EEVblog Electronics Community Forum

Electronics => RF, Microwave, Ham Radio => Topic started by: CC58 on January 24, 2024, 02:10:35 am

Title: MLA-30 Shortwave Loop Antenna
Post by: CC58 on January 24, 2024, 02:10:35 am

I was looking to get an active shortwave loop antenna for my shortwave radio and found the MLA-30+ antenna is popular.  Discovered it is based on the Philips NE592N14 IC and a seller on ebay has this on a board for $9.  Looking at the IC specs it looks like it will work down to 3V supply limiting it to 60mhz which is fine for shortwave.  I should be able to power it with SDRplay T-Bias at 4.5vdc? 

Am I missing something here?  Anyone see a problem with this?

Ebay has many sellers for this $9 board, but the board has no name.  One seller names it "HA SDR Short Medium Wave Radio Adjustable Gain Loop Antenna 100kHz-30MHz".

Here is spec for Philips NE592N14:
https://html.alldatasheet.com/html-pdf/17989/PHILIPS/NE592N14/1507/6/NE592N14.html

Title: Re: MLA-30 Shortwave Loop Antenna
Post by: A.Z. on January 24, 2024, 06:51:02 am

check this active loop schematic

http://techlib.com/electronics/antennas.html (http://techlib.com/electronics/antennas.html)

it works much better than the MLA-30,  not only the latter has several design flaws, but being wideband is easily overloaded by strong signals

note: if you prefer a wideband antenna, check the figure 8 at the above link