I really love mine, I listen to a lot of hams and many times the sound completely disappears if I unplug it... I’m crippled and still using mine inside, I expect a good different when I can move mine outside! I can’t do things like long wire...
I have just subscribed to your channel and I am enjoying your content. I would encourage you to investigate the word of SDR. It is quite vast and sophisticated. I think that you would be surprised with the flexability and level of quality with some of these SDR units. Keep the great videos coming! Looking forward to enjoying future content.
I must be really lucky lol, I’ve been very satisfied with mine …maybe you rushed to judgment, I don’t know but I could not disagree more. That said I do enjoy your channel and will continue to watch
I have been using an MLA-30 for the past two years primarily indoors connected to an SDRPlay plus various portable radios. I have noticed a marked improvement with bringing in shortwave signals and reducing the noise level from my location in northeast Ohio. There is a little improvement on AM as well. I plan on testing it outdoors using a battery pack fairly soon to see if there is a difference.
I have a MLA-30 loop antenna, & have been using it on & off for 1 & 1/2 years & it still works despite having been left outside, the whole time, in the heat & snow.
With all respect, and I mean it because I watch your videos a good bit, your anecdotal single day assessment doesn’t tell the whole story. At the time of filming I understand that you weren’t super familiar with the MLA-30, but it actually happens to be a disruptive player in the loop antenna market. It’s $35 and provides roughly 90% of the benefit of something like a Wellbrook or W6LVP, which are roughly $400 antennas. Radio people are buying MLA-30s by the crate load. I personally own 2. They’re great. I’d give your dusty old MLA-30 a second look.
I saw large improvement in this device in your video especially considering the time of time you were doing your test, I think you were pretty negative on this device before you test. Try again when reception is better.
TBH i have been using MLA 30+ for 3 to 4 months now but i didn't really find any major difference between MLA 30+ Vs cheap Long Wire Antenna :( sometimes my LWA performs better than MLA 30+ .
The noisy signals are likely caused by internal switching circuit of the bias-T box to get the 5 volts up to 12 volts to power the amplifier. I used a Wellbrook bias-T and 12 volt battery combo with the MLA-30 which does cut down the noise level.
I Have both the MLA 30 and MLA 30+ and live south central Ohio for me they do a great job, on both Sdrplay ,Tecsun 501x, and Grundig 750. What I like small foot print they require. Great on sideband
Is there really any noticable difference between an MLA 30 and an MLA 30+? I keep seeing them on sale everywhere and the + seriously seems to add about another 50 bucks (in Aussie dollars over the regular MLA 30)
I think you want to run the test at night, with weak/bounced signals, certainly not Brother Stare from Maine/Nashville/Florida. The 1570 test was more on that track, although it's still a daytime ground wave. The 15mHz WWV test too, although in the daytime those upper freeqs are going to be there with any antenna. But hey I'll buy yours if it's not working out....
I have 2 and they work great on my ftdx 3000 on niose +signal I also have two long wires the mark 30 is better I have use it for a year I'm a swl for over 30years
Please stay on-topic. According to the title, This is a technical video, not an opinion-editorial. So tell us how the MLA-30, a magnetic Loop Antenna with 30-inch loop, works, and give a brief demonstration. When you figure that out, make a new video in your lab or garage.
I had this antenna out of my balcony on the last 6th floor in central Europe, Poland and there was no difference in the signal reception of my Tecsun pl-990x. So it's again in my wardrobe...
Really depends where you live and how polluted your area is with signals. For me it made a massive difference over shortwave. If I drive way out it makes no difference over a simple long whip antenna.
Just got my first SW radio and put this antennae up, not getting much, wondering if I did something wrong, i did have to piece together the wire going up to the antennae with SMA barrel connectors because i needed more wire, is this a NO-NO, or should it still get some signals, maybe i did something else.
This review is bunk, "Im kinda biased to this thing already". You sir seem like the type of person that gives new HAMs grief instead of helping them learn. Toxic, im glad to have given this junk a thumbs down.
There is no better wide-band receive antenna for the price (especially if you are in a noisy environment) than the MLA-30. SMPS noise is easily remedied with a receiver that produces no such noise and has it's own internal bias-t (RSP1-A for example, has no switching QRM from bias-t), or use a battery, or linear PSU...
