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Reviews For: AOR LA400 Magnetic Loop

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : AOR LA400 Magnetic Loop
Reviews: 4MSRP: $516
Description:
Indoor, tunable pre amplified (20db) magnetic loop for desk
or window mounting. This is a receive only antenna.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.aorja.com/antennas/la400.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0045
K7FD Rating: 2022-03-12
Surprisingly good! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Using the LA400 with my Belka-DX SDR; mini loop with a micro radio :)

Indoor loop performance is surprising! Delivers excellent signal-to-noise ratio. Especially good on 160-80-40 meters. Lots of signals, little background noise.

LA400 is well built. Nice to be able to peak the frequency I’m tuned to, like using an amplified preselector. Really brings the signals to life.

John K7FD

VR2AX Rating: 2018-03-11
Excellent Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I purchased mine in late September 2017 direct from the AOR distributor in Hong Kong. Paid just under 300 dollars. I had been keen to try a magnetic loop receiving antenna for some time. Being able to collect from the distributor without any shipping charges was an important part of the decision to try this particular model.

Receiving conditions are as follows: 7th floor apartment out of a 45 floor residential block located on the South China Sea coastline, sea about ¼ to 1 mile away depending on the direction. Clear take off with some interruption by other tall buildings from roughly NE clockwise to SW. The other half circle is impeded by my own apartment and other steel structured tall buildings. My apartment is the bottom residential unit so I do have facility to erect outdoor antennas for transmit on a temporary basis. However these have to be taken down after a few hours use. Being able to just switch on and check reception at the push of a button was a main factor.

In short I am impressed by the receive performance especially readability under noisy city center radio receiving conditions. I have used it to receive from LW/MW and lower right up to 23 com and higher. Receivers have been an IC-7300 initially followed by an IC-R8600. A point to bear in mind is that the tunable preamp works between 150 KHz and 30 MHz in four tunable range. Outside that range (down to 10 KHz and by specification up to 500 MHz) one can use the fifth non tunable position. I have it mounted indoors on the living room window beside the radios.

Reception on 80/160 has been surprisingly good in signal to noise ratio terms. Almost everything one hears on those bands, which is not that much in this part of the world, tends to be DX of one degree or another. Japan, Korea and Asiatic Russia are frequently audible at night especially early hours of the morning on CW. I have sometimes being able to turn on the preamp on the receiver to good effect. The man made noise tends to be lowest at that time as well. 30/40 can produce solid signals on phone and CW and the HF bands often produce S9 plus signals against a S 0-1 noise level. Of course daytime can produce much higher noise levels, several thousand close residential units, plus the usual commercial stuff. Switching off is an easy job ready for another time.

I have also found it to be quite effective on air band VHF and higher. Unfortunately they closed down the old BBC World Service relay on 675 KHz in Peng Chau just before I bought mine.

Physically this is a compact unit and quite light. It will require some further evaluation from the mechanical reliability point of view. I will post again with an update after I have owned it for longer.

W2QL Rating: 2016-12-09
Serves Purpose Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I purchased this back in the summer when the ham/swl bug bit again after 20 years. I use it with a CommRadio CR-1a in our bedroom as a casual listening post. It has exceeded my expectations.

For its small size, it packs quite a punch. For example, ~0300z on 25 Oct I monitored A92GE running a pileup on 40cw. Around 1 Sept I monitored VP6J. Being a loop, it exhibits some directivity, and it is sensitive to siting.

I have only really compared it to my Chameleon F Loop +. (I did temporarily run a random wire throughout the house, and the LA400 seemed much better - less noise.) The more time I spend w/ both the F Loop and the LA400 simultaneously on my FT-817nd, the more the two seem equal in performance at my indoor location. A true engineering evaluation probably could identify performance differences, but for 'general operating' it tends to be hard to tell if the differences are the antenna, qsb, or if the tuning (critical for these loops) is not spot on.

I have not used the LA400 much above HF (I have listened to some air traffic and NOAA weather stations) so I can't comment other than to say it obviously works as a general purpose small antenna. I use it quite a bit on MW where it performs well; the side nulls being useful at the upper end of the band when trying to isolate a signal.

With the CR-1a, the footprint is small, and the design looks enough like 'retro art' that it has spouse approval to be on the side table next to the easy chair in our bedroom. It hears well enough to be very enjoyable, not frustrating, to use.

Yes, it costs a lot. But it works, and I use it almost daily so I figure I will get my money's worth over time, unlike some other 'gadgets'....

So if you need a broadband antenna with a footprint that's smaller than a coffee maker, are flexible about siting, and can accommodate the ~12v requirement (no internal battery), I think you will be surprised how well this performs!

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Earlier 5-star review posted by KN4VV on 2016-10-25

I purchased this back in the summer when the ham/swl bug bit again after 20 years. I use it with a CommRadio CR-1a in our bedroom as a casual listening post. It has exceeded my expectations.

For its small size, it packs quite a punch. For example, ~0300z on 25 Oct I monitored A92GE running a pileup on 40cw. Around 1 Sept I monitored VP6J. Being a loop, it exhibits some directivity, and it is sensitive to siting.

I have only really compared it to my Chameleon F Loop +. (I did temporarily run a random wire throughout the house, and the LA400 seemed much better - less noise.) B/w the LA400 and the F Loop: everything I could hear in the LA400 I could hear, and more clearly (therefore enjoyably), in the F Loop; almost everything I could hear in the F Loop I could hear in the LA400, but not everything.

I have not used it much above HF (I have listened to some air traffic and NOAA weather stations). I use it quite a bit on MW, and it shines there too!

With the CR-1a, the footprint is small, and the design looks enough like 'retro art' that it has spouse approval to be on the side table next to the easy chair in our bedroom. It hears well enough to be very enjoyable, not frustrating, to use.

Yes, it costs a lot. But it works, and I use it almost daily so I figure I will get my money's worth over time, unlike some other 'gadgets'....

So if you need a broadband antenna with a footprint the smaller than a coffee maker, are flexible about siting, and can accommodate the ~12v requirement (no internal battery), I think you will be surprised how well this performs!
G4MJA Rating: 2016-04-19
Excellent performance Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Whilst certainly not cheap for those who can't put up a receive only outdoor antenna this I believe is the ideal answer. A small loop 1' in diameter mounted on a small control box approximately 4.5" X 4" with two controls, one for band switching & one to tune the loop.An optional 2 cable extension pack is available so that the loop can be separated from the control box by up to 30' & mounted in a clear area such as a window. The loop is not waterproof & not suitable for outdoor use.Here in the UK today with the loop mounted on it's control box on my desk & connected to my Icom IC-R8500 I received Radio Australia & Voice Of Korea, pretty impressive performance for such a small loop.