$35 Airspy YouLoop Passive Antenna Review : tested on HF using Airspy HF+ Discovery SDR 

Yes, you get a low noise floor, which is why you really need a sensitive receiver. But the agenda certainly exceeded my expectations!

I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun when it arrives :-)

Congratulations on your purchase. I'm glad the review was helpful to you, and hope you have many happy hours with your YouLoop!

No problem. Glad to have you getting back into the hobby. The MLA30+ loops have also become white popular and are receiving great reviews as well.

Thanks for your review @Fineout Rick. It is great to hear about your other people are using the YouLoop, and on what hardware. It gives SWLs more options, especially in noisy RF environments. Hopefully you've also experimented with rotating it. It has deep nulls at 90 degrees. These can help reduce local RF noise sources even more, and enable reception of weaker signals.

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Thank you Larry.

Glad you like it man!

Excellent idea!

Cheers prog!

Many thanks for your comments Julio. That was pretty great AM reception!

Thanks for the comments. I'm sure you'll have many hours of enjoyment from your YouLoop combo!

Excellent. I've heard great reports of people making their own. Glad it has been an effective monitoring antenna with your RSP1A.

Excellent! Have fun 😃

Thanks MCruz. I'd be happy to add a VLF / LF video utilizing the YouLoop. I'll get something recorded and will post to the channel, so keep an eye out for new videos!

I don't really use any plugins for HF. If I'm decoding I normally pipe the audio through a Virtual cable, but most of my HF monitoring is for voice comms. So I just use the standard software. Mine is actually an older version of SDR#.

@@FrugalRadio Awesome, thanks for the helpful info!

Glad the review was helpful Karl. Remember to bear in mind the YouLoop needs a high dynamic range receiver. This is where the newer HF SDRs come in to their own. Not sure I would expect much with an old receiver. Good luck with your project!

That's a good idea with the SMA connectors. Thanks for sharing!

I agree that SDR Console has a very fluid display. It looks and sounds great. On my SDR#, I don't recall changing any of the settings, so I'm not sure why it looks smoother. I also run 4 or 5 versions of SDR#, and they all look a bit different and have different plugins installed. Perhaps it is down to one of those.

@@FrugalRadio It's strange. I'm picky about these things. Maybe others don't notice or it doesn't bother them. It actually starts looking better when the resolution of the spectrum/waterfall is lowered but it never reaches what I see in SDR Console. I recently bought a HF+ Discovery and have been using it with the Youloop. Had the Youloop a while and I was predictably disappointed with it as none of my portables had the dynamic range to take advantage. I wasn't expecting too much from it paired with the Discovery but it is a dynamite combination! The equal or better of my MLA-30. The combination has a much lower noise floor and I hear things I've not caught before. I watched your video on the Youloop.

It's good to know what you are looking for and to set things up accordingly. Yes, the YouLoop is great, and the low noise figures are why I chose not to get an MLA-30. My area would have just picked up a ton of interference. Happy monitoring!

Hi. I'm still yet to try it on airband, but I will be making a video about that, so keep an eye on future episodes. The RSP1A might not be sensitive enough to receive well with the Youloop, but I imagine it should receive some signals. The RSPDx would work better with it, as it has greater sensitivity.

Yes, I'll add it to my list of videos to make!

Yes, it can pull in VHF signals, and although I still use mine, I haven't got round to trying it on the VHF band yet!

@@FrugalRadio Nice! I might buy this one and try it, thank you for the info! ❤️

I haven't tried it with the Airspy mini. I expect if you are using a Spyverter you'll be able to receive some of the stronger HF signals, just like the RTL-SDR, but probably a little cleaner. However to make best use of the antenna, a higher sensitivity low noise SDR is best.

G'day Wayne. Greetings down under. I had read somewhere that people had weatherproof their YouLoop antennas. I'm guessing sealing the boxes and connectors. A free have definitely make the cross support, so I imagine it would work quite well. Let us know how you get on if you decide to mount it outdoors!

Howdy@@FrugalRadio . Thanks for your speedy reply, so I'd love to buy and & make up a cross & seal it up and let you know but for 1 very small, very tiny little problem. So after last night watching your video i decided " Right without further ado I am going to purchase an Airspy Discovery Hf + right online now" or that's what I thought, that was my intention until I tried to put practice into theory that's where it all come undone. So 1st up I discovered that just like Facebook Airspy cannot be contacted in any way, instead hand balling you to its suppliers none of which supply into Aust. No matter how I come at it Airspy simply cannot be contacted even when you click on their " Contact us " link on their home page it to simply hand balls you off to world wide suppliers which in my professional opinion is pretty crap. I have Googled & Ebay'd the death out of it but there are no suppliers in or that supply into Aust. As the MD of a very large communications & telecommunications metwork engineering Co. Airspy need to folow our lead stop being facebook & hiding their contact details & become a bit more customer focused & make them selves a bit more reachable & contactable, they just might sell a bit more product. Are you aware of the new dual tuner Airspy Hf Discovery + ?. Maybe if ( A) you have some contact with Airspy you could ask them for one to review & (B) you could ask them who supplies into Aust of how someone ( a Communication & Telecommunications Co.) Can access one " Maybe we could sell them for them " assuming that they or their resellets have heard of this little island full of radio buffs called Australia. ) Rgs Wayne.

