Thanks for the tips, just received my MLA-30+ and have jury-rigged it for testing. Although I had low expectations, it has made a huge improvement in reducing interference. I was previously able to receive only the strongest stations at home (Radio Marti, WRMI, WWCR) due to interference, whether using the whip or a random-wire antenna with my Tecsun R-9700DX. After setting up the loop, both Radio Espana and Radio Romania are coming in well, comparable to being at my local park. I’ll try and do some fine tuning with placement and aiming but it is working very well. I’ve noticed extra adapters being used for the coax cable. I purchased a SMA Bulkhead Female to 3.5mm Male ($8) and it works fine for connection to the Tecsun.
Gilles: LOVE THE CHANNEL! I modified my MLA 30 plus (just yesterday). Yes, curiosity got the best of me... Went to the hardware store and bought a section of 1-inch, by 1/16th-inch, by 8-foot aluminum strap ($11.00). Very flexible and won't bend badly if you're careful (if you're not, easily bent back!). I replaced the stainless steel wire with an equal (in diameter) loop of this aluminum strap. I believe that it made quite a difference in signal strength both on SW and MW. It certainly made it much more durable. All of the AM stations are pegged, and WWV is now really loud and pegged on the s-meter as well. Took me about 15 minutes to do this...Just a suggestion to mess with if you like. In order to secure it at the top of the PVC, I bought a 1-inch PVC "T", and ran the strap through the "T" to hold it securely. As in your QTH of Montreal, which I love...(grew up South of there in Upstate, NY), there is lots of noise in and around the Houston, Texas Area and this antenna is a wonder to be sure...The antenna is also cheap enough (cheap and totally functional, WOW) to experiment with, doing these little mods if one desires. I do enjoy the channel! Thanks, and I'll be watching the love stream tonight. I'm about to pull the trigger on a Texsun H-501! I have a Sangean ATS-909x2 on the bedside table. George, K5JIN
Having had mine a while and comparing to another more expensive amplified magloop connected to the RSPdx and sometimes portables, I find it's masthead amp gets easily overloaded from strong SW signals from up and down the band, lower snr in general, not good at all on the lower bands ie 160m and lower but it is very good for the price point and certainly beats long wires.
Here is what I found: I put up a long wire. Noisy. I bought a youloop which turned out to be a great antenna. I bought an MLA 30, and that was also a great antenna. Then one day, I realized that I had all three antennas still up. Installed an antenna switch. That's when I realize that one of the three antennas will be better with any given signal. Sometimes that noisy long wire antenna is much better than both the mla 30 and the youloop. Sometimes one of the others will be better. No antenna is a catch-all for all signals.
can someone please answer this. I have two terminals to put wires into on the back of my am radio, one marked antenna and one marked ground. The wire that goes from the MLA 30 to the radio - what do I need to go from the wire from the MLA 30 to connect it to my radio? Also, suppose the 20 meters of wire they give you that runs between the two boxes isn't long enough. is there a made up cable with the proper connectors on it for that purpose generally available? What would it be called? Thanks
Hi Gilles, thanks for sharing, I just bought one from AliExpress, it doesn't come with SMA to 3.5mm jack cable, so I went to my local jaycar bought a couple adapters, so total 3 adapters that connects together to the portable external antenna jack, will this reduce the effectiveness of the antenna?
Is that black stick you have it mounted too one of those aluminum broomsticks? Will it be fine for me to use a metal stick like that too? How is the noise rejection by the way? I got the cheap Degen 31ms and it doesn’t have much nulling,
@@OfficialSWLchannel Ah ok. The only broom handles I can find are metal so I'll go get the PVC pipe and just punch a hole in the top to hold the loop still.
I agree with everything you said….It just works very well… and indoors you’ll never go back to the telescopic whip. I use a typical 5v iPhone charger as the power supply.
Question from someone who doesn't know, ... when pointing the antenna do you run parallel to the wire loop or perpendicular? For the money I am thinking of mounting it in my attic and running it perpendicular to my outdoor end feed which runs east/west. Thanks.
