My Wellbrook loop arrived today. The postman that delivered it was a little bemused by the shape of the parcel saying it was the most unusual one he had ever delivered!
My Loop is the LA5030 Indoor. I decided on this model as I thought it would be the best of both worlds- it is suitable for loft mounting but also suitable for use outdoors. My plan was to install it temporarily in the loft and then later to mount it outside in the garden. In fact I have a spare run of Coax waiting for it.
Anyway for now I have popped it into the loft and stolen the feeder for my Loft 50Mhz dipole to feed it for now.
I have not had much time to evaluate the loop yet but my initial thoughts are it is a well made piece of kit. It is certainly directional on lower frequencies. This would be a good antenna for anyone interested in the Non Directional beacons below the MW band, the antenna seems very sensitive there.
Considering it is in the loft, which is not a good location for any antenna it is not picking up that much noise. It is certainly quieter than a wire antenna would be in this situation. On 80 metres receive it is quieter than my outdoor random wire and is on a par with my inverted L which I use for transmitting on 80. On 40 metres so far the outdoor wire is far superior- that was something of a surprise!
There is no doubt that this antenna will perform much better outside. I intend to evaluate it it whilst its in the loft for a little while, but If I get time over the Christmas break I will put it up at the end of the garden. I will post some more views on this antenna soon.
The top picture shows the antenna as it came through the post, the bottom one is the loop naked, so to speak!
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ReplyDeleteEvening Kevin,
ReplyDeleteVery exciting to see someone testing something I am so interested in myself. I am surprised your outdoor wire is so much better than the loop in the loft on 40M. However, with my high noise floor on 40M I bet the loop would be quieter....I would dearly love to lose a few db of noise there.
I am wondering if perhaps the loops really come into their own on the lower frequencies - this would make it an ideal antenna perhaps for tropical band dxing, where noise levels are noften attrociously high.
Anyway, I wish you success with your LA5030 (the very model I had my eye on) and will look out for your further comments on it.
73 de Adam
Had to delete my first comment as I made a few errors!
Hello Kevin, I am very curious about this loop antenna of yours. I think that the loop will perform better when free and outside and high as possible. Please let us know what your experiences are. 73 Paul PC4T
ReplyDeleteTV Antenna is the main part of TV which is very important to keep adjusted which is only done by the specialist. Antenna installation is very important because if antenna will be not installed rightly then people face trouble. Thanks for such a great blog really informative for all. outdoor antennas
ReplyDeleteI just bought the ALA1530LNP. My entire house and back yard is on a 6 x 7 metre plot so resonant wires below 21 MHz are inefficient to impossible. Getting into the Wellbrook packaging took longer than assembling the antenna in spite of a moment of cluelessness because I had the electronics upside down. It reminded me of the time I started ranting because the sticky bit on my post it notes was on the wrong side. Using the antenna indoors with a Yaesu VR-5000 I had to attenuate the signals to prevent receiver overload especially around 1 MHz. I got amateur CW and SSB activity on 40 and 80 metres for the first time in years. There were plenty of PSK31 signals near 14.07 MHz. Later I switched to a Flexradio 3000 SDR with the transmitter disabled. This has a much better dynamic range and I was impressed by the lack of background junk. The loop was close to my computer and it was evident that with minimal extra effort, the noise signals could be further reduced by better antenna positioning. I'm not sure how to waterproof the outdoor BNC connector. This is a design feature that might easily be improved. I had a discone antenna with the connector cleverly hidden in the mounting tube out of the elements. As to positioning, the antenna is sensitive and needs to be kept as far from noise sources as possible. Height is much less important. Rotation is really useful to null out interfering signals. I'll probably use my picnic table umbrella mount for my outdoor back yard installation. That has potential. Most pub gardens become viable QTHs. In under a day I've had clear signals on frequencies between 198 kHz up to 21 MHz. These include AM, CW, PSK31, SSB and DRM signals. The 198 kHz channel had two stations. Each could be heard easily my nulling out the other.
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DeleteIt might be worth adding that these tests were done with all my usual domestic electronics switched on including some LED lighting and the broadband router. I don't have any power line networking kit. I too got hula hoop jokes from my post man!
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