W6LVP Magnetic Loop Antenna a Great Receiving aid for Hams and SWLers!

[WD9GNG]

One Friday evening I contacted Larry W6LVP and asked a question about the kind of coax that he would recommend for his Magnetic Loop antenna. I was surprised to get a response with technical information within an hour or so. With this kind of customer service I decided to go ahead and order one of his antennas later that evening. I actually received the antenna on Monday afternoon within a couple days.
I have extreme electrical noise that was S-8 most of the time on my Carolina Windom and made my radio almost unusable. I temporarily installed the Magnetic Loop antenna on a short 5 FT pole in the backyard. With the XYL as the null monitor at the radio I called her on my cell phone and rotated the antenna by hand and was able to get a sharp noise null of about S-1. Very tight null when rotating just a few degrees one way or the other. Went in the house and couldn’t believe the clear signals that were hidden by the previous high noise level. It reminded me of SWLing 50 years ago as a kid back in the good old days before the electrical noise environment turned so bad!
As I mentioned, the antenna arrived within a couple days and was of high quality construction and packed extremely well for shipment. I had read the previous reviews about Larry’s product quality and customer service and my experience was also very good!!
I am planning to mount the antenna on a Channel Master rotator one of these days to get the full effect of the excellent directionally of this Magnetic Loop antenna. I even read where Broadcast Band Listeners use this antenna to pick up and select between multiple stations on the exact same AM frequencies.
I highly recommend Larry W6LVP and his Magnetic Loop antenna to other Hams and SWL listeners. He responds personally to emails within a business day usually just an hour or two. What more could a customer ask for?

Here is the link for his web site where his antenna is described and available for sale:
https://www.w6lvp.com/

[MDK2]

As a recent customer, I can also attest that Larry's service is second to none. Get this - if you ask a question, he answers it. What I mean is that the actually answers the question that you ask. Most people just kind of rattle off information, but it's clear that Larry actually comprehends the specifics of what you want to know, and gives a clear, concise response that addresses it. It's a rare gift. And yes, he is prompt and never seems bothered by the contact.

Further, he will take the time to research your QTH and see if you need filters built in. I did - four notch filters for the stronger MW stations in my area, plus at 45 MHz LPF to help deal with the stronger FM broadcasts (there are two 91 kW broadcast towers about 10 miles away). It cost more, but it definitely helps.

Oh, and the loop works very nicely. It's not a magic bullet if you're in a high RFI environment like mine, but it has reduced that noise floor and of course I can turn it to null some of the more directional sources. I could do that with my homebrewed loops as well, but it's nice to have a general coverage antenna like this.

[Josh]

Speaking of the need for fm protection of hf receivers... I was within line of sight of the tower farm at 72nd and Blondo in Omaha. I had a sloper from the second story eaves down to the mail box at the street, some 80 feet of wire, fed the zepp way into a balun. WOW 590 am was also there at the farm blazing away. The rf from that wire would pin my fs meter, made me consider rectifying it and charging batteries. Hf rx are supposed to be immune to fmbc, but fact is many multiple conversion hf rx have a local osc that runs thru the fmbc band and being in the field of an fmbc sta can cause havoc. I used a 30MHz lowpass filter that protected the input, but the rest of the wiring in the house was alive with literal megawatts of tvbc, fmbc, and ambc.

Here's some neat pics of Omaha broadcast stations, I used to dj at KCRO, nice of them to include a pic.
Also note that KCRO tower is located in the ghetto, not in the Blondo street tower farm - unless they moved it there.
https://www.fybush.com/site-20170721/

When I was at KCRO, it ran dual 4-400a's into another pair of 4-400a's, still have one of the removed from service bulbs sitting on the desk.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled loop antenna discussion.

[WD9GNG]

Josh,

Thank you for the link to the pictures of the station!  I love seeing what commercial stations look like from the inside as well as the info along with the pictures.

I just got my Channel Master rotator for my loop antenna and plan to put it up as soon as the weather improves here in the Midwest. I also have a Timewave ANC-4 noise reducing device that I will also place a decent noise antenna near the loop antenna to kill off what little noise makes it onto the loop. Most likely won't need the ANC-4 but I had it already and might as well put it to use even if only needed occasionally.

Like the other poster mentioned, Larry W6LVP responds quickly for information or advice on how best to maximize the efficiency of his antenna. That alone is a reason for people to pick up one of his antennas. The eham reviews are all 5 out of 5 and his Ebay reviews are also all positive. This is rare for electronic gizmos especially for those that are a significant investment for some people.

I an glad that I found this web site. I really enjoy lurking in some of the other areas of this site. I have found a lot of interesting info on how to listen to and interpret what some of the weird signals I hear are. Lately I have done more SWL listening than hamming. As I commented in my original post, using the W6LVP Magnetic Loop antenna reminds of how the bands sounded like back in the 50s and 60s when I first got the SWL bug before becoming a ham. 

[8 tattoos]

I would definitely recommend Larry's antennas and as others have said he is super helpful. Costs less then a Wellbrook and shipping is only $25 dollars. Mine came in 1 day. I just connected it to my AirSpy HF+ and the signal strength on a signal increased 20 db better than my dipole. I mounted mine on a camera tripod. https://www.ebay.com/itm/W6LVP-Amplified-Receive-Only-Magnetic-Loop-Antenna-with-T-R-Switch/222414399775?hash=item33c8ee691f:g:-D4AAOSwklBapMuv   https://www.ebay.com/itm/W6LVP-Amplified-Receive-Only-Mag-Loop-Antenna-With-Power-Inserter/222389978645?epid=527152329&hash=item33c779c615:g:i2kAAOSwaadapcz7