There are a lot of videos on the ‘tube about this antenna – some praise – some negative – so I figured go ahead and get one and see if it would do anything worthwhile with the Malahit – in an attempt to get some portability and performance out of such a small radio and have a decent small antenna to go with it . . .
This is NOT an amplified antenna – the only tweak to using it is a two step capacitor – switching between 4 mHz – 12 mHz and 12 mHz – 24 Mhz – then tuning the capacitor to hit the sweet spot for a given frequency. Come spring weather ( it is cold and snowing outside ) I will get it outside and try it – the other thing I am going to try is to use a Low Noise Amplifier with it – there are about a gazillion of them out on the market – I wonder how many I will “collect” to find one that works decently – LOL!
You can see the little switch off of the lower right corner of the capacitor to go between low and high range . . .
Here is VOA out of Korea on 9800 kHz using the MLA 30+ with the SDR – remember it is amplified –
And with the “Donut” – which is NOT amplified –
The signal was a little hard to hear – but it was there . . .
And the Malhit using the MLA 30+ –
And using the “Donut” – again hard to hear, but there . . .
Remember : this is inside the house – so there is some attenuation or dampening of the signal – the MLA 30+ more than makes up for that with the amplifier that is integral in the antenna system. The “donut” has no amplification – only the capacitor to get to the “sweet” spot.
Bottom line – it performs inside better than I expected . . . And for $18 bucks on Amazon it’s worth trying – another thing I’m going to try is a counterpoise on the “donut” and the MLA 30+ – nothing fancy, simply an 8 or 10 feet length of speaker wire and an alligator clip clamped on the nut – which is the ground side of this setup – it should make a difference – I am a little hesitant to try that until I get into my radio room – my Blushing Bride is likely getting close to the end of her patience with the on going “mess” on her dining room table and in her living room – women tend to get upset over the strangest little things – sorta like saving her $500 – on a new pistol – she just doesn’t go for that line of reasoning – But honey – I got it for $900 – and the list on it is $1400 – I saved you $500!
I’m here to say I won’t try that again . . .
Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!
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