Wow, interesting that they are blocking people from getting in touch. I was unaware of that, never having tried to contact them. One option you might pursue is to join the Airspy groups.io group. The designer of the Airspy products is part of that, as he makes update announcements there etc. It probably isn't an official support channel or contact method, but I expect you would be able to use it to get through to the man in charge. groups.io/g/airspy

Thanks @@FrugalRadio for your feedback when I get home from work today i'll give it a shot & let you know how I fair. All I want to do is purchase their product, it shouldn't be this hard.

Agreed!

That would be a nice comparison to make, however I don't currently own either a Wellbrook or MLA30. The MLA I might purchase, but the Wellbrook would be beyond my frugal budget!

Wellbrook costs 300$

They are really designed to work with receivers with high sensitivity. I don't think the old FRGs would qualify. It isn't that you wouldn't receive anything, you just might not get the best from it without a preamp. If you have some old thicker coax lying around, you could also attempt making your own. That would give you an idea of how well a YouLoop would work with the Yaesu receivers.

@@FrugalRadio Many Thanks....How about with something like this (which has an external antenna input) www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=5687

I'd maybe ask over at swling blog about that receiver. That already might have a review of it, and I know some of those guys have tried the YouLoop on that type of device.

Hello Alessandro. Each SDR has its own antenna in that particular setup. Airspy HF+ Discovery was the only SDR connected to the YouLoop. In my current shack I use 1 antenna to feed multiple radios. You can see my video on that at ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1dccjqw0sJ4.html

@@FrugalRadio Thanks for the quick reply. I currently have a discone (25-1300 MHz) connected, but I cannot add another cable. Since I was interested in this YouLoop antenna and in something for below 25 MHz, I need to connect all of them to the same cable. I suppose I need a combiner.

Not a combiner, but maybe a remote antenna switch. I have never used one, and don't even know what products are available, but it sounds like that would be better suited to your application. Then you could have 2 antennas and switch between them, using just 1 existing cable. I'm not sure if a combiner would automatically select the best antenna for the frequency you are using, or how exactly it would work. You might end up with a lot of loss.

He he. Lots of odd sounds on shortwave!

Yes, that would have been great. Unfortunately I don't have another antenna I can compare with. I previously was using a random long wire, but no longer have it available. I can tell you that the long wire received nothing on the USB aviation frequencies I wanted to monitor. Just an incredibly high noise floor. I hadn't tried it on any of the Broadcast bands.

@@FrugalRadio Even if the antenna works well, I have the impression that you have a relatively quiet area. It doesn't sound as a city QTH.

It certainly isn't a city I live right now, but a village close to a town. The QRM I experience is mostly from within my house, and the neighbours. It is a terrace (row house). If you watch the L band Inmarsat patch antenna review you'll see a shot of the view from my house through a window.

Thanks for your report Zach.

Where r u living? I m Greek

This video was made in Ireland, but now I'm in Canada.

Yes, the YouLoop is only really designed to be used in combination with a very sensitive receiver.

@@FrugalRadio A low-noise amplifier is needed for my Lowe SRX30 receiver from the 1970s and also helps with RTL-SDR with or without upconverter. I found that the Hilego 0.1MHz-2GHz 20dB amp on e-bay is good, but needs a 9 or 10 volt supply for full gain, so not suitable for bias-tee operation. My home-brewed YouLoop also has a useful performance on FM and DAB, but the crossover and cable-entry connectors need to be in the vertical parts of the antenna for vertically-polarised signals like DAB.

Thanks for your comments @Blacksmock. Always great to hear how other people do their setups and the results they get.

Hello Mike. I believe the RSPdx would be sensitive enough to make good use of this antenna. Not sure about the RSP1A or Duo.

@@FrugalRadio for my understanding HDR mode in Sdr world is only important if you use frequencies below 2Mhz, so the antenna which you recommended should work with probably each Sdr or Sdr with good sensitivity

Yes, the right. High sensitivity is the most important factor, or low MDS it might be called. I was confusing that with High Dynamic Range. But the YouLoop definitely works well with such a receiver.

RSP 1a worked well with 6 db lower signals than discovery

It was part of the community plugins install on that version of SDR#

Great news about your YouLoop working so well. They are frugal little antennas that offer a lot of fun. As for the HackRF, I don't own one so my comments are based on what others have said, and not personal experience. It is a nice little device, especially with the portapack & firmware modifications. However it wasn't built for DX. I hear the RTL-SDR v3 would be considered a more sensitive receiver.

@@FrugalRadio HackRF starts from around 1mHz, it is popular in hacking community etc. Correct me if I am wron that Airsy HF+ Discovery have LNA build in?

