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Project Notes

#744 MLA-30+ Active Loop Antenna

About the MLA-30+ Active Loop Antenna, designed to receive MW/SW/HF from 500kHz to 30MHz.

Build

Notes

The MLA-30+ Active Loop Antenna antenna is effective for reception across a wide frequency band from 500kHz to 30MHz.

I got mine from aliexpress for SGD$30 (2025), but it is available from a range of sellers on aliexpress, eBay, and Tecsun Radios (AU).

kit-parts

Features:

  • Reception frequency: 500 kHz to 30 MHz (reduced performance to 100kHz)
  • Pre-amplifier included
  • Bias-T power supply via supplied USB cable
  • Power Supply: 5 V USB
  • Current Drain: 750uA
  • No adjustments required
  • Weatherproof external case

Parts:

  • 1x Stainless Steel Wire
  • 1x Antenna Box
  • 1x Bias-T Power Supply
  • 1x 10m SMA Head Line
  • 1x SMA to SMA Male Cable
  • 1x USB Cable

Inside the antenna box:

kit-internal1

Inside the biasing tee:

kit-internal2

Mounting

The loop element of the antenna has a design diameter of 60cm and is connected to the active amplifier housing by two stainless steel wingnuts.

I used some 20mm PVC pip and fittings to mount the antenna.

Build

Installation

installation

Credits and References

About LEAP#744 Radio

This page is a web-friendly rendering of my project notes shared in the LEAP GitHub repository.

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About LEAP

LEAP is my personal collection of electronics projects - usually involving an Arduino or other microprocessor in one way or another. Some are full-blown projects, while many are trivial breadboard experiments, intended to learn and explore something interesting.

Projects are often inspired by things found wild on the net, or ideas from the many great electronics podcasts and YouTube channels. Feel free to borrow liberally, and if you spot any issues do let me know or send a pull-request.

NOTE: For a while I included various scale modelling projects here too, but I've now split them off into a new repository: check out LittleModelArt if you are looking for these projects.

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