MFJ-1886 Receive Loop review

Once I tracked down all of the noisy wall warts in the house 😉 I am fortunate to have a RF noise quiet location, however there are always times when I miss the ability I have on the higher HF bands to moderate interfering signals with a Yagi.

For my first 160m season I started out with an inverted V, the next season saw the addition of an inverted L to the station. For local ragchew activity the inverted V works well, high angle of radiation is optimal for late night chats with the crew in the surrounding states. For distance work the Inv-L out shines the Inv-V by a clear margin. The digital modes offered by WSJT-X coupled with signal reporting sites such as pskreporter.info and hamspots.com are a wonderful aid when comparing antenna performance.

The challenge is neither is directional which is a problem when in the middle of the US. As often a frequency will be occupied by stations on the east and west coast who are unaware of the presence of the other.  As a loop has a very deep null at right angles to the loop, I am able to direct the null to the northeast US reducing the contenting stations.

In the photo below the loop location may not be idea, it was easy to install and I wanted to get it a try before providing a different location.

DC Injector, wired to the station DC bus one less wall wart
DC Injector, wired to the station DC bus one less wall wart

Needed a rotor for the project and not having any working rotors in my junk box. Needed to pick up a rotor for the project and liking the G-800 I have on the station tribander I selected a Yaesu G-450A Rotor.

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I am happy with the loop, it performs well in everyday use to null out interfering signals while also raising the signal to noise ratio of desired signals. It is small, easy to setup and works across multiple bands. I have used it mostly on 160m and 75m.

73, Jay

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