{"id":51958,"date":"2022-02-23T07:38:29","date_gmt":"2022-02-23T11:38:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=51958"},"modified":"2022-02-23T07:38:29","modified_gmt":"2022-02-23T11:38:29","slug":"joshuah-says-the-cross-country-wireless-laa-amplifier-rocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2022\/02\/joshuah-says-the-cross-country-wireless-laa-amplifier-rocks\/","title":{"rendered":"Joshuah says: &#8220;The Cross Country Wireless LAA++ amplifier rocks!&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_51959\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/loop_latest2_s.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-51959\" class=\"size-full wp-image-51959\" src=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/loop_latest2_s.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"373\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/loop_latest2_s.jpeg 500w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/loop_latest2_s-300x224.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-51959\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image Source: Cross Country Wireless<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Joshuah, who writes:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Dear Thomas,<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">I recently dedicated some funding to rebuilding my shortwave listening station.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">I had paid attention to new amplifiers\u00a0 and became aware of some review data by an engineer at SDRPlay comparing amplifier performance that suggests the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.crosscountrywireless.net\/loop_antenna_amplifier.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cross Country Wireless amplifier<\/a>, at a cost of only 80 dollars, had become a competitive design offering performance comparable to amplifiers costing 10 times that much.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/bias_tee.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-51960\" src=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/bias_tee.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"385\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/bias_tee.jpeg 400w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/bias_tee-300x289.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">I was hooked by the specific demonstrations showing that the LAA++ offered IMD characteristics more similar to a Wellbrook, with gain more similar to other high amplification designs. I had to have one.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">I set up my station with the following components:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>A used Icron Ranger 2304 USB over ethernet extender off eBay<\/li>\n<li>A used Airspy Discovery off eBay<\/li>\n<li>A Cross Country Wireless receiver protector(or similar ferrite + gas discharge diode isolator)<\/li>\n<li>A custom ordered LAA++ amplifier from Cross Country Wireless built for 75 ohm with F connectors and a low pass filter at 14MHz<\/li>\n<li>A power inserter from an W6LVP that wasn&#8217;t cutting the mustard<\/li>\n<li>A pair of classic, solid transforming power adapter bricks<\/li>\n<li>An unshielded ethernet cable<\/li>\n<li>Some Fair-Rite ferrite snap ons with multiple turns<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">I obtained a weatherproof enclosure and some pex tubing and specialty cable glands and built an antenna housing. Inside the enclosure I mounted the amplifier, adding a large gauge copper wire for the antenna element, and used an affordable tri-shield RG11 with specialty connectors as the feedline for the antenna.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The antenna measures approximately a 2 meter diameter, and is mounted about 5 feet off the ground at the base of the antenna. It is located outside of a remote shed at the edge of my property, and the ethernet (alternatively, wireless repeating parabolic dish with router) mirrors the USB data back to the PC in my basement which serves as the shortwave receiving server host.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">I have been overwhelmed both with the amount of new noise and new signal that this antenna picks up.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">In shortwave, the other night, I was picking up stations around the world.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Tonight, I was able to very clearly make out CHLO. I am located in EM38, over 700 miles from the transmitter, which only operates at 250 watts during the night time.<br \/>\nI was also able to pick up some international NOAA NAVTEX alerts on 518kHz about a right whale slow zone in the Atlantic off the shore of New Jersey.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">I would\u00a0 highly recommend this antenna amplifier.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Yours sincerely,<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Joshuah<\/p>\n<p><strong>Thank you so much, Joshuah, for allowing me to post your note here in the SWLing Post. I&#8217;m so glad you found such an affordable way to cobble together an effective antenna system to not only mitigate interference, but also afford you DX-worthy reception.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I&#8217;ve only heard good comments about Cross Country Wireless as well.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Again, thank you for sharing your impressions and details about your setup!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.crosscountrywireless.net\/loop_antenna_amplifier.htm\">Click here to check out the Cross Country Wireless amplifier.