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mfj magnetic loop

Tony Hateley
Tony Hateley Member ✭✭
edited May 2020 in FLEX-6000 Signature Series
hi,I was thinking of getting a mfj magnetic loop to go with my 6500,as im restricted with what I can put up at my qth,was wondering if anyone else has tried these loops and what were your findings.thanks tony

Answers

  • Dave - WB5NHL
    Dave - WB5NHL Member ✭✭
    edited December 2014
    Tony, have you considered attic antennas.  Here is a link to my attic antennas that I was able to use while living in an interior unit of a townhouse.  BTW, I did use a magnetic loop for awhile but found attic antenna much better.
    WB5NHL attic antennas
  • George KF2T
    George KF2T Member ✭✭✭
    edited February 2019
    Works very well 20m and up. Easy tuning, once you get the hang of it. Works best mounted in the clear. I used mine vertically, but others choose horizontal.
  • KT0AM - Mark
    KT0AM - Mark Member ✭✭
    edited February 2017
    Tony, I don't have any personal experience with magnetic loop antennas but I follow the Yaesu FT817 forum on Yahoo and magloops are a favorite and constant discussion topic. If you need to learn about the positive and negative aspects of magnetic loops, you may consider checking that forum.

    Cheers!
  • Duane_AC5AA
    Duane_AC5AA Member ✭✭✭
    edited May 2018
    I ran an AEA magnetic loop ("Isoloop") for several years when in a restricted area, and it worked surprisingly well.  I liked its low-noise receive characteristics, and, other than very critical tuning that took me a while to learn, I generally worked what I might hear similar to a dipole.  I mounted mine horizontally for omnidirectional coverage.  You can mount it vertically with a small TV rotator and get some nulling effect off the ends.  It also has low-angle radiation.  
  • Ed, K0KC
    Ed, K0KC Member ✭✭
    edited September 2017
    Tony,

    I use an MFJ loop antenna on 40 through 15 meters in my garage attic "antenna farm" (restricted subdivision). I would estimate that its performance is about as good as an outdoor dipole. The tuning is fairly sharp, but is not a big deal for me as I operate mostly JT65 and JT9 these days and the sub-band for these modes is only about 4KHz. My loop is mounted vertically.

    I made one JT65 contact from Ohio to Australia on 40 meters with both ends using an MFJ loop.

    Ed, K0KC
  • Tony Hateley
    Tony Hateley Member ✭✭
    edited May 2018
    I work mainly ssb phone
  • Ed, K0KC
    Ed, K0KC Member ✭✭
    edited December 2014
    Tony,

    I haven't tried much SSB with the loop, but the constant tuning required for a frequency change of only a few KHz would be problematic for you. If you have the space, an indoor dipole would be the best choice.

    Ed, K0KC
  • Duane_AC5AA
    Duane_AC5AA Member ✭✭✭
    edited December 2016
    Tuning on the higher bands will not be so critical.  On my AEA loop, which covered 10 - 30 MHz, tuning on 10 MHz was fairly critical.  However on 20m, a single tuning was good for 10-15 KHz, and by the time you got to 10m, a single tuning was at least 100 kHz wide as this band was close to the natural frequency for the loop.
  • Tom--W4FAS
    Tom--W4FAS Member ✭✭
    edited December 2014
    George at what height do you have your magnetic loop mounted?
  • Tony Hateley
    Tony Hateley Member ✭✭
    edited February 2015
    I have not got it mounted yet but when I do it will be about 7m from ground level mounted vertically on a rotator
  • Ian1
    Ian1 Member ✭✭
    edited May 2020
    Tony There are several videos on You Tube showing the MFJ loop working well on SSB. I found them by just searching Magnetic Loop. I would post a link but my tablet doesnt let me. The video shows them working well. For my personal use I use a Pixel Loop for receive in the diversity setting on my Flex it's signal is lower then my other antennas as is its noise. Ian
  • George KF2T
    George KF2T Member ✭✭✭
    edited December 2016
    Tom, it was at 25 ft. It's down now, but standing by for the day the HOA Police find my long wire.
  • KM6CQ - Dan
    KM6CQ - Dan Member ✭✭
    edited December 2014
    Hey George, nice to see you on here.

    Dan KM6CQ
  • Mark K9BOO
    Mark K9BOO Member
    edited October 2016

    Hi Tony,

    For what its worth, I can offer a couple considerations and a couple experiences I had in a similar situation.

    For me, one of the draws to a Flex 6300 radio was being able to monitor a wide swath of frequencies at once.  However, the very narrow bandwidth of high-Q transceiver magnetic loop transceiver antennas, to a large degree, seem to me to negate that benefit.  Trying such transceiver antennas, I could literally see the signal drop-off on each side of the antenna-tuned frequency.  And, with the relatively slow tuning speed of most of narrow-tuning transceiver antennas, its seemed that solution moved me even further backwards from some of the benefits of my FlexRadio.

    I live in an extremely challenging, rf-noisy environment.  Of the various whips, loaded, and end-fed antennas I tried, none could be described as being anything but complete failures.

    However, I tried a Pixel Technologies (now called Inlogis I think) receive-only magnetic loop antenna.   Though expensive, this type of antenna was successful in receiving signals where all other antennas were miserable failures (in all fairness, it's because I live in a concrete and steel set of buildings).  And, though it is receive-only, it does not require any tuning.  Thus, I can *receive* wide HF frequency swaths with no tuning or related delays.

    Since I usually need to hear them to work them, in my case, receiving had priority in the all-antennas-are-a-compromise solution.

    Your mileage and priorities may vary.

    Good luck!

    Mark K9BOO

    P.S.  I have no pecuniary interest in either company.  I got my Pixel RF-Pro-1B antenna from DX Engineering, but the other major ham retailers seem to carry it too.



  • kenwigger
    kenwigger Member
    edited February 2018
    I am glad that you are enjoying your MFJ loop. I recently picked up a W6LVP Magnetic Loop a few weeks ago and put it up about 20 ft on a Channel Master rotator and use it as my receive antenna on my ham station while using a 132 ft Carolina Windom antenna for transmit. I really have found a tremendous difference in noise after going to a loop. I also have a Timewave ANC-4 Noise reducing device that works great in combination with either antenna when fighting noise that is not nulled out by the loop because I am using the loop at times to pick between stations in different locations on the ham bands and also BCB stations. I have a 12 ft noise dipole at 3 ft above the ground for the ANC-4 that I placed right under my electrical power line pole. The combination of a loop and the ANC-4 has allowed me to enjoy listening to Shortwave like back in the 50s and 60s before all of the electrical environment issues we face today.
    73s
    WD9GNG

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