HFU HF Underground
Technical Topics => Equipment => Topic started by: Fansome on March 16, 2010, 1924 UTC
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I was looking for a good travel antenna, and thought I'd see about the AN-LP1. I went to universal-radio.com, where it is stated that the antenna was discontinued.
Turns out this is not the case; it just isn't sold here in the USA anymore, for unknown reasons. However, it's still sold in Japan. I found a seller on eBay, "buyfromjapan" who will ship you one from there. I ordered one, and it showed up promptly and as advertised, although it was not cheap. I haven't used it enough to judge the quality of the reception, but it has had pretty good reviews over the years. It's also extremely portable, folding into a travel pouch about the size of a hardcover book.
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Looks loopy enough, but not nearly fugly enough. Soaking it overnight in Mickey's malt liquor may help. OTOH, it probably won't get you kicked out of respectable hotels, an unfortunate consequence of traveling with fugloops.
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Ok, I will try the soaking advice. The instructions are kind of vague, but I am pretty sure they said that the antenna is "beer-proof", so I should be alright.
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Ok, after repeated soakings in beer, I can report further on the AN-LP1. And I also soaked the antenna in beer, too.
My conclusion is that, for indoor use, this anteanna is usually better than a wire. It rejects noise very very well, which is my main complaint when on the road and trying to use a longwire inside a hotel room. However, even with the noise, my EF-SWL beats it hands down when I can get the EF outside, which is not often.
I have been using this with a Sony 7600GR, for which it is designed. There are confusing statements in the antenna documentaion and on the web that the AN is powered by the 7600, and the question is whether a non-Sony antenna will work when plugged into the external antenna jack. The true situation is that the Sony puts a very weak voltage on the antenna jack when it is turned on, and this turns on the AN power supply. Other antennas can also be plugged into this jack, and they work fine. The AN can also be used with a non-Sony radio; in that case you have to manually turn the power supply off and on, which is no big deal.
All in all it's a good antenna. I have been running it on the original batteries for at least 40 hours now, with no signs of failing. The lack of gain makes it problematic for very weak pirates, but it is definitely better than a longwire indoors, and it works well with broadcast and utility stations. I paid something like $120 for it on eBay from the guy in Japan, and I don't regret it.
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Cool review, Al.
I use it as well on conjunction with my Sangean ATS-909 and I must say for a small portable loop antenna it's fantastic. Far better than any random longwire antenna and really good at canceling out local RF, at least in my case. Wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!
The seller on ebay, "buy from japan" I believe - is selling NOS. These aren't being produced and haven't been in production by Sony for quite some time. Get them while you can! When I purchased mine from him 1.5 years ago I think I paid $90+shipping. His price is increasing steadily as his stock gets smaller.
Not perfect for pirate broadcasts but I have pulled in quite a few from Outhouse, WEAK, WBNY, MAC, etc.
Tim