I've had my MLA-30 and CCW for several months now and my findings are the same as yours. I have found that the CCW outperforms the MLA-30 below 6 MHz but above that the MLA-30 is clearly better.
Interesting comparison. The CCW Loop Antenna Amplifier is designed to have a very low input impedance to match small (1m diameter) thick loops. We tried it with a 5m loop but it was a poor impedance match and it only outperformed a 1m loop below 20 kHz. If you can re-run the comparison but with say a 1m loop made from coax cable you will see a different set of results.
thank you Chris I will be experimenting more with the loop I have tried them with 1m 3m and 5m wire loops and all comparison stayed pretty much the same I will try them with a 1m coax loop as suggested, it is strange though if it is designed for use with a 1m diameter loop that mine was supplied with a 3m diameter loop, has this now changed and being shipped with a smaller loop
@@UKAFG There may be some confusion here. We supply a 3m length of wire with the amplifier. This will make a loop with a diameter of 0.95m. When you say you are using 1, 3 and 5m wire loops is this the length of the wire or the loop diameter?
Very interesting. Disappointed to see how relatively poorly the CCW has done here. Recently ordered the CCW. Perhaps I'll pick up the MLA-30 as well as they're pretty cheap and see how they both compare in my environment. CCW have a good track record. I've heard some terrible reports on the MLA-30 so I'm sure there are a lot of factors coming into play. I'll probably get one. All in the name of research of course ;-)
so did you make the mla loop bigger and what did you use for the loop?? or did you leave it as stock? - good results though - i plan on doing the coax mod my self when the BNC fitting arrives next week 👍👍
There were some comments I"ve seen where the Bias T from the SDRplay (4.7v) is not nearly what the MLA30 needs to supply it which is between (5v-12v). Folks had issues not using the provided Bias T from MLA30 assuming the Bias T supplied from the SDRplay RSPdx would suffice.
@@antalperge1007 Just relaying information from other accounts but my own experience has been mixed. I don't know why but there have been times one or the other is better for signal strength. Mystery.
Very good comparison. I notice that Welbrook claim that the 1530LN is suitable for airband - but assuming that this is not the case given your review. Can you confirm this for me please as I am about to purchase a loop. Thanks Ian
@@LeeDonaghy He is talking about replacing the loop with a coax. You connect the outer shields together to form an electrostatic shield which eliminates E-Field noise - only the B-Field is received. I am awaiting a my MLA-30 which is on a slow boat from China right now. I would think that a metal box would be better than the stock plastic box as well. I anticipate tearing mine up after I play with it a bit. The prices of these other loops is insane.
Would have liked to have seen a comparison with a Wellbrook ALA-100 as thats meant for wire rather than the 1530LN is a fixed loop that way you could have tried the same length, the CCW is meant to have 3m wire too so a better comparison would have been 3m with all. Just a thought.
Hi Les I have had some time with all the loops and tried different lengths of wire for the loops 1m, 3m and 5m (wire length not the diameter of loop) the results across the bands on hf were all similar whichever length of wire loop I used, the difference was that the longer the wire the better each loop performed at LF but the actual noise snr etc was pretty much identical as in the comparisons, as the video was already long I did not show the comparisons with the shorter lengths of wire as it did not show anything differant if it had it would of been included
You should do a comparison video of the youloop to the other loops it seems amazing especially with a sdrplay RSP-DX HDR mode. AA4CP Chuck Port Salerno FL USA
Totally agree. I use the same combo ( I made a detailed reply to your post but TH-cam bombed it out when I went to make an edit, ho hum..). Suffice to say I have an amazing DX that I hope will be acknowledged via eQSL.
@@cto511987 You are probably right. From the makers point of view, I can see... 1. turn up the gain, 2. print a plus sign on the packaging, 3. Sell everybody including non-plus owners a "new and improved version. Brilliant marketing! Anyway you slice it, these are both good antennas. Here is one user who tested both, side by side, here on TH-cam. Take care th-cam.com/video/s0_jrEpdgGI/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=OfficialSWLchannel
Do I understand correctly that the Bonito amplifier was connected to a 5 Meter loop, whereas the Wellbrook was using their smaller 1 Meter Aluminum loop? That alone could account for a significant improvement in performance. Thanks for the comparison.
Hi Jacob in the comparison a 5m wire loop was used that is the length of the wire so approx 1.6m in diameter I have tried all them with different size loops 1m, 3m and 5m (length of wire) and the results were pretty much the same the only difference was the larger loop gave better performance on all at LF but the actual receive characteristics did not change across the hf bands
Thanks , Bonito it is when I can afford to upgrade the MLA-30, for now very happy with it's performance.
Excellent comparison of the loop antennas. I'm impressed with the Bonito loop. Thank you for posting. 👍
I've had my MLA-30 and CCW for several months now and my findings are the same as yours. I have found that the CCW outperforms the MLA-30 below 6 MHz but above that the MLA-30 is clearly better.
