughly in the direction in the direction of the stations you worked? Keep up the good work!

[@OM0ET]

Hi! On 20m is the jumper in position where the coil is fully shorted, so vertical is physical 1/4 lambda 🙂 Yes Magloop was pointed towards stations I copared. 73, Paul

[@paulkazjack]

Please explain more why the vertical quarterwave hes using isn't a real quarterwave? Thanks.

[@no-ee]

Loops always the best choice.

[@radiotests]

Hey Paul, could you help me find the best software or formulas to model mg loops. I also want to learn how to make a reflector for these and with 2m VHF and higher. QRZ is good, THANKS 73 Craig KD0UQE

[@randyterrell2261]

Nice presentation but real concern about results with large metal gate and wire fence at same level, and directly in line with radiation pattern of Magnetic Loop. Although I concur with overall results, my experience is all large metal materials need to be half diameter below, and, 4 diameters away to prevent coupling and possible deQing of antenna. I also prefer it to be broadside to Antenna.

[@OM0ET]

That's the point of this video/comparison, to show how effective is the Magloop also in difficult conditions, compared with the GP vertical.

[@piano-music]

Just do CQ with cw and show reversebeacon reception.... on each antenna. You have metallic gates too close to the antennas.

[@W0KNI]

Great video Paul! It seemed like a very fair A/B comparison. I'm in a neighborhood that might be perfect for a mag. loop. Can you suggest a good source for these parts to build a loop? Cheers!

[@OM0ET]

Thank you! Is hard to say. I buy part from many sources, but most of them I manufacture by my self ;) Best 73

[@tomcruiser2407]

Great video Paul, I love such comparisons, but I am amazed that the vertical antenna did not work better. After all, the radiator has 1/4 lambda and the counterpoises also 3x 1/4 lambda.

[@OM0ET]

Thanks! Maybe metallic obstacles around makes difficult for vertical 😄 My Magloop performed better in this conditions 😉👍

[@terryfrancis9626]

great video Paul how is your move going ? I have just finished Mchf will book in my licence soon so can start using it regards terry

[@OM0ET]

Hi Terry! Thanks fine! 🙂 At least you can use it as receiver only until you get the licence. Good luck with a new call sign! Hope to catch you on the air one day! 73, Paul

[@user-qm5vs3ik3b]

Paul dziekuje za bardzo interesujace video,porownanie tych dwoch anten m.loop i vertical for 14 MHz.Ja teraz koncze duza m.loop for 80m band.15m CU fi 22.oktagonal.Do niedawna ja mialem 10m CU a teraz 15.Jest duza ale jeszcze nie za duza hi..Za pare dni ja uruchomie.Zobaczymy jak pracuje.Pozdrawiam Cie serdecznie -Rysiek z Krakowa SP9DTI ahoj

[@dorin.dumitru]

Very nice! Congratulations for the setup! 72s de YO3DRN

[@Roadrunner48]

Interesting video but I think the vertical antenna would be better if the radiator didn't touch the leaves. 73 de df8ru

[@ae1tpa92gwtom2]

👍nice video Paul, what vertical are u using exactly, sorry if I missed it. I often use the MFJ1979 telescopic portable , what about yr noise floor on the loop? Nice to see you in the country side, cheers n 73

[@OM0ET]

Yeah, that's also my antenna, the MFJ1979 ;) Nice vertical!

[@ae1tpa92gwtom2]

@@OM0ET Thanks for the reply Paul, I enjoy yr antenna experiments and builds, you have done several Mag Loops, videos, you may recall i purchased one from you for my Bulgaria QTH,.. take care Paul, 73 👍

[@OM0ET]

Yes Thomas, I remember. It was long ago, maybe 1.5 years ago already right?

[@fotografm]

Does the loop antenna require tuning ? How is it connected ? I see 2 concentric loops in the video. Where is it available ?

[@OM0ET]

Hi Simon, please visit my website om0et.com 😉👍

[@danford7532]

Do you realize that the loop is edge fire so you have to point the loop in the direction of the other station for best and accurate results

[@JPDW3072]

Is there a explanation why there is no difference between the two?

[@rolizam]

It is not possible to do a correct antenna test if the vertical is installed and covered by the tree. The right thing to do is to do it in an open area

[@QSasquatch]

In my experience my magnetic loop is much better at transmitting to the receiving station if directed properly

[@mr1enrollment]

you did not optimize pointing of mag loop, and the fence surround complicates comparison.

[@brianfoster5362]

The mag loop is a good ant. Very sharp tuning quite selective

[@alexololo6644]

Hm its too close to your house and trees, so vertical antenna on 20m should have at least 10-20m space around.

[@grahamjones6712]

Was the magloop pointing towards the station you were listening too?

[@OM0ET]

Yes, it was :)

[@dd1fk115]

Hey Paul, i look your Videos often but i want ask so many times, what do think about a sked between you and me ? We can do some QRP and Antenna Test, and i would be very happy if i can speak with you. 20m or 40m and utc, then we hear us on the Bands much greets Fabian DD1FK

[@OM0ET]

Yeah, I hope that soon 😉👍 Thanks for short try yesterday! Paul

[@2j4ez]

Is your radio wide banded? if so how did you do it?

[@OM0ET]

No, it is not extended

[@andrzejpl9897]

And farther from metal gate ?

[@brian-pu3yy]

So why purchase a loop, if no difference?

[@OM0ET]

and why purchase bigger antenna, if no difference? ;)

[@chaolucky488]

and what about the dp antenna?

[@QSasquatch]

How sure are you that your magnetic loop was a directionally pointed at your answering station?

[@OM0ET]

I know which direction from my country is the Netherlands 😃 Second thing is that directivity of the Magloop is not very sharp so in reality there is not a big difference pointed or not to the destination country. 73 😉👍 Paul

[@QSasquatch]

@@OM0ET I experience a significant null off the sides & a notable gain when pointed toward my target station.

[@OM0ET]

@@QSasquatch i meant on TX

[@QSasquatch]

@@OM0ET yes

[@QSasquatch]

@@OM0ET I enjoyed your video. I have an S-8-10 noise locally daily so knocking the noise down to a 3-4 is awesome.

[@alirahmat55]

diferen of high under ground..?

[@JonathanAdami]

plot twist, the switch doesn't work! haha jk, cheers for the video!

[@OM0ET]

🙃

[@sameer1798]

Is there a difference no DX?

[@OM0ET]

I donno, no much DX props this days here

[@kc4cvh]

7:30 What we have here is failure to communicate.

[@OM0ET]

Lol yes 🤣 it happens when we run just a few watts 👍

[@bolovanro]

27.555MHz? Hmmmm...triple five HI HI HI HI

[@OM0ET]

Yeah 😃 but receive only on this radio, unfortunately...

[@bolovanro]

@@OM0ET no mars mod on x5105? Now I understand why some people doesn't like this rig HI

[@johnfish837]

He can't hear you...Try some real power.