The Icom AL-705 Antenna is made for ICOM by Alpha Antennas in the USA. We take a look at the design and test it out. Our Web product Link hamradiostore.co.uk/icom-icm-... Our Web Site hamradiostore.co.uk
This was very informative! I've always loved listening to shortwave and ham in general but yet to get my license, though I would like to get one soon. This pairing of radio and antenna would be perfect for me, and as you said, the thrill of making even one QSO with a low power radio indoors is much more satisfying than doing so with a huge antenna and lots of power for me anyways. Back in the early 2000's I had a small handheld radio on LSB in the CB band and would try for hours just to make a few contacts with that small setup...it gave me every bit as much joy as making long distance contacts around the world on my bigger radio and antenna. Whenever I can save up enough money I want to get this setup you have, get my license and work some QRP. :)
Thank you for this review and the very clear information about the magnetic loop antennas. This made me decide to buy this antenna as it serves my circumstances really well, meaning limited space, operating QRP indoors, hiking and camping, and so on and so forth.
The mag loop is just the thing for me. It fits perfectly into my concept of a fast, light, compact and efficient kit, that can be deployed almost anywhere, with stealth.
i know Im randomly asking but does someone know a method to log back into an Instagram account?? I somehow forgot the login password. I would love any assistance you can offer me
@Kash Finley Thanks so much for your reply. I got to the site through google and im in the hacking process atm. I see it takes quite some time so I will get back to you later with my results.
Very interesting. What a great idea for an emergency antenna. I live on the gulf coast and you never know when a tropical storm, or hurricane is going to wipe away all your external antennas.
I enjoyed your video (one of many) and i have tried a mag loop, an mfj-1899t portable hf antenna and an mfj QRP loop tuner. All indoors and i get the same results. Zero contacts. I am in a seniors apartment complex on the ground floor. There must be a lot of metal in the concrete. Two elements which would block a signal. Once the weather warms up, i will be outside trying something new. The new lease says, "no antennas" and i have to stay within the confines of my balcony. Thank you for the encouraging words, enjoy your day. 73 Lewis VE3QJ
Hi Lewis. Good ro hear from you. I hope you can come up with a plan. Might be worth trying 10m operation from the balcony. That band will begin to come to life and even low power and simple antennas can work. Take care. 73 Peter.
Magnetic antennas are an interesting and good solution. I have been using them for several years. You have to remember about their direction. An interesting solution for testing can be the antenna tuner MFJ-936B
It's clearly a good product and thanks for an interesting & informative video. I'm tempted with my 703. One improvement perhaps would be a remote actuator and perhaps provide a rig interface with a firmware update to control it. I'm sure the 705 has more than enough spare processor cycles to control mag loop tuning. Yes QRP is the best fun! 73
Great video. I have a 25 year old 2 watt Qrp radio I built and with that and a 40 meter vertical I worked 15 stations last night with the CQ DX Worldwide CW contest. It was fun. 2 watts was a challenge ! But thrilling. It’s amazing how many QRO stations can hear you when they need contest points 😉 de KB2QQM
Excellent presentation. I don't quite have my General yet, however this is the basic setup I was considering. Perhaps with a larger loop. I live in one of the "HAM restrictive" environments you spoke of. Indoors you were operating 10 watts, correct? Great video, thanks.
Excellent informative video Peter... nice comment that they are efficient. Contrary to many reports.. thats what you get when most use the same algorithm to work out efficiency... 😏
Informative video however I am curious about the connection to the primary (small) loop. It appears to be a standard SO-239 type tee connector. Most of the designs that I have seen for the primary loop have the feedline from the radio connecting to one side of the primary loop and the opposite end of the primary loop is connected to the shield of this same feedline. With a tee connector this would not happen. Perhaps this is not a standard tee connector?
I have two IC-705’s waiting for me in Texas. I have some pre-ordered in Thailand waiting for them to be approved by the NBTC here. Hopefully approval by Christmas. I also have the Icom backpack for the 705. I’ll mount a 3/4” PVC pipe to the side of the backpack and mount my Alexloop to that. Then I’ll just reach up and tune loop for max volume and walk around operating.surprised no one has made a video of that yet. W5MMT / HS0ZAC
May i ask you that where we buy loop antenna with diametre 60cm as you shown us because icom AL-705 is diameter 67.5cm bit different isn't it May ihave your answer Please ?
With most magnetic loop antennas, you WANT the coupling loop to hug up against the main (outer) loop. The Outer loop is just too small given the size of the coupling loop. The coupling loop should be 20% the size of the outer loop. So in this case, the outer loop should be at least twice the size that you show. I make my own and own a few commercial magnetic loops and NONE are the dimensions of the loop in your video. The Couplin Loop needs to be 1/5 the size of the Outer Loop. 73 de N2LRB
Great video. How much power can you put through a magnetic loop? I use my 7300 for portable work in an RV and it would be nice to find a loop that could handle a little more than 20 or 30 watts.
Check these out, probably the best out there but they cost www.ciromazzoni.com/loop-midi They also have the baby loop. But ideal for your RV can even use an amp.
Thank you for the information Peter! By any chance, have you tested suspending the small loop with a strip of velcro to allow for a greater distance from the larger outer loop. If yes, what was the effect on the SWR? Thank you, N1PB
The design seems to have a number of compromises, especially considering it’s marketed for a field radio. Rather it seems to be minimalist desktop implementation. Linking this to the IC705 is nothing more than a marketing ploy. I’ve seen a number of different mag loops with better implementations. I highly suggest looking at others on the market before making any purchasing decisions. Some features to look for include a reducer on the tuning capacitor for easier fine tuning and a standard tripod mount.
