Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares a link to the new Tecsun AN-48x Active Loop Antenna at Anon-Co. Here’s the description from Anon-Co:
TECSUN AN-48x is an active loop antenna for enhancing shortwave (SW), medium wave (MW/AM) and longwave (LW) reception.
Unlike previous models (DE31MS, A38-LMS) available on anon-co.com, the AN-48x is supplied with adapters to connect the antenna to BNC and RCA sockets. This greatly simplifies hooking up the antenna to TECSUN receivers like S-2000 and S-8800, while it is just as easy to use with H-501, PL-990, PL-880 and the rest of the “PL”-family.
AN-48x also works with portable radios that do not have an external antenna jack!
Effective Frequency Range
Longwave: 120 ~ 400 kHz
Medium Wave (AM): 520 ~ 1700 kHz
Shortwave: 3500 ~ 20,000 kHz
[…]
Click here to view at Anon-Co.
Anon-Co notes that they expect to launch this product in December 2019. If you happen to grab one, consider sharing your review here on the SWLing Post!
I have noticed that Nevada Radio have announced that the Tecsun AX-48X active loop antenna will be available from them in March 2020 at £40.00 (rounded up cost), plus postage.
I use a PL880 which works fine with the telescopic antenna and the Sangean ATS 909X with the supplied wire antenna that also works well.
I am not an expert on this, but I am hoping that the AX-48X will give both radios a boost for the reception of the faint stations that can just about be heard with out spending a fortune on a ‘professional’ antenna.
Unfortunately it costs an absolute fortune to import things into the UK . VAT, import duties and other misc costs would amount to as much as the antenna itself. Be great if they a retailer over here. Oh well, plenty of options I guess.
It’s free postage from anon-co it just takes a little longer getting here that’s all, good prices too this antenna sells for £22.00 all in.
Amazon UK has it for a 40 pounds.
I’ll be interested to see how this compares to the Degen loop. Also surprised to see this works on LW. Very few commmercial antenna products available for LW. Longwave is still interesting here in Europe at night time.
I’ve used the earlier model of this and was not impressed by it and not at all on LW.
What does work is the 150-500 khz version of the PK loop or even the REL-200
ferrite bar from Greece (see an earlier post) but at $90.60 usd (currently) delivered to your
door the PK is hard to beat.
What is the earlier model? I wouldn’t be surprised if it shares much of the same internals as the Degen DE31 (rebadged in various guises). I would be amazed if it works well on LW. As for the Degen DE31 I think it’s very effective and fantastic value for money. I’ve had a lot of success with it. Not very well put together though. I don’t think I can get the PK here in the UK.
IIRC it was the DE31…it was obviously designed for HF and LW was just
thrown in as a “feature” etc.
You should be able to get the PK Loop delivered in the UK since
Australia is a member of the Commonwealth.
Be sue to specify the full coverage 155-500 khz version, not the one
above it that only goes to 430 khz or so.
We are talking about the passive “A loops” ,the standard 14 inch loops …
don’t think they can’t do DX,a friend in Texas got France Inter 162 khz on one using a Sony receiver a few years ago.
To order,send Paul an email telling him what you want,he will send you
a PayPal invoice in reply.
My last one took 7 days from order to mailbox.
> “IIRC it was the DE31…it was obviously designed for HF and LW was just
thrown in as a “feature” etc.”
Not surprised it didn’t work well on LW then – AFAIK, none of the Degen DE31 / Kaito KA31 variants (e.g. the original shortwave 31, or the later medium/shortwave 31MS) claimed LW coverage, except in the descriptions of dodgy eBay sellers.
The Kaito KA35 claimed to go down to 100kHz, but that was an active ferrite / whip antenna.
Thanks for the info. As I said I have the DE31. It was never claimed to work on LW and has no switch for LW. It works superbly for me on both SW and MW. The included ferrite couples very well and effectively on MW.
http://amradioantennas.com/am_antennas.htm for PK Loops.