Wellbrook ALA1530 great on HF, but what about VHF-lo?

[TassieJay]

I've been so impressed with the Wellbrook ALA1530 with its results from a few hundred kHz all the way up to 28 MHz.

But now I'm wondering if they could be used for VHF-lo, say up to 40 MHz. Its not that much above the intended upper advertised limit of 30 MHz... has anyone given it a try?

 

[zl2taw]

yeah they perform pretty well,

love mine to bits

 

[ab3a]

Do note that the wavelength at 40 MHz is about 7.5 meters. At that wavelength it isn't really all that beneficial to use a loop over, say, a vertical antenna.

 

[nanZor]

Ah yes, but cut that wavelength down by 10 (the usual definition for a small current-node only loop) and at 40mhz you've got around 2.5 feet circumference.

But I see your point - that's a lot of hardware to pick up 40mhz, when a 1/4 spike will do better. Then again, if you have noise on 40mhz, you won't be able to null it out with the spike.

The Wellbrook is much, much smaller than 1/10th wavelength on the lower HF bands, and the amplifier helps make up for that. But GREAT nulls with such a small circumference.

Homebrew, you can almost do without an amp, if you make the loop circumference as large as you can so long as you don't exceed 1/10th wave. That's why common coax-loops say for 80 meters, are 3 or 4 times the size of the Wellbrook in area. The larger the area, the stronger the signal, which helps make up for the missing amp.