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Reviews For: Blue Collar Ants Model 6 Magnetic Loop

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Omnidirectional: verticals, mobile, etc

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Review Summary For : Blue Collar Ants Model 6 Magnetic Loop
Reviews: 1MSRP: 60.00
Description:
Magnetic loop covers ~250 kHz anywhere on the 6 meter band.
Made with 5/8" OD copper tubing. Manually retunable. Less than
17" in diameter and less than 4 lbs.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.bluecollarants.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0015
N8HM Rating: 2013-05-04
Old school ordering process, great product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Living in an apartment with a balcony, I'm a big fan of magnetic loops and I use an MFJ-1786 as my primary HF antenna. In November I purchased a Yaesu FT-450D and gained 100 watt capability on six meters for the first time (all my prior six meter QSOs were made with 5 watts from my FT-817ND or 7 watts from a Ten-Tec 1206 20m to 6m transverter). I had used either a six meter dipole or vertical antenna from my apartment before, but wanted something more permanent. I thought about a halo, but that would have a bit too large to co-exist with my HF magnetic loop. As we approached Sporadic E season, I ran across Blue Collar Ants and their line of magnetic loops and immediately decided to purchase one. The company does not accept any online payments, so the ordering process hearkens back to a different age. I sent them a check for $60.00 along with an order form and they promptly acknowledged my order and built my loop. When they were finished, they packed it up and called me with the shipping price, about $14.00. I sent them a check for the $14.00 and in a couple of days they shipped the loop. It arrived a couple of days later. The antenna is constructed out of black painted copper piping and nicely finished. Since it wasn't quite Sporadic E season yet, I put it away. This morning, I saw a post on a reflector saying that six meters was open and I promptly put the loop out on my balcony and tuned my FT-450D to the six meter JT65 frequency, 50.276 MHz. The opening was up and down, but I worked four stations, all signal hop Sporadic E from Washington, DC (Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Alabama) in about an hour and a half with great signal reports. The loop is extremely quiet. With the dipole or vertical, I usually have an S5-S7 noise level, but with the loop, the noise level was S0-S1 (with the null of the loop pointed towards the building for maximum noise reduction). Unlike most HF magnetic loops, which suffer from lower efficiency at lower frequencies, this loop is estimated at around 94% efficient, so it is very close to a dipole or half-wave halo in terms of efficiency. While ordering is cumbersome, I highly recommend the product.