Thank you for sharing your results. Keep on listening 🎶👌
Interesting comparison. The CCW Loop Antenna Amplifier is designed to have a very low input impedance to match small (1m diameter) thick loops. We tried it with a 5m loop but it was a poor impedance match and it only outperformed a 1m loop below 20 kHz. If you can re-run the comparison but with say a 1m loop made from coax cable you will see a different set of results.
thank you Chris I will be experimenting more with the loop I have tried them with 1m 3m and 5m wire loops and all comparison stayed pretty much the same I will try them with a 1m coax loop as suggested, it is strange though if it is designed for use with a 1m diameter loop that mine was supplied with a 3m diameter loop, has this now changed and being shipped with a smaller loop
@@UKAFG There may be some confusion here. We supply a 3m length of wire with the amplifier. This will make a loop with a diameter of 0.95m. When you say you are using 1, 3 and 5m wire loops is this the length of the wire or the loop diameter?
@@crosscountrywireless it is the length of the wire not loop diameter
Thanks for the comparison, it's just what I was looking for.
Very interesting. Disappointed to see how relatively poorly the CCW has done here. Recently ordered the CCW. Perhaps I'll pick up the MLA-30 as well as they're pretty cheap and see how they both compare in my environment. CCW have a good track record. I've heard some terrible reports on the MLA-30 so I'm sure there are a lot of factors coming into play. I'll probably get one. All in the name of research of course ;-)
so did you make the mla loop bigger and what did you use for the loop?? or did you leave it as stock? - good results though - i plan on doing the coax mod my self when the BNC fitting arrives next week 👍👍
Very good video comparison! I am just wondering if the same power supply voltage for magnetic loops affected results? Best regards!
There were some comments I"ve seen where the Bias T from the SDRplay (4.7v) is not nearly what the MLA30 needs to supply it which is between (5v-12v). Folks had issues not using the provided Bias T from MLA30 assuming the Bias T supplied from the SDRplay RSPdx would suffice.
@@cto511987 Wow, that was helpful!
So do we need to turn off the inbuilt Bias T in the SDRPlay?
@@antalperge1007 Just relaying information from other accounts but my own experience has been mixed. I don't know why but there have been times one or the other is better for signal strength.
Mystery.
Very good comparison. I notice that Welbrook claim that the 1530LN is suitable for airband - but assuming that this is not the case given your review. Can you confirm this for me please as I am about to purchase a loop. Thanks Ian
I'd be interested to see how the MLA30 would work with 1m coax loop and not the thin standard wire.
already removed the poor coax on mine added a BNC and have some copper wire , must give that a go some time.
@@LeeDonaghy He is talking about replacing the loop with a coax. You connect the outer shields together to form an electrostatic shield which eliminates E-Field noise - only the B-Field is received. I am awaiting a my MLA-30 which is on a slow boat from China right now. I would think that a metal box would be better than the stock plastic box as well. I anticipate tearing mine up after I play with it a bit. The prices of these other loops is insane.
Would have liked to have seen a comparison with a Wellbrook ALA-100 as thats meant for wire rather than the 1530LN is a fixed loop that way you could have tried the same length, the CCW is meant to have 3m wire too so a better comparison would have been 3m with all. Just a thought.
Hi Les I have had some time with all the loops and tried different lengths of wire for the loops 1m, 3m and 5m (wire length not the diameter of loop) the results across the bands on hf were all similar whichever length of wire loop I used, the difference was that the longer the wire the better each loop performed at LF but the actual noise snr etc was pretty much identical as in the comparisons, as the video was already long I did not show the comparisons with the shorter lengths of wire as it did not show anything differant if it had it would of been included
Try making a loop from cheap rg6 coax,use the same length as the supplied wire.just use the outside of the coax.you will see the difference then.
You should do a comparison video of the youloop to the other loops it seems amazing especially with a sdrplay RSP-DX HDR mode.
AA4CP Chuck
Port Salerno FL USA
I have seen a video with that comparison you can find here on youtube and the youloop did not do nearly as well as the MLA30
Totally agree. I use the same combo ( I made a detailed reply to your post but TH-cam bombed it out when I went to make an edit, ho hum..). Suffice to say I have an amazing DX that I hope will be acknowledged via eQSL.
Great vid on the comparison! Thank you!
NOW YOU NEED TO DO THE SAME COMPARISON ALL OVER AGAIN... using the upgraded MLA-30 Plus! I bet your results will be different.
Heard it was the same as the regular MLA30 except with the gain turned up in it's internal potentiometer. Turned counterclockwise to get higher gain.
@@cto511987 You are probably right. From the makers point of view, I can see...
1. turn up the gain,
2. print a plus sign on the packaging,
3. Sell everybody including non-plus owners a "new and improved version.
Brilliant marketing! Anyway you slice it, these are both good antennas.
Here is one user who tested both, side by side, here on TH-cam. Take care
th-cam.com/video/s0_jrEpdgGI/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=OfficialSWLchannel
Helpful video, thanks for uploading 👍
Thanks for doing this comparison.
Do I understand correctly that the Bonito amplifier was connected to a 5 Meter loop, whereas the Wellbrook was using their smaller 1 Meter Aluminum loop? That alone could account for a significant improvement in performance.
Thanks for the comparison.
Hi Jacob in the comparison a 5m wire loop was used that is the length of the wire so approx 1.6m in diameter I have tried all them with different size loops 1m, 3m and 5m (length of wire) and the results were pretty much the same the only difference was the larger loop gave better performance on all at LF but the actual receive characteristics did not change across the hf bands
Thanks!