K-180WLA Active Loop Broadband Receiving Antenna 100kHz-180MHz 20dBi SDR Radio Antenna Loop Small Loop Short Wave Antenna

I got this for myself to test out, on my portable SDR receivers. The K-180WLA is a phenomenal antenna once tuned correctly to your receiver, It will pick up a lot of stations. I tested out K-180WLA on LW, MW, FM, 41 meters. The K-180WLA impressed me, I am very particular about antennas and the wires that come with them. Check out the videos of my testing, I was using a stylus that has been around the block and I need a need to get a one, new hence the pressing issues I was encountering on my videos The antenna as you will see picks up a lot of strong signals the scope will show and reflect what is being broadcasted Including the strongest signal. The K-180WLA loop antenna components amplifier, antenna, waterproof housing are made extremely well you can clearly see they put a lot of into the K-180WLA excellent work. Right below the loop there are 4 screws you on the box you can open up an and inside there’s a switch inside for FMDX and HFDX with a very well made gasket to not let water inside making it great for a permanent outdoor solution. I recommended the K-180WLA to all of my HAM, shortwave listeners. They ended up buying the antennas as soon as I got off the phone with them. They were having a lot of noise interference issues for shortwave LW MW. This was due to the amount of LED street lights and cameras they are running for their home that throw out a lot of dirty signal and interference. I had the same issue this antenna solved the problem in a hitch…. Now battery life is excellent from my testing. Battery voltage is consistent. Great idea for a portable solution and have several small cases of extra batteries if your backpack while your other ones charge up on a battery charger using a good battery bank. A set of batteries come installed in the amplifier to get you started listening. My takeaways: Excellent having issues hearing stations in noisy environments this is your solution. The stability value for the money ease of use , cable length. It’s compatible with a lot of different SDR radios and shortwave radios I have tested with excellent results with K-180WLA Read the manual for proper installation the manual is easy to navigate the fact the manufacturer included photos of how to set it up correctly to make it easier for customers is awesome. Take and your time and put the antenna together piece by piece. Connect everything and start listening. *Use PVC glue only* Once you have it set up to your liking. You can get PVC glue right on Amazon. Buy it I promise you will not regret it happy listening 📻

I've been using this for several days and it is exceeding expectations. I am using it indoors. I live in a very high noise, city environment. This is now allowing me to receive stations I could not hear before. It has brought back joy to shortwave and mediumwave listening for me. I cannot recommend this antenna enough, especially for extremely noisy environments.

I had been using a passive dipole antenna on my SDR with very poor results. At the recommendation of some buddies, I tried the MLA-30+ active loop antenna. I simply taped the antenna to the window in my office, connected it to a dongle SDR and I am picking up stations o 10 MHz over much of the Eastern third of the US. Of course it is not as food as a full sized antenna, but for a quick indoor installation it is quite good!

The amplifier module has a rechargeable battery, which is really nice for use in the backyard or while camping. Not "hard" to set up, but takes a bit of manual dexterity to mount the loop to the antenna box, as the washers and wing nuts like to "fly off" due to the steel loop's "memory" of being squashed in the bag/box. Once you get the loop on the mounts, it stays firmly attached. LOVE the ease-of-use. Turn it on, and tune your receiver to whatever HF frequencies you want! (I used mine exclusively for <30 MHz, so can only comment on this range.) Since a loop antenna is inherently directional, you can turn it to enhance the reception of a desired signal, or null out a remote noise source. (I used this capability to map out the noise sources in a park, and identify the best places to raise an HF vertical antenna, to avoid them!) I also used this receive-only loop antenna with my RTL-SDR (and other) software defined radios, and it works exceptionally well for its size. I would buy another one of these in a heartbeat!

Best overall antenna for SDR 300 khz - 165 MHz in terms of cost vs. performance. Mounts easily on mic/light stand or other stable vertical support.

Junk. Absolute crap. Sorry I purchased it.

The Chinese to English manual definitely needs some love and is the only thing I find fault with. I am really enjoying the antenna and have it hooked up to a RWL-SDR dongle. Works very well. It did take a couple of days to figure it all out, so I thought my lessons learned tips might help fill in the gap with the supplied manual. There's no need for glue, just put the pvc pipes together and friction should hold it all together since the antenna doesn't weigh much. I did add a layer of tape on the top pipe to ensure the cap fits tighter to prevent it from coming apart if I hung it up by a string. If you don't glue it then you can take the whole thing apart in 30 sec. Pretty obvious how it goes together, just make sure the loop is a round circle and not an oval and at least 22 inches top to bottom. The antenna receives RF directionally, not omni. The antenna is a donut; turn the hole of the donut to face where you want to receive VHF/UHF signals or turn the edge of the donut towards where you want HF signals. Try turning the antenna a bit to tune in a weaker signal that might not be perfectly aligned. The antenna and yellow preamp box are weatherproof. Make sure to put some sag or a loop in the cable so that water drips off the cable and doesn't travel into the house. There's a yellow preamp box where the metal loop is attached that contains a selectable switch. If you primarily want to search and receive long distance FM stations then don't touch it. If you're close to powerful FM radio stations and getting overpowered or want to search and receive clearer 80m/40m/20m/etc HF signals then you'll need to open the preamp and move the switch from FMDX to HF. If you don't need FM radio stations there's a $16 Broadcast FM Block Filter (88-108 MHz Block) that you can purchase to shut out FM radio signals. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LE9LRPM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Mount or hang the antenna 3ft from any walls and windows before you power it up. Put it where the kiddies/pets can't touch it while it's in use. You'll have to mount it outside if you want decent reception. There is a SDR# software setting to turn on the reception of AM and HF signals below 28MHz. Here's how: In SDR# stop the program. Then select "Sampling Mode" > "Direct sampling (Q branch)". Now hit play. If the "Sampling Mode" is greyed out it means you didn't stop the program. To resume going back to listening to VHF/UHF then hit stop again, select "Sampling Mode" > Quadrature sampling". Hooking up the SMA cables to the blue cable box (not waterproof) is fairly obvious. Long antenna cable goes to the ANT connector. Short SDR dongle cable goes to the RADIO connector. Don't power on the antenna unless everything is connected first. On the blue antenna cable box there is a power switch to turn on the antenna. What's not clear is the LED lights. Here's my findings: 1) Far right LED shows red while you're charging the lithium battery. **NOTE do not charge the battery while the antenna is powered on. Supposedly the battery lasts around 40 hours between charging so it's not something that needs to be done all the time. 2) Middle LED shows green when the lithium battery is fully charged. Make sure to pull out the USB charging cable before powering on the antenna. 3) Far left LED light shows red when you have the antenna powered on and active. A quick test to see if the antenna is working below 28MHz is to power it up and tune to the AM stations (540 - 1600 kHz). Make sure you first select "Sampling Mode" > "Direct sampling (Q branch)". Got AM, then everything is probably working fine. See if you can find the Ft Collins, CO UTC Signal at 10Mhz. You'll hear seconds ding off then a distinct signal at the minute mark. It'll also announce the UTC time in English. Pretty cool. Good luck!

Easy to set up...Loop was made of a very firm steel that keeps its shape - not flimsy as others that sag. Receives well even though I am in a valley "fishbowl".