The Best Active Loop Antenna 2019 = MLA-30?

[alpard]

I came across this vid on youtube, and was surprised to hear that MLA-30 is better performing than all other Active Loops in the market.
The presenter says that it is better than 10 times more expensive Wellbrook? Could it be the case?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4G71UrANtA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB8RBEI-1xk

W6LVP vs. MLA-30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNN6T4C4dRk

[alpard]

Anyway with the support of the review videos, I have placed an order for a MLA-30 today.
Hopefully it will be here soon.

Meanwhile I have got a Tecsun Active Loop for indoors only.
It comes with a radio stand and a few antenna connectors, and the wire loop with the amp, and tuning control box.

It works great on MW, but not good on LW.
It works weirdly on SW.

It pulls a few different signals when the tuning knob is turned.
I thought it might be the cross modulation / ghost signals again?

But I managed to tune the signal I was looking for after a few seconds of tuning about.
I don't know if it is the way it should work.

I managed to hear very weak Radio Korea signal in reasonable strength.
It performed similar to my outside LW.

It is a good value if you are after the radio stand and also a few antenna connectors, because they are very handy thing to have.
It was 39.95 EURO. So it was reasonable price.

[ChrisSmolinski]

I came across this vid on youtube, and was surprised to hear that MLA-30 is better performing than all other Active Loops in the market.
The presenter says that it is better than 10 times more expensive Wellbrook? Could it be the case?

That seems highly doubtful.

[alpard]

I came across this vid on youtube, and was surprised to hear that MLA-30 is better performing than all other Active Loops in the market.
The presenter says that it is better than 10 times more expensive Wellbrook? Could it be the case?

That seems highly doubtful.

I was taken back at the claims, but the channel seems doing reviews from his personal uses and experiences on these devices, not funded or sponsored by the device manufacturers.

I sussed it out because of his various video reviews on XHDATA D-808 receiver. He claims the D-808 is the best SW receiver in 2019 too, and he still seems swear by it.

I bought a XHDATA D-808 myself, and I too was quite impressed & satisfied with its performance.  I concluded that his reviews on the D-808 have been all very accurate and factual.

[ChrisSmolinski]

Hey, if someone wants to send me a MLA-30 I'll be happy to put it up against my Crossed Parallel Loop with LZ1AQ amplifier 

[JCMaxwell]

I’ll stick with my W6LVP.

[ChrisSmolinski]

I sussed it out because of his various video reviews on XHDATA D-808 receiver. He claims the D-808 is the best SW receiver in 2019 too, and he still seems swear by it.

I bought a XHDATA D-808 myself, and I too was quite impressed & satisfied with its performance.  I concluded that his reviews on the D-808 have been all very accurate and factual.

How is "best SW receiver in 2019" defined? Best in the category of circa $100 portables? It could well be (I have no experience). Best radio you can buy in 2019, even compared to ham rigs and SDRs? Not so sure. 

Not knocking what works for you, of course, everyone has different needs and applications. But in general (and this is true for any product, not just antennas and radios) there's costs involved in manufacture that lead to "you get what you pay for" roughly holding true, excepting true innovations in design, which come about occasionally.

[alpard]

I sussed it out because of his various video reviews on XHDATA D-808 receiver. He claims the D-808 is the best SW receiver in 2019 too, and he still seems swear by it.

I bought a XHDATA D-808 myself, and I too was quite impressed & satisfied with its performance.  I concluded that his reviews on the D-808 have been all very accurate and factual.

How is "best SW receiver in 2019" defined? Best in the category of circa $100 portables? It could well be (I have no experience). Best radio you can buy in 2019, even compared to ham rigs and SDRs? Not so sure. 

Not knocking what works for you, of course, everyone has different needs and applications. But in general (and this is true for any product, not just antennas and radios) there's costs involved in manufacture that lead to "you get what you pay for" roughly holding true, excepting true innovations in design, which come about occasionally.

Please watch the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnDqt7sbVaw

[alpard]

For me, I have not done any type of tests on the radio, but it hears what all other radios can hear.
And it is definitely more sensitive than any Tecsuns or Sangeans or Sony that I own.
And I have had it now for over a year, took it to everywhere, dropped a few times onto the floor, used it to pair with my Heathkit transmitter and had a few CW contacts, it still works.  Recently I bought another one NEW, because when the battery is getting charged, I want to use the other one.

