| SWMAN |
Rating:     |
2021-06-01 | |
| Works ok |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I saw one of these little antennas advertised somewhere and drove over to HRO in Plano to pick one up and give it a try.
It worked ok but nothing really super to mention. I used it on my small portable radios. It made signals louder and a little better but without it I can still hear the weak signals in there. I guess it's ok but I don't use it very often. Just sort of sits here on the desk and looks cool.
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| N0TLD |
Rating:     |
2021-05-30 | |
| Classic design that works |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
This is a classic design, generally the same as numerous other MW loops from other brand names like Sangean, Tecsun, Degen and Kaito -- a 9 inch, red enameled wire loop in a clear acrylic or lexan form mounted on a black or silver plastic base and using a small polyvaricon-type tuner. Even the Terk Advantage loop, though cosmetically different (and certainly less ergonomically pleasing, that damned tuner knob location, geez!), is essentially the same loop concept inside... and the reason the market has been able to easily bear all of these different iterations of essentially the same product is that the product simply WORKS -- and at (probably) the greatest bang-for-the-buck price point in the hobby.
They're not supposed to be S-needle-pegging power amp'ed active loops. They're meant to tweak and peak your signal-to-noise ratio and bring not-as-readable signals into the readable range.
They're just, y'know, SMALL LOOPS -- passive, inductive, tunable, turn-able, small, light, easy to use, and easy to pack/travel/store, and can generally be had for less than $40 (and some brands less than $30). What's NOT to like?
I've owned and used EVERY iteration of this antenna over the years, and they are all effective and do what they are supposed to do just fine. They also look sleek and cool while doing it.
I don't think they are the equal (just my opinion but formed over long experience) of the earlier Select-A-Tenna models, which are a bit larger, and certainly use larger air-variable caps for tuning and offer deeper, more balanced peaks and nulls. But then, none of these smaller models cost even half what the basic S-A-Ts cost when new (and FAR less than half the cost of the short-lived but very worthy Super Select-A-Tenna). The AN-200-style antennas may cost 50% or less of the S-A-T, but they perform as if they only cost 10% less.
And I mostly (most often) use my own homemade loop antennas for MW listening. I find them superior in many ways, beyond the satisfaction of knowing I made them myself.
But it's actually pretty damned silly for me (or anyone) to compare the AN-200 'family' of antennas with other antennas anyway. Of COURSE you could buy/build and use MUCH larger loops and phased arrays and get better performance, incredibly deep, perfectly steered nulls and so on... but not at anywhere NEAR the price, size or ease of use, for what you get so quickly, simply and reliably with the AN-200 style small loops.
The Grundig AN-200 is a little champ, and worth far more than its price tag.
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| WA1UFO |
Rating:      |
2014-08-27 | |
| Excellent antenna! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I am 65 and started playing with radio at 7 years of age. I have used many aerial types over the years and many tube and solid state receivers including shortwave xtal radios which heard the world with a good skywire. With my Yaesu and Icom rigs, I often like to DX MW stations but my 75 Meter OCF dipole is grossly limiting because of the 115 KV line behind my house. I own several active loop aerials for SW and MW. I love pocket transistor radios as well for MW fishing so I got the Tecsun AN200 loop which is this loop with a different name. It is pretty to look at, ruggedly built, and works like a charm! I also tried it with my Sony ICF 2010 and it sent it into orbit nulling out most of the trash on MW much better than the internal aerial on the Sony. It has high Q and cost me 24 bucks with shipping included from Hong Kong! This is a steal at this price I can tell you! |
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| F61 |
Rating:   |
2013-06-18 | |
| You get what you pay |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Owned this for about 18 months, and it works OK for cheap radios like the WRX-911 or Tecsun R911 Clone. My cost was $25 shipped. Quite frankly a milk-crate antenna does better with nice sharp peaks due to using a real air-variable, and not a polymer variable. Winding on the loop is too tight with too big a gauge. Using #30 wire at same spacing would help. Nothing to get excited about here, but is at least as good as the older 9" loops that sold for twice as much 30 years ago.
F61-out |
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| NZ4O |
Rating:     |
2012-02-07 | |
| A Helpful addition |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
2-3 years ago I bought my Tecsun AN 200 loop straight from the manufacturer in China. It was packed and shipped very poorly but survived the trip with no damage. The manufacture of my unit was fairly poor and I had to make a couple of physical repairs to it.
As far as performance it significantly improves reception on the MF AM band compared to the stock internal loop stick antennas in my Sangean ATS-818 and Tecsun PL-600.