Very good video! Thanks! I agree to 100% with your comments. I have a PA0RDT mini whip on a 4.4 m pole in my backyard (as my main antenna) and it is better than the MLA30, but the MLA30 truly is my best indoors antenna. I like the Youloop, but the MLA30 is better. Your comment about signal to noise ratio is spot on!
I have my mla30 for 2 years also. Been outside all this time in the Chicago weather work great. I just bought the mla30+. I'm going to how. Well it works. 73 Russ
I have tried several ways to change the loop. I tried same size loop but using copper. Enlarging the loop with copper and steel wire. Even connecting a long wire to the connectors. Nothing improved signal strength, only noise. I stopped playing around with it because nothing I did improved the signal only increased the noise. So I mounted it on my house up high and turn it as I need to to null noise sources. I say trust the science and the design.
What is the name of the seller on Ebay or Amazon you purchased it from? Also, is the one you are showing in this video the original MLA-30 or is it the MLA-30+ antenna?
At least with the MLA-30+, it appears that using the bias T power box that comes with the unit is superior to powering from an SDRplay directly. The former apparently provides 12 volts to the antenna -- which is what the amp is apparently designed for -- rather than only 5 volts from the latter -- and there does not seem to be significant additional noise added by the MLA-30+ bias T box.
Watch the vid starting at 3:35, Gilles tells all about different ways to supply power to the antenna specified at 5-12 V DC. Buy one, for $35-$40 bucks you won't regret it.
Thanks for the tips, just received my MLA-30+ and have jury-rigged it for testing. Although I had low expectations, it has made a huge improvement in reducing interference. I was previously able to receive only the strongest stations at home (Radio Marti, WRMI, WWCR) due to interference, whether using the whip or a random-wire antenna with my Tecsun R-9700DX. After setting up the loop, both Radio Espana and Radio Romania are coming in well, comparable to being at my local park. I’ll try and do some fine tuning with placement and aiming but it is working very well.
I’ve noticed extra adapters being used for the coax cable. I purchased a SMA Bulkhead Female to 3.5mm Male ($8) and it works fine for connection to the Tecsun.
Gilles: LOVE THE CHANNEL! I modified my MLA 30 plus (just yesterday). Yes, curiosity got the best of me... Went to the hardware store and bought a section of 1-inch, by 1/16th-inch, by 8-foot aluminum strap ($11.00). Very flexible and won't bend badly if you're careful (if you're not, easily bent back!). I replaced the stainless steel wire with an equal (in diameter) loop of this aluminum strap. I believe that it made quite a difference in signal strength both on SW and MW. It certainly made it much more durable. All of the AM stations are pegged, and WWV is now really loud and pegged on the s-meter as well. Took me about 15 minutes to do this...Just a suggestion to mess with if you like. In order to secure it at the top of the PVC, I bought a 1-inch PVC "T", and ran the strap through the "T" to hold it securely. As in your QTH of Montreal, which I love...(grew up South of there in Upstate, NY), there is lots of noise in and around the Houston, Texas Area and this antenna is a wonder to be sure...The antenna is also cheap enough (cheap and totally functional, WOW) to experiment with, doing these little mods if one desires. I do enjoy the channel! Thanks, and I'll be watching the love stream tonight. I'm about to pull the trigger on a Texsun H-501! I have a Sangean ATS-909x2 on the bedside table. George, K5JIN
Instead of the steel loop, can I use a bare copper wire instead?
Just purchased this Antenna for $27cdn.
that's 3 purchases made based on your videos.
Having had mine a while and comparing to another more expensive amplified magloop connected to the RSPdx and sometimes portables, I find it's masthead amp gets easily overloaded from strong SW signals from up and down the band, lower snr in general, not good at all on the lower bands ie 160m and lower but it is very good for the price point and certainly beats long wires.
Here is what I found: I put up a long wire. Noisy. I bought a youloop which turned out to be a great antenna. I bought an MLA 30, and that was also a great antenna.
Then one day, I realized that I had all three antennas still up. Installed an antenna switch. That's when I realize that one of the three antennas will be better with any given signal. Sometimes that noisy long wire antenna is much better than both the mla 30 and the youloop. Sometimes one of the others will be better.
No antenna is a catch-all for all signals.
