MLA-30 Active HF Loop Antenna 

Yes, I agree, I think I will try a cross arm to make a perfect circle. I use VNC Server on my pc and VNC viewer on my iPhone for the exact same thing :)

У меня на кусок провода лучше принимает, вчера пришла эта антенна , прилепил на окно, приёмник JRC NRD 525G

I had the metal pole, around 3m long, but the the MLA was mounted at the top of a 6M fibreglass pole, so I’m hoping the metal pole didn’t interfere with it. I think it’s a great antenna

How tall u mount the antenna?

You’re welcome Tim 🙏

Glad it was helpful!

That’s really good to know, I may try using this portable or on a stick of some kind. Thanks

You're very welcome :-)

You’re welcome, thanks for watching 🙏

Tech Minds Ha! You’re welcome.

@@TechMindsOfficial Can you tell me why my Anker 15600 mAh USB battery charger/battery pack is shutting down when attempting to power my MLA-30 Active Loop Antenna??? Is there a simple cure to this dilemma? Thanks

Possibly, but I use a USB hub rated at 3AMP just to be sure :) I most likely misread or miss-said the correct current requirements tho :)

Yep exactly. I cover a lot on the channel about how to receive and decode different types of signals and some people maybe put off if they think they don’t have the space for large antennas. But these kinda videos show you can still receive low band signals with a small ish type antenna. Thanks for watching 🙏

Thanks Joan, hope it works well for you 🙏

Just enable in SDRuno?

@@chilskater What I was trying to say was, do not use the power injector supplied with the loop. Just turn on "Bias T" in the main window of SDRuno. The bias voltage actually originates inside the SDRPlay receiver.

I think you’re right, it’s advertised as directional. I did test it and then rotate it 90 degrees but without being in front of the SDR at the time of rotating it I’m not sure. I guess the best way to test it would be to use it on a rotator, unfortunately I don’t own one, yet lol

How did you power it if you didn’t use the Bias T? Did changing the coax Male much difference on such low frequencies? But you’re right, the think coax is kinda weak.

@@TechMindsOfficial I power mine from the bias-T on the RSPduo

I may try and source a plus version, will be interesting to see the comparison against original.

@@TechMindsOfficial I can also recommend to replace the thin wire loop with the braid of a coax or an aluminium ring of the same diameter or slightly wider. But then you have to reduce the gain inside the box a bit because the amp tends to overload then. There's a potentiometer inside the box to set the gain. There are plenty of videos on RU-vid how to pimp the MLA.

I have done a video on the MiniWhip, but I may not have had it installed like others.

I havnt tried a wellbrook, maybe that’s another antenna I can test and compare against my EFHW. While I’m testing these type of antennas I’m actually in search of an RX antenna that can perform as well as the EFHW but without the QRM I get from neighbours electronics. Thanks for watching :) 🙏

But the mla 30 + is better Tham the original right?

@@topg5426 I never had a chance to use the original MLA 30 so I don’t know.

Look at the box that holds the preamplifier. The original version says "MLA-30" while the newer version says "MLA-30+". From what I have seen (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-s0_jrEpdgGI.html ), the MLA-30+ is a better than the MLA-30 on medium wave and on SW above ~11 MHz. However, a simple wire antenna is often better than the MLA-30, as supported by this and other RU-vid comparisons, and also better than the MLA-30+: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nPTTbTuv0QE.html

Welcome to the hobby! Try this for starters, but please look through my back catalogue of videos and I’m sure you’ll find something useful: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nB6XQSEFwVA.html

@@TechMindsOfficial Thank you! I was looking for a beginner's guide like that!

Me too, no matter what I do it will not form a circle, lopsided, twisted and a PIA to fiddle with.

I will look into this and see if I can find a supplier, thank you 🙏

I use a mixture of SDRuno, SDR++ and SDR Sharp

rsp1a bias t spec - from the datasheet: 4.7V /100mA Guaranteed. The MLA requires 5v, 200mA - like twice more power. Probably would work, but with less amplification.

I used it with the added bias-t but didn't receive anything then I used the build in boat t of rsp1a and I got signals not sure what's up.

You maybe right on this! I’ll see if I can source an original and do these tests again. Where would you recommend to buy an original? Thanks

