MLA 30 amplified magnetic loop antenna still my favorite choice for Shortwave

[@mercster]

After years of struggling with long wires, I love my MLA-30. No fuss no muss.

[@brianveitenheimer4492]

Best $45.00 I’ve ever spent. It’s been plugged in and never shut off for over 2 years. Still works awesome.

[@andreasg7834]

I purchased the antenna five days ago on ebay and I am looking forward to the delivery from China.

[@greggaieck4808]

Gilles your mla 30 amplified magnetic loop antenna is cool

[@donaldhosmer1120]

I miss mine. Some critter chewed through my lead-in coax laying on the ground. Ordered a MLA-30+ model for $30 on E-Bay that will arrive this Wednesday from an American seller. I still may try to repair the old coax or even replace it with BNC connectors mounted on the MLA box.

[@jameschaiser5960]

I really enjoy your videos and knowledge on swl.

[@lonnieclemens8028]

I will have to listen to this video again.

[@eriphoor]

I have to agree. The best city antenna for the money.

[@raulgongora5288]

Very good sr ready to get lot stations of shortwawes radio. Blessings

[@n1kkri]

Would you mind doing a video showing the directivity of the antenna?

[@F4LDT-Alain]

Yes, the MLA30+ works very well on my balcony: dense urban area with a lot of QRN. However, I have been extremely disappointed when trying to use a second one in "portable" configuration for evening DX SWL outings on high and open grounds. No real benefit compared to just using the receiver's whip antenna. It merely raised the noise floor.

[@GaryGreenhow-h5h]

Gilles I just got one, it helps some.

[@ianwalker3922]

Ive just brought one of these as I live in a block of flats so I can't have a long peace of wire 👍👍 Definitely worth a try brilliant I love sw am mw too and It works quite well thanks if you can find another antenna that beats it please let me know... Thanks

[@johnharris1846]

Hi Gilles, one more question. do you think the MLA 30+ would receive well at 20 ft high? thanks!

[@ronsarchery6378]

I set mine at about 15 feet on PVC and it works great. I can rotate it easily from ground.

[@CALTECH007]

I am using the MLA 30+ and I have to have it inside. It does work and now 80M (best) and 20M (not as good as 80M) works but other bands seem to not work so well even though there is a lot of activity on those bands. So I am going for broke and will be getting a Chameleon 3.0 loop to get better reception.

[@Coowallsky]

Did the Chameleon work better.

[@sun622]

I have my house wiring running just outside my window. How much effect will this have on my reception? How far away should the mla be from power lines? Thank you in advance

[@dgross07]

I understand there are many clones out there now. Do you have a reliable purchase source that you recommend? Is there a way to tell a knock-off? Thanks

[@JamesKlyng1twofish]

I like this antenna. Does pretty well. Only one issue, I like to listen to 9455 WRMI out of Florida. I get this weird static wave where the signal fades out and then back in. I am not sure how I can help that. Maybe go higher? Or is it just because I am in Houston, TX and its 1000 miles away. Any help would be great.

[@peterjones6357]

Gilles, apart from the issue with two station on the same frequency with AM, could you explain why shortwave is not as directional as AM? Thanks

[@andreasg7834]

Do you also think, that it makes no real sense to change the antenna cable? I have replaced the loop itself with a copper-loop, because people argument with the better conductivity. But I personally didn't realise a big difference in the reception. So I think, another cable makes also no big difference. The first MLA, that I got delivered from China, was a product-counterfeit. The seller was banned from ebay and Paypal gave me the full refund.

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

Changing to copper does not make it better, changing the size might make it better. as for the cable it is useless to change it, this is a amplified signal going through it, has no effect to change it

[@lajson]

@@OfficialSWLchannel. I have changed the cable to RG58 and mounted BNC Connector to antenna housing. Less noise and better signal with my Malahit SP2 receiver! My Malahit bias tee is better then the one I got with the antenna, very satisfied with my MLA++😊❤

[@greggaieck4808]

Gilles iam thinking about getting Mal 30 loop antenna

[@titustucan9654]

Hi thanks for the video, it’s great. I’am from Laval, and I guess, here as in Montreal it’s quite noisy too. I live in a house but I won’t be able to pull a wire longer than 60feet in my backyard, so I’m going to buy one the plus model on Amazon 60$. BTW Are you using RG8 RG8+ RG58 or LMR400? Thanks again

[@kandigloss6438]

is there a kit out there at all so that you don't have to go to trouble of making your own mast/stand? That's slightly holding me back from ordering one.