After having used one for over 15months, now I have 2x D-808s. That tells something surely

[Matt285]

I own one and while I wouldn't say it's the 'Best' antenna, it is worth the $45.00 I paid for it. If you are just using a telescoping antenna or short wire, you will be quite pleased by the performance. I have mine mounted outside stationary N/S. I tend to use it on my SDR receiver,but I typically use my 135 OCF dipole when more gain is needed. Especially pirate stations etc. Have fun!

[alpard]

Yeah, I have some doubts on the claim that MLA-30 is the best active loop antenna.
But I don't know, as I have never used one by myself.

I am curious how it will perform.

I was comparing my long wire in the garden and the TECSUN active loop, and the LW is far better on SW.
On MW, the TECSUN is very good.  It pulls the weak signals quite well.

I think if you are living in a high rise apartment or underground flat, then maybe the indoor TECSUN loop would be better than nothing?

For MLA-30, I will update how it performed on the bands with the real radios I have, trying to listen to some DX signals I have been struggling to hear with my other antennas.

But certainly it ain't bad for the price if they all perform in similar manner, if you think how much the other active loops cost. 

[N0TLD]

There is no such beast as an overall, official 'best' antenna (or radio or anything else for that matter) for all users, so any time I read a review or video headline with 'best' in it I ignore that part and just see what the substance might be. Each of us has our own 'best' radio, antenna, etc., for a given use, a given application, but no single product can be all things to all men at all times.

Any item, of low, high or any middling quality, can be 'best' for a specific user/given need. I like the idea of the MLA30 antenna and I know a lot of people really enjoy using them, which is as it should be especially at its price point. It's one hell of a value if you ask me, and I don't own one yet!   So I'm not knocking it at all. But 'best' is not only illogical, it's impossible.

I'm sure this has been linked here on HFU before (I can't imagine it hasn't because I think he's a member) but Martin Ehrenfried G8JNJ has a faaaantastic radio electronics website, including this thorough and helpful page on his analyses of LOTS of active antenna designs and products:

https://www.g8jnj.net/activeantennas.htm

He discusses the MLA30 style antennas (about two thirds down the long page) along with numerous other types. It gets into electronics/RF component theory and more nuts and bolts/ohms and volts than you might be needing or knowing, but it is a fantastic (and I think very fairly presented) page. It's not a ranking or claiming-best-of kind of list, just his view on different active antennas. If you haven't seen it before it's well worth the studying. If you have seen it before then never mind! The entire site's great.


Mike
N0TLD

[dxace1]

On the discussion re "best" receivers etc -- on portables, these days, because the bands have emptied out, almost any of
the older classic portables will perform wonderfully:   SONY ICF-SW55, SW-77, SW-07, SW100s and Panasonic RF-B65s.
The problem found with many of the IC chip wonders, including the 808, is that they have built in artifacts and that appear
on certain frequencies occupied by stations still on the air.  Example with the 808 I have is Guinea -- on 9,650 when using
a 808, there is a het which is NOT another station but internally-generated.   It will be interesting to see whether the Tecsun
PL-990 and others that are available now, but not in final firmware versions, correct problems like the one with SYNC that plagued
the PL-880.

[N0TLD]

I hope they do improve some of the issues with the PL880 on the final version PL990. I like the '880 a lot, in fact I like most of Tecsun's offerings very much -- I think they represent some serious value at their price point/s -- but it would be very nice to have a portable that sounded as rich as the '880 sounds (to me anyway) but with much better SYNC and birdie/internal noise performance. The S9900 is intriguing as well, and I'm looking forward to if/when Eton will finally come out with the Elite Satellit, the E-1/XM lookalike (and hope it performsalike).

Fully agree about the older classic portables performing wonderfully on today's less crowded bands, absolutely. I'm a big fan of the classic Panasonic RF Command Series (the RF2200 and RF1150 in particular for MW DXing) and Sony's ICF-SW classics you mentioned (the '77 is a real favorite). Lately I'm going realllllly analog with the Zenith TransOceanic R7000-2 for SWL and enjoying every second of it. Not saying one is best, or classic is better, or anything along those lines... but just reiterating that they are still excellent performers on today's SW scene.


Mike
N0TLD

[redhat]

FWIW, too many people base 'best' on whatever fits their wallet.  Hams are real bad about that, as are CB'ers.  The other end of the spectrum holds true too.  Just because it costs 10x as much, don't expect 10x the performance.  A friend of mine used to complain of similar devices, "for that much money, it should have come in a gold box, or at least with a kiss."

FWIW #2, I have an MLA-30 and find it to be a fine performing loop for the money in an average high noise suburban environment.  Don't expect miracles, but it seems to work as well as my home-built remote tuned loop.  In a low noise environment, the story may be very different.

+-RH