​@@TechMindsOfficial As explained further below, a possible source for a legitmate MLA-30+ in the US is an Amazon vendor named DmgicPro. Perhaps because the antenna is genuine, the price is not the lowest at Amazon, but it is labeled an "Amazon Pick." The problem is that knock-off vendors advertise their products using photographs of genuine equipment. At 1:08 in your video, the picture shows a 10 m coil of coax surrounding an amplifier case with 6 mounting holes and 2 mounting screws. I can even see that the "biasing tee" box has a hole for the LED. It is possible if not likely that the vendors do not even know that their supplier is providing inferior copies. Six months ago, I bought an MLA-30+ from a vendor on Amazon that is no longer selling this antenna. I was disappointed in its performance, but I did not realize that I had a knock-off (or that knock-offs even existed) until a couple days ago when I found the knock-off video I cited above: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XTOfC2PLlQA.html The folded coil of flimsy wire in that video is just like the coil I received, and my amplifier box only has 4 mounting holes. The "author" of that video wrote this in a comment: "I didn't cover the Biased Tee portion in the video, but it seems to work fine. It sends roughly the same voltage up the cable and I couldn't tell one from the other switching them on a reception. The question then remains as whether the LNA knockoff could be fixed." Sorry, but I do not know of a way to obtain a guaranteed legitimate MLA-30 or MLA-30+. I exchanged RU-vid comments with him, and he said that he purchased his legitimiate MLA-30+ on Amazon from DmgicPro. That vendor is still supplying the antenna on the date the I write this (17 February 2024). In the past, I also received an inferior "receiver guard " from a vendor at AliExpress whose ad pictured and described a legitimate model. Here is my discussion of that: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--Azhp5VyJZs.html I never got a refund, but I need to make a video that describes an easy fix I worked out for the inferior receiver guard. The following video from OfficialSWLchannel may be like the MLA-30(+) vs EFHW comparison you would like to produce: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-X45S5KYWvRs.html I have read that a wire antenna outperforms an MLA--30(+) in a quiet location, but an MLA-30(+) can outperform a wire at some frequencies in noisier, typically urban environments. That is the experience of the OfficialSWLchannel video above.

@@TechMindsOfficial In an exchange of RU-vid comments I had with the author of the MLA-30+ real vs knock-off video (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XTOfC2PLlQA.html ), he told me that he purchased his genuine MLA-30+ on Amazon from a vendor named DmgicPro that is still selling the MLA-30+ as of 17 February 2024. Perhaps because that antenna is genuine, the price is not the lowest at Amazon, but it is labeled an "Amazon Pick." Unfortunately, knock-off vendors advertise their products using photographs of genuine equipment. The picture at 1:08 in your video above shows a genuine MLA-30. Six months ago, I bought what I thought was a genuine MLA-30+ from a vendor on Amazon. I was disappointed in its performance, but I did not realize that I had a knock-off (or that knock-offs even existed) until a couple days ago when I found the knock-off video I cited above: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XTOfC2PLlQA.html The folded coil of flimsy wire in that video looked just like the coil I received, and my amplifier box only has 4 mounting holes. The ad from the Amazon vendor who sold me my antenna (who is no longer selling the antenna) shows a genuine MLA-30+. The following video from OfficialSWLchannel may be like the MLA-30(+) vs EFHW comparison you would like to produce: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-X45S5KYWvRs.html I have read that a wire antenna outperforms an MLA-30(+) in a quiet location, but a genuine MLA-30(+) can outperform a wire at some frequencies in noisier, typically urban environments. That is the experience of the OfficialSWLchannel video above.

​@@TechMindsOfficial In an exchange of comments I had with the author of the MLA-30+ real vs knock-off video (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XTOfC2PLlQA.html ), he told me that he purchased his genuine MLA-30+ on Amazon from a vendor named DmgicPro that is still selling the MLA-30+ as of 17 February 2024. Unfortunately, knock-off vendors advertise their products using photographs of genuine equipment. The picture at 1:08 in your video above shows a genuine MLA-30. Six months ago, I bought what I thought was a genuine MLA-30+ from a no-longer-active vendor on Amazon who displayed photographs of a genuine MLA-30+. I was disappointed in its performance, but I did not realize that I had a knock-off (or that knock-offs even existed) until a couple days ago when I found the real vs knock-off video I cited above. The folded coil of flimsy wire in that video looked just like the coil I received, and my amplifier box only has 4 mounting holes. The following video from OfficialSWLchannel may be like the MLA-30(+) vs EFHW comparison you would like to produce: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-X45S5KYWvRs.html I have read that a wire antenna outperforms an MLA-30(+) in a quiet location, but a genuine MLA-30(+) can outperform a wire at some frequencies in noisier, typically urban environments. That is the experience of the OfficialSWLchannel video above.

@@TechMindsOfficial In an exchange of comments with the author of the MLA-30+ real vs knock-off video (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XTOfC2PLlQA.html ), he told me that he purchased his genuine MLA-30+ on Amazon from a vendor named DmgicPro that is still selling the MLA-30+ as of 17 February 2024. Unfortunately, knock-off vendors advertise their products using photographs of genuine equipment and may not even know that they are selling knock-offs. The picture at 1:08 in your MLA-30 video shows a genuine MLA-30. Six months ago, I bought what I thought was a genuine MLA-30+ from a no-longer-active vendor on Amazon who displayed photographs of a genuine MLA-30+. I was disappointed in its performance, but I did not realize that I had a knock-off (or that knock-offs even existed) until a couple days ago when I found the real vs knock-off video I cited above. The folded coil of flimsy wire in that video looked just like the coil I received, and my amplifier box only has 4 mounting holes. The following video from OfficialSWLchannel may be like the MLA-30(+) vs EFHW comparison you would like to produce: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-X45S5KYWvRs.html I have read that a wire antenna outperforms an MLA-30(+) in a quiet location, but a genuine MLA-30(+) can outperform a wire at some frequencies in noisier, typically urban environments. That is the experience of the OfficialSWLchannel video above.