DIVERSITY....that's the key. You have learned well. Now enjoy the hobby and keep experimenting with antennas as needed.
Greetings from Perth, Australia and thank you for videos.
May I ask please your recommendation for usb power supplies?
Warm regards
It's a Miracle!
can someone please answer this. I have two terminals to put wires into on the back of my am radio, one marked antenna and one marked ground. The wire that goes from the MLA 30 to the radio - what do I need to go from the wire from the MLA 30 to connect it to my radio?
Also, suppose the 20 meters of wire they give you that runs between the two boxes isn't long enough. is there a made up cable with the proper connectors on it for that purpose generally available? What would it be called?
Thanks
Hi Gilles, thanks for sharing, I just bought one from AliExpress, it doesn't come with SMA to 3.5mm jack cable, so I went to my local jaycar bought a couple adapters, so total 3 adapters that connects together to the portable external antenna jack, will this reduce the effectiveness of the antenna?
I am not clear about how to power the MLA 30 loop antenna?
Can someone please explain about the 5 volt Power supply?
Is that black stick you have it mounted too one of those aluminum broomsticks? Will it be fine for me to use a metal stick like that too? How is the noise rejection by the way? I got the cheap Degen 31ms and it doesn’t have much nulling,
it is plastic. A metal stick will change the antenna properties, PVC pipe, Plastic or wooden broomstick would be better
@@OfficialSWLchannel Ah ok. The only broom handles I can find are metal so I'll go get the PVC pipe and just punch a hole in the top to hold the loop still.
I agree with everything you said….It just works very well… and indoors you’ll never go back to the telescopic whip. I use a typical 5v iPhone charger as the power supply.
Question from someone who doesn't know, ... when pointing the antenna do you run parallel to the wire loop or perpendicular? For the money I am thinking of mounting it in my attic and running it perpendicular to my outdoor end feed which runs east/west. Thanks.
Parallel. It is very directional. Experiment with spinning the antenna as you listen on AM or hams.
Very good video! Thanks! I agree to 100% with your comments. I have a PA0RDT mini whip on a 4.4 m pole in my backyard (as my main antenna) and it is better than the MLA30, but the MLA30 truly is my best indoors antenna. I like the Youloop, but the MLA30 is better. Your comment about signal to noise ratio is spot on!
I have my mla30 for 2 years also. Been outside all this time in the Chicago weather work great. I just bought the mla30+. I'm going to how. Well it works.
73 Russ
What would happen if I increased the size of the loop on top? I have plenty of room.. like hundreds of feet no neighbors
I have tried several ways to change the loop. I tried same size loop but using copper. Enlarging the loop with copper and steel wire. Even connecting a long wire to the connectors.
Nothing improved signal strength, only noise. I stopped playing around with it because nothing I did improved the signal only increased the noise.
So I mounted it on my house up high and turn it as I need to to null noise sources. I say trust the science and the design.
Thanks for the help
I have a RSPdx and a MLA-30+. Do you need to use the bias tee module that comes with the antenna?
What is the name of the seller on Ebay or Amazon you purchased it from? Also, is the one you are showing in this video the original MLA-30 or is it the MLA-30+ antenna?
Can I use this for short wave also? This is nice 👍
How can I tell if I'm in a low noise environment or a high noise environment?
At least with the MLA-30+, it appears that using the bias T power box that comes with the unit is superior to powering from an SDRplay directly. The former apparently provides 12 volts to the antenna -- which is what the amp is apparently designed for -- rather than only 5 volts from the latter -- and there does not seem to be significant additional noise added by the MLA-30+ bias T box.
Thanks for this vidéo 👍 👍 Best 73 from Normandy France 🇫🇷 Jacky 14FRS119
How do you get power to your MLA 30?
I connect mine to an SDRPlay RSPdx Antenna B and use the BIAS T from the software. It'll work with SDRUno or SDR Console.
Watch the vid starting at 3:35, Gilles tells all about different ways to supply power to the antenna specified at 5-12 V DC. Buy one, for $35-$40 bucks you won't regret it.
It's fed via the coax with a small USB power injector.
the antenna cable is also the cable that powers the Antenna with a Bias T box, I use an old Apple Phone cube charger