[@coctailer]

I was thinking of getting one of these to mount on the flat roof of my office, but I was worried about having to rotate it. Once I put it up there I won’t be able to move it around easily. I would use it just for short wave. I was hoping to try and get some signals from Europe to my office here in West Michigan. Is this even possible?

[@Homie_Simpson]

There's another version called MLA-30+ (Amazon: "Upgrade Version Loop Antenna MLA-30+ Plus 0.5-30MHz Rainproof Ring Active Receive Antenna Low Noise Medium Short Wave”). Do you think it’s really better or is it just marketing to charge more money?

[@kb8pih]

I have 2 MLA 30+ antennas. The Biasing Tee powers up fine on a USB plug in power adapter but when I try and power it through a portable power bank the power cuts off after a few minutes. This happens with both antenna Biasing Tees and with several different portable power banks different power cords. I would like to use the antenna for portable use but cannot power it. Is this normal or do I have two defective antennas.

[@johnharris1846]

Hi Gilles, how do you think this loop would work with an Icom R75 receiver? I do live in an HOA environment. all cable and phone lines are underground. I also have Tecsun PL-660, PL-380 and PL-310ET

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

should work great, I used it on my Kenwood R5000 and Icom IC R8500 and it was great

[@johnharris1846]

@@OfficialSWLchannel thanks much Gilles!

[@mikemullenix6956]

Does this use a air capacitor? If so what is the value ? Thanks for the great video's

[@TheExtraTerrestrial]

I have one, and it seems to work reasonably well upstairs in my attic. If it were outside, how would I protect it from lightning strikes?

[@djaj423]

ground it

[@justgregm7843]

I have one and found it has some response in the FM band. As far as pointing it, get an azimuthal map center on your location. Use the map to find direction of signals for countries you are interested in and point the antenna maximum response in that direction.

[@bryanhollyfield3948]

Thanks for all the info. How is your pl-990x doing?

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

great!

[@martin1698]

Hi Good evening Thanks for the information Best Regards Martin King

[@davidsradioroom9678]

I need to get mine up

[@anthonyfranz8317]

Good afternoon. Just a quick question, do you use a different coax to connected to the supplied cable with the antenna? I am thinking about moving mine more feet away from my house, but will need more cable to do it. Thanks!

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

Should work ok, remember what you get from the antenna is a Amplified signal, it will be fine even with a longer antenna wire

[@clytle374]

Got one recently, was much better when I started using the bias T on sdr instead of the one supplied which seemed noisy

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

Bias T just gives power... if the supplied was noisy .. you probable were using a noisy source of power

[@clytle374]

@@OfficialSWLchannel both the bias T and the sdr we're being powered by a laptop USB ports. So it's possible, but in that case the sdr seems to filter it out.

[@tonymagnier9846]

I was disappointed with this, I like tuning to MW and LW being in Europe there are plenty of stations here, this was supposed to cover from 100khz up but I'm afraid it's poor for MW/LW DX but ok for SWL although I have heard IMD on it plus it doesn't have the lowest noise level, just my experience of it anyway.

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

I think it's why the + starts its coverage at 500 kHz now

[@adrianfox9431]

I think if you add a bigger loop it makes it better at the lower frequencies.

[@melvyndunn3632]

Ho I Dave, I have an MBA 30 same as you. The price I paid was 34.99 pounds. My first copy was from the island of crete.

[@michaelagner4355]

This antenna has been reviewed by a few folks, and the amp is really noisy. It's using, as I understand it, a wideband video amp which is likely to be dirty RF wise anyway. There are much better ones out there, of course they cost more.

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

nope the amp is not... people that say that .. use passive loops to compare and don't understand what amplified loop do. The others use noisy power supply. when properly powered it the LNA is very quiet on this antenna.

[@madmax2069]

From what I've seen with mine it's only as noisy as the power source you hook to it, it's pretty quiet if you use a linear power supply instead of one of those switching phone chargers. There's a few 5v linear PSUs with a micro USB connector which works with the MLA-30 bias tee without having to modify anything, and it's pretty darn quiet. This is my issue with those "reviewers" they often do not know what they're doing, and fault the antennas bias tee for being noisy due to the kind of power supply they're using for it (they're using those noisy switch mode phone chargers). You put clean power into it, it won't be noisy.

[@mercster]

I use the bias tee on my SDR, though I haven't noticed much of a difference.

[@adrianibanne4722]

hello buddy it is a cute aerial but the tree line among her it could be absorbering any energy.clear up is better