Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul, who notes:
This video is in Chinese, but at least we can see what’s inside the box:
https://youtu.be/mM09pT1YbjU
Click here to view on YouTube.
Thanks for sharing, Paul.
If you’ve ordered the MLA-30, please let us know your thoughts about the construction and performance!
Very Good? I use it receive KTWR DRM shortwave broadcast. I come from china, $30 can be buy it in china.
Running one on a KiwiSDR I found there is a noise peak around 6MHz and what could be common mode noise kills everything under about 430kHz.
For the price quite decent, less prone to the QRM that kills active whips here.
Haven’t played with larger loops but did try a 622mm alloy bike rim and that moves the noise peak up to just under 8MHz.
Tried as dipole (2x1m) and there is not much to be heard around 5MHz like that, not sure what causes that frequency range to be full-on or nothing but it’s not meant to be used as a dipole so just an idle test.
Will try to work on the sub 450kHz area to see if I can tame the noise with ferrite as it does claim coverage from 100kHz.
I also bought one ,i am in a very noisy environment but with the mla-30 i can turn him to the point the noise is almost gone.
Signals are very strong.
Easy to power the antenna with a usb powerpack.
Live in the netherlands
Tried it with a different bias-tee from a miniwhip antenna ,and then the noise on the longwave is gone and signals are good readable.
So a better constructed bias -tee does the trick
Just hooked mine up to some pvc pipe testing it in the house hooked up to my sangean 909x. So far extremely impressed!!! Especially for the money. Yes and in the house it’s outperforming my 85 ft longwire running from my house to a tree.works on am radio too….I can’t wait to hook it up outside
Same set up here – 909x indoors. I’m stunned. I mean, things aren’t crystal clear but I can now get 5085 to tune in the evenings. I used to have to go outside and stand on my driveway to hear WTWW. I’m also picking up signal, albeit faint, on LW where before I heard zilch. AM broadcast reception is also vastly improved. Best $50 I’ve spent since that last bottle of whiskey. Ha ha. Is it the silver bullet of antennas? Of course not, nothing is. Is it a nice little antenna that does a good job for its size and price? You bet. Just wish I had understood ahead of time a few adapters are needed to get from the SMA connector to the mono plug on my radio but with Amazon and some web searching I figured it out and got what I needed delivered to the house. (SMA female to F-type male adapter in case you’re wondering. I also needed and happened to have an F type Female to 3.5mm male but you will want to order one of those too if your radio has an antenna jack)
Hi
Just recieved mine in the post, happy to post up some videos really soon ?
Yes, please!
It would be great to see a proper review of the MLA-30 alongside a Wellbrook or a Mini Whip.
Mine arrived just before the shortest shipping time here in New England, and not too far from NYC. I bought it to use with the PL-360 series radios for midday DXing at remote sites. Using the ETM band scans, it loaded 16% more SW stations and 24% more MW stations last evening than barefoot.
The loop element is about 26 inches in diameter. My plan is to attach it to a tall 3/8th inch diameter fiber glass ‘electric fence post’ I can stick in the ground most anywhere. Later I’ll try it on other radios with jacks which operate on MW.- FARMERIK
I can’t wait for mine to arrive as well. Did you say the loop element is only 26 inches? I have a 6ft length of copper wire, would it help or hinder the loop? Thx Matthew
It’d likely move the both the lower and upper frequency limits (or at least the point of peak sensitivity that Stu Capon M0AQY mentions above) down, and increase sensitivity a bit.
Overall, I wouldn’t think it’d have much useful effect either way on an amplified loop (amp characteristics tend to outweigh loop characteristics). Though 6′ length = 1.9m diameter, so it’ll be acting more as a dipole than a loop above 15MHz or so, and any overall sensitivity gain (or extended response into the much noisier lower frequencies) from the bigger loop may make the amp more prone to overload/IM.
I’d try it with the stock loop, then if I was in an experimentin’ mood I’d try a ~1m diameter loop.
Ordered one also last night.
Very interested to try one for portable use!
Definitely going to take the screws out and take a look inside that amplifier box.
Now to wait and see how long it takes to ship to VK.
Think I’m going to order one and give it a try. Now the 3-6 weeks waiting for it to come from China to here in the central USA..
That was quite a cliffhanger! Glad it came out of the box (unboxed) OK.
Ha ha ha!