They are strange working aerials the loops, it is amazing what you can do with them with not a lot of power either. This one looks sort of interesting and portable as well.
I have their earlier model, but basically same setup. For a small antenna, it works FB and tuning is very sharp. I can set mind up in less than 5 minutes and be on the air with the KX3 and internal batteries. I also like the fact there's almost no foot print and unlike a vertical (which I also use portable) no counterpoise needed. And, since it is directional off the ends I either swivel the antenna on the tripod or pick it up and move it.....try that with your dipole strung in the trees.
@@forgetyourlife You're correct, unless you live in Ireland where there's more trees in Half of Snowdonia park in Wales than the entire Island of Ireland lol. Seriously though, trees are a pain in the ass trying to get wire antennas up but an 49:1 EFHW and spiderbeam works well, so too does my Chameleon MPAS 2.0 on 20 meters can get from Ireland to South America on this setup as I saw from May to October in the Evening. Setup in 5 mins flat. It works so well I decided to leave it up permanently and take it down only when I want to go portable. Good to experiment with other antennas, loops are good because they do work well above 7 Mhz are simple to setup, need no radials or trees. The SuperAntenna MP1 is another good antenna, breaks down into an incredibly small package and the supplied clamp is really convenient to clamp to a gate or a bench but requires re-tuning for different bands but as I said the size it breaks down to is remarkable. Great for portable, taking on the bicycle etc. Superantenna MP1 and Chameleon MPAS 2.0 work well with the FT-891 and 100 Watts.Small Loops tend to only handle 10-20 watts max on SSB. When I had my Xiegu X5105 5 Watt QRP radio I was able to go off on my bicycle, fit the Superantenna MP1 in a small bag with the radials and some coax, find a nice place and attach the antenna to the gate with the clamp, tiny package, no messing with trees and I made contacts. It doesn't all have to be about making 100's more contacts, sometimes it's the buzz of using low power and making contacts on less than optimal antennas.
@@o00scorpion00o whoa, epic reply. I didn’t mean qrp was any less fun. Just mentioned that a dipole in the tree (if you have one) will have way better ears than that loop so rotating it inst a good argument for using it over the other.
@@forgetyourlife lol no I know you didn't mean QRP wasn't fun and it's good you made the point that the Dipole would have made more contacts, with better ears too and for a lot less money I suppose I was just making the point that sometimes it's quick deployment that matter most, depending on the circumstances.
Excellent video. Thanks for sharing. I got to see a loop and the IC 705 in action. 73 de AF4OD. Bill. PS, if I ever get a chance to visit the UK I would like to visit your store .
@@watersstanton I'm having a hard time with this antenna. It has a mind of its own. I'm indoors at the moment, but it will tune and then minutes later it just not tuned anymore. I'm also doing your idea on using a switch, like the idea. Funny thing is that when I use the SWR that is built into the IC705 it tells me the SWR is high on its graph. Have you experienced that before? thx
The twisty thing you use has a steel wire core. Try a plastic zip tie instead to prevent problems. Then perhaps try to form the small loop into a D shape with the flat part facing up for much better coupling and a much more efficient antenna. SWR should be better, not worse doing that. I suspect your twisty thing.
I like mag loops, very easy and cheap to build, makes me wonder if £360 for what's basically two patch lead's and a air spaced capacitor in a plastic box and a tuning knob, is it worth it
Of course it's worth it if someone doesn't have the time or means to build one, if someone is working 5 days a week, up at 6 and home at 7pm spend some time with the kids before bed, have dinner you hardly have time for radio let alone build antennas. Weekends you want to spend more time with the kids. There's all sorts of reasons People buy antennas rather than build them.
@@o00scorpion00o hi there, the last mag loop I made from spare parts I had laying around and took less than an hour to put together, that's why I question the cost not just for this particular mag loop but many of the others that are available, saying that there is one loop that's worth it if you look for G4TPH he builds a good loop
@@adam-g7crq I don't have the knowledge to be able to do this in 1 hr or the parts lying around as I expect many others don't also but I do intend to build one someday when my 2 Sons are a little older they can watch me and help out and share in the fun watching it catch fire or work lol.
The power rating is stated to be 10W. I think it would take a bit more - say 20W. BUT, you then start to get into the dangers of high power proximity, particularly as you approach 30MHz. So yes you can as long as you observe the power limit. 73 Peter
I usually really like your videos. For example you were the reason why I got myself a BB7V and it's just perfect for my needs here in the big city. But your tip with the antenna switch may be the fastest way to destroy your analyzer. Two antennas yes, but never a transmitting device in combination with a receiver. If the switch fails or the operator makes a mistake, you transmit into your analyzer...
I suspect that magnetic loop antennas could present a Health & Safety issue. While it is unwise to stand too close to *any* transmitting antenna, this is unlikely with conventional antennas which have an elevated location. But a Magnetic Loop located indoors might be right next to the operator. So don't "microwave" yourselves and NEVER put a hand inside the loop while transmitting.
@@watersstanton Like antennas, they are better than none. Also, I am trying to learn morse by doing. I am looking for small morse keyboard, a bit like the one datong used to make, but not a touch sensitive one or enormous and clunky like the MFJ one.
You can disagree, do not be angry, but first qso on 21 cw you are calling only "g3ojv", then it was me "again again" and IU3BTY "again", why go "9a6kx from g3ojv" and "iu3bt from g3ojv" when same as on cw station calling expecting only your callsign ? :) For me, it is better to go with /QRP at the end, I always try to listen and pay attention to QRP-ers, and /QRP is in brain "deep memory" and can be pulled out in low signal and bad SNR...
