Is a loop antenna for a SWL the best solution?
If you dont have a place on the roof or a backyard for a long wire antenne a loop antenna can help you to listen LW, MW and SW.
You loop antenna can be indoor or outdor.
Price start from 40 us Dollars to very expensive prices but when prices are high its because these antennas can be use to transmit on SW bands for amateur radio opérators.
| Antenna Supermarket | Eavesdropper Dipoles Wire Antennas |
| Eavesdropper SWL Sloper Wire Antenna | |
| AOR | LA-320 Loop Antenna |
| LA-350 Loop Antenna | |
| LA-380 Loop Antenna | |
| LA-390 Loop Antenna | |
| LA-800 Loop Antenna | |
| WL-500 Window Loop Antenna | |
| Apex | 303WA Vertical Antenna |
| 700DTA Active Antenna 0.5-30 MHz | |
| B&W | ASW-5 SWL Window Antenna |
| ASW60L/60C/100 SWL Dipole Antenna | |
| Dressler | ARA-40/60/100HDX Active Antennas |
| Kaito | KA31 Indoor Active Loop Antenna |
| KA33 Indoor Active Loop Antenna | |
| KA35 Indoor Active Loop Antenna | |
| Kiwa | Pocket Loop Loop Antenna |
| McKay Dymek | DA-100, DA-100D/DM, DA-100E/EM Active Antennas 0.5-30 MHz |
| Miracle Antenna | MMD End-Fed Dipole Antennas |
| NTi | ML052 Wideband Active Antenna 9 kHz - 30 MHz |
| Palomar | LA1 Loop Antenna System |
| Palstar | AA30 Indoor Active Antenna 0.3-30 MHz |
| RF Systems | DX-One Pro MkII Professional Active Antenna .02-60 MHz. |
| DX-10 Outdoor Active Antenna | |
| DX-10 Pro Active Antenna .03-35 MHz. | |
| EMF Wire Antenna 0.1-30 MHz | |
| EMF-P Wire Antenna 0.1-30 MHz | |
| Mini-Windom Wire Antenna 0.5-30 MHz | |
| MLB Balun Receive Balun | |
| MLB Marine Balun Kit Receive Balun for Sailboats | |
| MLBA-MK1 & MLBA-MK2 Wire Antennas | |
| MLBA-MK3 & MLBA-MK4 Stainless Wire Antennas | |
| MTA, GMDSS & GMDSS-2 Vertical Antennas | |
| T2FD Wire Antenna 3-35 MHz | |
| RadioMaster | P-30 Wire Antenna 0.5-30 MHz |
| Sony | AN- 1 Indoor-Outoor Active Antenna LW/MW/SW |
| AN-102 Indoor Active Antenna LW/MW/SW | |
| AN-LP1 Indoor Loop Active Antenna SW | |
| Vectronics | AT-100 Indoor Active Antenna |
You can make your loop antenna " homemade "
https://www.mtmscientific.com/AM%20Loop%20Booklet.pdf
https://pa0fri.home.xs4all.nl/Ant/Active%20antenna/Active%20receiving%20%20loop%20antenna%20eng.htm
https://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Antennas/Magnetic_Loop/
Page 312 on this book
http://www.ok1mjo.com/all/ostatni/HAM/Practical_Antenna_Handbook.pdf
https://www.dxing.com/tnotes/tnote08.pdf
http://www.in3eci.it/bbb/file_content/fl320.pdf
For LW and MW they are indoor antennas, in the past it was possible to find many brands but now only few.
Please reade my articles on this link
https://icomjapan.blogspot.com/2023/06/antennas-for-listening-to-medium-wave.html
https://icomjapan.blogspot.com/2023/10/antenna-is-most-important-for-listener.html
For the shortwave bands 3 to 30 MHz they are a lot of choice.
You can use the loop antenna to listen LW, MW and SW and keep indoor or outdoor.
The MLA 30 is very popular for listeners because of the cheap price around 30 US Dollars
You must visit my articles ( from my 3 blogs )
https://chinaradiosswl.blogspot.com/2023/06/loop-shortwave-antennas-for-swl-not-to.html
https://icomjapan.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-best-swl-antenna-indoor-or-outdoor.html
Also a good link
https://hamsignal.com/blog/mla-30-magnetic-loop-antenna-review-and-comparison
"So, what is the verdict on the MLA-30?
Even though the claim is that the antenna is broadband, I believe this antenna has been response optimized for the casual AM broadcast listener. That is not to say it does not work outside of the AM band. It will certainly work for receiving signals up to 15 MHz (the point where I stopped the study), but the signals will not be as easy to hear because of the high noise floor and sometimes signals will not be at all intelligible due to intermodular distortion. Below the AM band, the MLA-30 simply does not work unless the signal is from a very strong station as was the case with my airport beacon test.
If you are just looking for an antenna to listen to local AM broadcasts, at $43, the MLA-30 is hard to beat from the perspective of price. The antenna's ability to null out local noise sources is also a positive for those interested in AM listening. However, if pulling weak signals out of a noisy RF band is what you are looking for, the MLA-30 falls a bit short of the mark. In that case, the more expensive antennas like the Wellbrook and are the way to go."
https://hamsignal.com/blog/mla-30-magnetic-loop-antenna-review-and-comparison
The AL1 – Built Loopantenna for reception from 10 KHz – 30 MHz
€99,00
New! The AL1 – Kit Loopantenna for reception from 10 KHz -30 MHz.
An active loop antenna for reception, delivered complete with all parts.
The AL1 is a complete kit-antenna for building an active loopantenna for receiving long- middle- and shortwave.
After building all parts on the PCB all you need to do is place it in the housing and connect the loop for operation.