I use it mainly at night time beside the bed as I like to listen to WSM 650 and KOA 850. |
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| N4DBC |
Rating:     |
2012-01-01 | |
| Good for a small loop |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
My local Rat Shack was having a clearance, so I picked this up to try on my Sony XDR-F1HD tuner.
That tuner came with one of those rectangular (small) plastic loop antennas, so I figured that this would be an improvement without having a "hula hoop" or larger antenna.
Right away I noticed a stronger signal on all stations. The HD even locked (for a limited time) on night time stations as far away as St. Louis (KMOX - 1120) and Boston (WBZ - 1030) [My grid is EM-97 in SW Va). Anyone who has an HD radio knows that skywave (night time) will rarely lock into the digital signal.
The tuning knob (variable capacitor/trimmer?) does make a slight difference if you use it correctly. I can tell more of a difference in daytime use, where distant stations (groundwave) are consistently weak but not subject to fading like skywave signals.
There does appear to be a correlation between the 'trimmer' position and frequency. For instance, if you are tuning in the 540 to 850 KHz range, the trimmer knob is usually best to the left of center (7 - 11 o'clock). The middle of the am band will be best with the trimmer somewhere near the middle (between 10 - 2 o'clock). The higher part of am seems better between the middle and right (12 - 5 o'clock). However, sometimes stations at the band edges like the trimmer all the way opposite of what you might expect.
One example of improvement, WFIR 960 from Roanoke, Va mainly produced a 'carrier squeal' (daytime) on the original am loop. But with the AN200, I can adjust the position of the loop and the 'trimmer' to recover a readable signal.
I'm also able to receive considerably more daytime am stations. The key is to set your radio to the frequency that you wish to receive, and then rotate the antenna and trimmer for best reception.
Don't expect miracles. But if you have a tuner or portable with a am antenna input, and the OEM small am loop doesn't work well for you, this could be an improvement. Just don't pay over $25 or so for it, because there are probably better ones (if you pay more or can use a physically larger loop).
I'll rate it a 4 for comparably sized (passive) loop antennas, but a 3 or less if compared to a larger wire or active (amplified) loop antenna. |
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| N6FD |
Rating:      |
2011-05-31 | |
| Improves small receivers |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Works as advertised. Improved the reception of stations on my Radio Shack DX-440 and Sangean DTV-200. Didn't do much for my GE Superadio II, but that has a really good antenna to start with. The smaller the loopstick in the radio, the more this will help. The only down side was that it didn't null out interference from a local monitor very well. The other thing is that it looks very good, like a piece of abstract art, passes the wife desktop test. |
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| N0CEK |
Rating:     |
2011-05-10 | |
| Works! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I can now listen to 5kw 970 WMAY Springfield, Il. loud from 130 miles away during the day. Before with my Sangean 909 bareback I could hear the signal but it was in the mud. with a long wire it was a little better, but this antenna beats or at least equals the wire. I used the lead from the AN 200 to the radio jack and that was best but inductively it works almost as well.
I am mildly impressed with this mini-antenna its well worth 29 bucks. It doesn't take much to tune it and it doesnt take up to much room. |
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| WY3X |
Rating:   |
2011-02-25 | |
| Poor reception compared to... |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Poor reception as compared to a "carpet loop" antenna strung around inside my shack. If you're happy with this micro-antenna for BCB reception, you've never had the pleasure of listening on a larger antenna. The only person who would be pleased with this is someone who has never owned a "real" antenna. I bought this Grundig AN-200 from Radio Shack, and took it back the next day. I compared it to reception on three other antennas: a full-size 160M dipole, a 5 element HF cubical quad, and the carpet loop antenna. Hands down, the carpet loop beats it. I don't expect it to perform as good as the 160M antenna, but it should be at least as good as my 5 band HF quad (which is not tuned for these frequencies) to be considered a serious antenna for BCB listening. I think the problem is that the Q is too low. I think comparing it to my carpet loop indoor antenna is a very fair comparison, and hands down, it beat this micro-miniature antenna to pieces. Tuning was overly broad with little or no peaks. Several years ago I had a Ray Jefferson marine AM receiver with a rotatable ferrite antenna mounted on top, and it beat the pants off this piece of junk and my carpet loop. That's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it! |
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| WB6TNB |
Rating:      |
2011-01-19 | |
| Works like it should |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I have a couple of other passive loops (Select-a-Tenna and Terk) and the AN200 provides as much signal boost as they do but for a lower price. It's very attractive (especially when compared to the Select-a-Tenna). It was only $24.99 at Fry's Electronics. |
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