You're right on both counts. The HackRF was designed for use in a lab, and had become very popular in the hacker community because of what it is capable of. As for the Airspy HF+ Discovery, yes, it has an LNA built in 🙂

@@FrugalRadio nice thanks for information, but which model of AirSpy should i get Discovery or this with dual antena ports?

Hi John. I ordered on April 17th, and received in mid to late May. I didn't make note of the actually arrival date I'm afraid, but was 4 - 6 weeks getting to the UK. Hope yours finally arrived.

That video was filmed in Ireland. Elevation was about 200ft AMSL, but with a mountain sitting right in front of me, and In a row house. Not the greatest location! The SDRPlay RSPdx should be just as good as the HF+ Discovery. Try rotating the antenna to ensure the signals you are searching for are not in the null zone, if you haven't already. Also check that your gain is up and preamp is on.

If you are interested in building your own version to experiment with loop sizes, there is some helpful information at www.g8jnj.net/moebius-loop-antenna I'm not able to run any experiments with such things right now. Thanks for your report on the K-180WLA.

@@FrugalRadio Thanks for the link. I'll use the phase shift and isolation transformer boxes that come with the YouLoop if I want to experiment with increasing the loop size, which I'll only do if its performance at my noisy location is poor. I've read that larger loop sizes, at least in magnetic loops, improves gain at lower frequencies so I thought maybe also on a mobius loop. I'm also planning to try adding a Flamingo FM filter between the iso xformer and coax, and perhaps a LaNA HF LNA below that to improve the SNR and linearity a bit. Experimentation is part of the fun where SDRs are concerned and I've nothing to lose by trying different things and seeing what happens. :)

You're absolutely correct. Enjoy the experimentation and let us know what works!

Hi James. Yes, it is primarily designed as a shortwave (HF) antenna. Your RSPdx is sensitive enough to make use of this antenna. If budget and space are limited, it is a good option, and for an small indoor antenna, it performs well. I found very little noise in the signal which is great. Another antenna you might wish to consider is the MLA-30. It is active, and more susceptible to noise though. However some city apartment users have experienced good reception with it. In this price range, those are the 2 primary HF indoor antennas to consider.

@@FrugalRadio Awesome,Thank you. does it come with a cable from the antenna to the SDR? Or Will I need to get one? how long is it? Sorry for bugging.

@@jamesjbarrek6086 no worries about your question which I forgot to answer! Yes, it comes with coax that connects to your SDR, but only 1 out 2 metres.

@@FrugalRadio Cool thank you,seems to be long enough :)

Yes, and I received lots of MW stations. Obviously the number of stations varied by propagation and time of day.

Have a look at swling.com/blog/tag/airspy-youloop/ where you may find some folk using it with Tecsun hardware.

Yes. The server was upstairs in the loft, connected to my AirSpy HF+ Discovery and the YouLoop, but the software was running on a desktop PC downstairs. You gotta love what you can do with SDR!

10-4 good buddy!

"We have clearance, Clarence" "Roger, Roger. What's our vector Victor?"

No, the YouLoop is a receive only antenna.

This was filmed in a row house (terrace) with lots of electrically generated local noise, and a TV, FM and DAB transmitter 2 miles away. So much interference that a basic long wire only picked up noise. Couldn't even receive a broadcast station with the long wire. The noise floor was S7 from LF to 15 MHz! Location was a village, not city.

It would depend on the frequency you are using it on. The YouLoop covers some VHF frequencies, so it might work ok with the RTL-SDR v3 dongle in that part of the spectrum. For HF you would need a more sensitive receiver like the Airspy HF+ Discovery, or perhaps one of the SDRPlay models. Or you could possibly add a pre-amp between the antenna and the RTL-SDR v3.

@@FrugalRadio would you please try with the RTL-SDR v3 dongle with the no mod direct sampling? That is from dc to 28mhz and I'd really love to know how it performs if you could give that a try. Thanks!

@@FabioSpelta I can give that a try sometime in the next few weeks. I currently have a few more videos currently in production to complete first. However i wouldn't expect much as I don't think the RTL-SDR v3 would have a high enough dynamic range.

@@FrugalRadio Thank you very much mate!!

The loop should preform well on a sdrplay rtl-dx

What is it you don't like about it? For me it continues to enable HF reception when the long wire would not pull in anything except a load of electrical noise! It is even performing on VHF as well!

@@FrugalRadio I compare with MLA 30 and the performance is better. yes the MLA 30 is noisy buy the signals tha can skyp the noise go over 4 DB up I compare it with the Long wire than in my region has a decent noise level an 40% of the station received with the wire they do nor were wit this pasive loop

@@levynatan thanks for the extra feedback. It is valuable for everyone to read. Each person's situation will be different. The AirSpy YouLoop would not be expected to pick up as well as a well positioned long wire, as the long wire is a significantly larger outdoor antenna. Good to know your MLA30 performs well, despite the added noise. Thanks for your contribution to the comments!

Yes, if you have some coax you can make one. Good need a few other components as well. Look up Mobius loop designs on the web and you'll get some plans.

@@FrugalRadio Thanks

Yes it did! Still working great.

Great!!!

No, it is a receive only antenna.