I can never really decide if it’s the antenna improving the signal or just the additional gain from the wire. I never have a lot of success on 40 meters in Mercer County. I’m using a 718 and a R75 on a 100’ random about 25’ in the air.
Hi Tom. Nice objective technical review. Maybe compare the results with this antenna to a long wire, which would be easy to set up also there in the park.
I think it depends where you live and available space you have with stuff like this. The MLA 30 and the passive YouLoop are handy if you live in a town centre with a small space, they’re cheap and get you going. Neither are absolutely ideal but they do improve things for me at a fairly low cost 👍🏼
Agreed. Just got the MLA30+ yesterday and I've finally been able to receive over 100 stations compared to 3 or 4 on the long antenna that came with the PL880. Live right next to a FM and TV transmitter which have been generating a lot of noise for some reason, to the point I could hear FM stations on the higher SW frequencies
Thank you for this review! Most helpful. Unfortunately, I ended up seeing it after I had already ordered the MLA-30. :) It will take a few days to get here. In the meantime, what is the connector/ adapter I should be buying to plug it into a XHData D808 that has an external antenna input?
Well hello Mr. Radio dog.as always I enjoy your reviews. In my apartment I use the ecomm 2 ant. I love it and it works very well. Thanks. Best regards. Ron Z. Pgh Pa.
I made an AM loop with a 16 inch pizza box and it blows the AN-200 away. I made a demo video using it with the Tecsun PL-660. I just ordered a solar panel that came in a box over four ft across and ordered another tuning capacitor. The 16 inch loop actually improves reception with the CCrane EP PRO and Sangean PR-D4W which was surprising, so I expect my next loop will be ridiculously powerful. This active loop would be fun to modify and experiment with.
In theory, a receive only radio does not need a ground at all: if the entire system is enclosed in an impermeable shield, with appropriate filtering at power, antenna, and received-signal-out ports, then grounding has no effect whatsoever. YMMV
Great video. I had a question for you regarding what setting I should be using on my Grundig Sat 800 when using an exterior MLA 30+ Loop antenna. There is 2 setting on my radio. One setting is for 50 ohm and the other is for 500 ohm. At this point, the 50 ohm seems to be giving me a much better reception with very little noise while the 500 ohm setting gives me a much better signal yet more noise. What's the rule of thumb for SW enthusiasts like yourself when choosing a setting for a MLA 30 antenna? Our perhaps, is it just preference?
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.
I purchased the antenna a few days ago and I hope it will be delivered in the next 10 days. I will use it with my ATS25-X1-Receiver (or with my RTL-SDR-Stick on my PC) and I'm pretty sure that it will work much better than with all the wire-antennas, which I have tried in the last two years.
Hi Radio Dog, Thank you for your honest opinion about the MLA-30. I too found no benefit to this antenna either on SW or AM with my former radios; PR-D5, PR-D4, PL-330, PL-600. It was a noise source. However as of 11/25/22, I now have an Eton Elite 750 and with the MLA-30+ and LDG 1:1 Unun. This is now an excellent AM dx radio... I suspect the 1:1 Unun is what's making the difference. I live in a big city and operate with indoor antennas from within my apartment. Your radio brother. 73, Ward
What you are saying is its not worth the effort.To my mind it's not an antenna it just makes everything louder.You could get the same result by turning up the volume.I won't be buying one any time soon.Nice review.🐻🤗👍
This hack job loop antenna did not work for me. Way too much noise and poor signal to noise ratio. The preamp is an RFI spewer and the loop appears to be made from something that resembles chicken wire. I tried a Youloop with a preamp and it works superbly on LF, MF, HF and VHF. The noise floor is much quieter and really pulls in signals better than any other loop antenna in the lower price range.
I agree these MLA-30 antennas suck. I've tried the original and plus. The plus version has better performance on the upper SW bands but below 9Mhz they're practically identical, as well as very noisy. Sure, I could modify it with better coax and bias-t, that may give it "some" improvement. But like you I don't want to be bothered with it, my time is more valuable. The Youloop is a much better and cheaper compromise antenna especially with high gain SDR's, and being passive no bias-t power needed.
