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Reviews For: Wellbrook ALA-1530 Active Magnetic Loop Antenna

Category: Antennas: VLF/LF/HF Receive only

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Review Summary For : Wellbrook ALA-1530 Active Magnetic Loop Antenna
Reviews: 33MSRP: 264 £ + charge
Description:
Active Magnetic Loop Antenna for medium and short waves listening operations
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.wellbrook.uk.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00334.7
M0TNX Rating: 2008-11-03
Well worth the money! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have always struggled with noise, not just at this QTH, but also at my previous. Having only a small garden seriously hampers my enjoyment of the low bands, with not having enough space to erect full sized antennas for 40 and below. The end feds that I am limited to, are all, as expected, very noisy on receive, I had heard of the Wellbrook but was a bit put out at its £160 plus price tag. However, the old saying "you only get what you pay for" is exceedingly true here. From a one metre wide loop, to be able to hear JA stations on 160 is awesome, coming in at s5-s7 I regularly hear them now on the CW end of the band. 80 metres has also been transformed, my noise level on the end fed is s9, on the wellbrook, s4, sometimes s3 meaning I can now hear across the pond with ease.

If you are struggling with noise, on any HF bands, and want to be able to hear local as well as DX stations, try this loop. The manufacturer, Andy Ikin is a credit to himself, with fast responses to email and phone calls..

A first rate product that may seem expensive, but is well worth every penny, it has transformed my radio and my enjoyment of the hobby.

Kev M0TNX
KB3LGB Rating: 2004-07-24
Great SWL Antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
After a great deal of research, I purchased the Wellbrook ALA 1530 antenna. This antenna has been used on my 43' Viking Motor Yacht and my current second floor apartment. I devised a PVC pipe support unit for it and this is cheap and effective. The antenna works exremely well for short wave listening and will always be a part of my ham shack. The unit has to be ordered from England, arrived after two weeks at a cost of approximately $275.00 US. The cost is high but this is the antenna for people with physical space problems that want a good antenna. I can only imagine how well it would work outside at 30' to 40' above ground. The low noise level and nulling efect of loops are well documented in the various loop internet articles on the net and Joe Carr's Loop Antenna Handbook. I only wish that one of the American Amataeur Radio stores would stock this antenna.This antenna and an Icom IC-R75 will eanable you to listen to the world!
ONL5183 Rating: 2002-10-27
Fine ! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Hi,

This review complete the previous one related to the ALA-330 active magnetic loop (see the related article on this site or on my website) as I stated the ALA-1530 was an emission model... what it is not !

Both ALA-1530 and ALA-330 and RECEIVE antenna dedicated to listening purposes in the LW and HF bands between 0.5 and 30 Mhz.

Sole difference, the ALA-1530 is more sensitive to
intermodulation (to the "interferences" caused by strong AM broadcasts located a few dozen or hundred km away). It shoudl also be place at about 10m away from any emitting RTX or TX antenna. Otherwise both antenna display the same design, performances and figures.

Last but not least, a remark. I have to insist on the "deep devotion" of the Director and saleman of Wellbrook, Andy Ikin, to the satisfaction of his customers.
This is the first company that has offered me a very fast service, trying to help me the best he could by email, listening to my suggestions, sending me quicky a full new set and all required information to fix my problem or to answer my questions.
This is a custom-oriented attitude that becomes hard to find on the place and I would like to highlight it.

Thierry
ONL5183
http://www.astrosurf.com/lombry