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Joshuah, who writes: Dear Thomas, I recently dedicated some funding to rebuilding my shortwave listening station. I had paid attention to new amplifiers\u00a0 and became aware of some review data by an engineer at SDRPlay comparing amplifier performance that suggests the Cross Country Wireless amplifier, at a cost of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3607,3],"tags":[1643,6497,9678,4357,3417],"class_list":["post-51958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-antennas","category-news","tag-antennas","tag-cross-country-wireless","tag-cross-country-wireless-la","tag-mag-loop-antennas","tag-magnetic-loop-antennas"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-dw2","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49586,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/mike-harwood-explores-active-magnetic-loop-antennas-with-sdrplay\/","url_meta":{"origin":51958,"position":0},"title":"Mike Harwood explores active magnetic loop antennas with SDRplay","author":"Thomas","date":"July 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to Jon Hudson with SDRplay who shares the following announcement: Introducing a new series of videos comparing the performance of wideband active loop amplifier\/antennas for HF frequencies and below. In this introductory video, Mike Harwood shows how an RSPduo enables a real-time comparison of two antennas - in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antennas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/SDRplay-RSPduo-Antenna-Ports-Angle-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/SDRplay-RSPduo-Antenna-Ports-Angle-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/SDRplay-RSPduo-Antenna-Ports-Angle-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/SDRplay-RSPduo-Antenna-Ports-Angle-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":25173,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/04\/the-new-cross-country-wireless-hf-preselector\/","url_meta":{"origin":51958,"position":1},"title":"The new Cross Country Wireless HF Preselector","author":"Thomas","date":"April 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Southgate ARC) Cross Country Wireless release HF Preselector Cross Country Wireless have released a HF Preselector. It is a passive high Q design that does not use an amplifier or external power. It tunes from 0.5 to 52 MHz. It is ideal for use with simple SDR receivers like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Accessories&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Accessories","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/accessories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Cross-Country-preselector.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":29811,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/mark-seeks-advice-about-the-cross-country-wireless-active-loop\/","url_meta":{"origin":51958,"position":2},"title":"Mark seeks advice about the Cross Country Wireless Active Loop","author":"Thomas","date":"December 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Fahey, who comments: My WRTH is still in transit to me, however, Thomas's comment in the post about the Cross Country Wireless Active Loop sparked my interest and I surfed over to their website. They have a great collection of really innovative antennas.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antennas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Cross-Country-Wireless-Active-Loop-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Cross-Country-Wireless-Active-Loop-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Cross-Country-Wireless-Active-Loop-1024x768.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":40648,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/11\/rick-compares-the-bonito-ml200-cross-country-wireless-and-wellbrook-1530ln\/","url_meta":{"origin":51958,"position":3},"title":"Rick compares the Bonito ML200, Cross Country Wireless, MLA-30 and Wellbrook 1530LN","author":"Thomas","date":"November 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Ladd, who shares the following video by Rick King who compares four mag loop antennas: the MLA-30, Cross Country Wireless, Bonito ML200, and the Wellbrook 1530LN. https:\/\/youtu.be\/FRhDHHpLoaM Click here to view on YouTube. Excellent comparison, Rick! Although we've previously posted reviews and comments\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antennas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Mag-Loop-Comparison.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Mag-Loop-Comparison.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Mag-Loop-Comparison.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Mag-Loop-Comparison.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":28246,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/09\/cross-country-wireless-release-sdr-4-special-edition-sdr-receiver\/","url_meta":{"origin":51958,"position":4},"title":"Cross Country Wireless release SDR-4+ Special Edition SDR receiver","author":"Thomas","date":"September 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Southgate ARC and Kim Elliott) Cross Country Wireless have released a Special Edition version of their\u00a0SDR-4+receiver. This includes many features previously only available in custom versions of the receiver. Adding a high IP3 push pull RF amplifier, RF filter upgrades and a lower noise and distortion IQ amplifier have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ham Radio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Ham Radio","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/ham-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Cross-Country-Wireless-SDR.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18772,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/07\/the-aaa-1c-an-affordable-loop-antenna-amplifier-kit\/","url_meta":{"origin":51958,"position":5},"title":"The AAA-1C: An affordable loop antenna amplifier kit","author":"Thomas","date":"July 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently stumbled upon the\u00a0Active Antenna Amplifier (model AAA-1C) by LZ1AQ. At 87.00 EUR, it's a pretty affordable and flexible solution for those who would like to design or use a loop antenna. According to the website, it packs a lot of features: 4 remotely switched modes (Loop A, Loop\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antennas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Active-Antenna-the-kit-product-7","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Active-Antenna-the-kit-product-7.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Active-Antenna-the-kit-product-7.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Active-Antenna-the-kit-product-7.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51958\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}