Loops Mfj-1886 loop, receiving, .5 to 30 mhz, 110vac

MFJ-1886 loop, receiving, .5 to 30 mhz, 110vac

Anyone here on RR using the MFJ-1886
LOOP, RECEIVING ANTENNA, .5 TO 30 MHZ?
http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Product.php?productid=MFJ-1886

I'm recovering from open heart surgery (mitral valve replacement) and winter is coming fast to Michigan this year. So I won't be able to install any kind of outdoor antenna until spring.

Having just getting great deal on an ICOM IC-7600 to be used as a HF receiver (only), I'm anxious to find the best indoor antenna solution to use until spring. After reading and studying all my options, I'm considering the MFJ-1886 loop. I'm painfully aware of the shortcomings of using any kind of indoor antenna, but it will have to do for now. I'd be interesting in hearing opinions from real users, especially in S.E. Michigan.

Stay away from MFJ. The quality just isn't there. For loop receive antennas, you're better off buying the PRO-1B or the WB 1530 models:

https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-rf-pro-1b

https://www.loop-antennas.com/wellbrook/North_American/ALA1530AL

Do your best to get either outside... all they need is a 5FT piece of EMT conduit jammed into the ground, screw down the bolts, connect some cables and you're done.

You could also put it up on the roof, a deck or (ideally) anywhere outside the house noise radius.

Your opinion of the 1886 is not borne out by the reviews on eHam;

https://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/13724

There's no need at all to go USD500+. The W6LVP loop is being used in an indoor environment with some success, as shown on the Extreme SW Listening Facebook group.where there are at least 2 folks doing this. Here's his home page (and as I understand it, his customer service is superb)

https://www.w6lvp.com/

Both are far and away - almost by half, in fact - less expensive than a Pixel or Wellbrook

Mike

There are many reviews of the LVP loop here...

https://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/13215

The word seems to be that while the LVP loop doesn't quite have the gain of the Wellbrook, it's queter. Keep in mind that when dealing with loops, you think in terms of signal to noise, not gain. So this might be a better indoor choice.

Mike

Do loop antennas, particularly ones used for receive only require or benefit from an antenna tuner?

Also if your receiver (in my case an ICOM IC-7600 transceiver) has it's own preamp, does it benefit from the loop antenna having it's own internal preamps (2), or will it overload?

1. The ones that you are considering, no. Certain non-amplified designs will use a large capacitor for tuning the loop, but not in your case

2. In general using a loop like the ones you are thinking about, it's possible that adding your own receiver preamp will increase the noise level along with the gain the antenna's preamp is already providing. There's no way to tell if overloading would be an issue as every RF environment is different. I'd leave it off. Remember that with a loop you are concerned with the amount of signal and the amount of noise being rejected. The signal may not necessarily be as strong as you would get with a wire antenna, but being quieter, it will be easier to hear. That is by far an acceptable trade off, for numerous reasons...Mike

I ordered an MFJ-1886 loop receiving antenna from GigaParts for $259.00 with FREE shipping. While I realize $259.00 is $10.00 more than MFJ's price direct., but the FREE shipping from GigaParts saved me $30.00! It had to be ordered but I had in 2-weeks, dropped ship direct from MFJ!

I haven't had a chance to set it up yet. It appears to be made very well and should last for years.

Should the Bias-Tee be connected close to the antenna, or the receiver, or does't it matter?

Sorry for taking so long returning to the thread. I'll keep this non technical, short and sweet.

I'm too tired to write pages upon pages of my opinion, I do not possess the proper equipment to technically and accurately measure the performance. I'll just say this:

The MFJ-1886 Reviving Loop Antenna did not disappoint! I'm using it in possibly the worse environment ever! It's in my home office, on a light stand, about 6 feet tall. I connected it to my IC-7600 with ten feet of RG8X coax.

The following equipment is currently in my office. Dell T7810 16-Core PC, and LCD TV, two 24" LCD monitors, a Brother color laser printer, a Brother label printer, a Netger CM-1000 DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem, a Netgear R8600 dual-band WiFi router, and two Netgear GD-108 9-port gigabit network switches, and a Panasonic 5GHz cordless phone connected to a MagicJack. I also have a 1200 watt electric heater, four 50w equivalent LED flood lights. a 2.4GHz hi definition camera, a iSmart wireless alarm system main control, and a Uniden BCD436HP scanner. There are numerous USB cables and CAT-6 networks cables all over the place!

Everything I've tried for a MW/SW antenna that I could contain within my office did not work well, if at all. Signal levels were very weak, finding anything to monitor was frustrating and when I did the noise levels were very high! When I connected the MFJ-1886 to the receiver it went silent! I thought it was shorted out and wasn't working. What actually happened is the noise floor dropped so much, I didn't even hear it at the volume level I had set! The big surprise was when I switched the Bias-T On, to power the pre-amp built into the base of the loop. I immediately was hearing a signal that I didn't even know was there! Spinning the tuning knob and trying different bands was fun again! It decreases the noise floor while increasing the signal level!

Plain and simple guys & gals the MFJ-1886 Receiving Loop Antenna works and it works well! You don't have to tune it. You don't even have to rotate it, but that may help in some cases. You don't have to be a technical guru to make it work. Build quality is excellent and it would stand up to weather outside if that's where you choose to mount it, and it doesn't have to be mounted real high. This is and ideal for mounting in the attic!

At about half the cost of everyone else's active loops, I highly recommend it. If you want more information, Google it, and you will find more in-depth reviews and Youtube videos.