Newbie Question on prepping MLA 30- antenna before RSPdx arrives

[davedvfParticipant]

Hello,

I am pretty excited for my SDRplay RSPdx to arrive as I have not not done SWL since the 70’s. Before it arrives I was thinking of ordering an MLA 30+ antenna in order to have something ready to go for when the RSPdx arrives.
.. a starting point anyway as I am interested in exploring the full range eventually.

My thought was to replace the cheap coax on the antenna ahead of time so it is ready when the RSPDx arrives (i.e. replace with RG6?… maybe 50 ft.). However, I am not even sure which of the 3 antenna ports on the RSPdx I should be targeting and therefor what kind of connectors to use on the ends of the coax. On the antenna side I’ve seen in a video where they added a BNC connector in the antenna box, but I am not sure if that makes sense for me (perhaps F or SMA on antenna side?… can you even use SMA connectors on RL6?). Anyway, the more I think about this the more I realize I don’t really know what I’m doing … Ha!

Any comments or suggestions would be welcome (i.e. what port I should be targeting on the SDRplay RSPdx with the MLA-30+ relative to what coax connectors I should be using on both ends of an RL6 (or if I should even be using an RL6)

Thank You

[GremlinParticipant]

Well, to be honest…

… the MLA-30+ is not worth the efford!

For my very first attempt i had no long wire so i used a simple flower tying wire(!) under the roof and just connected it to the Hi-Z Input of my RSPduo.
Well, this still is my wire antenna and from 80m to 15m it doing very well! Located at JO50ch this wired revices stations from Australia, New Sealand, Argentina (FT8).
The MLA has this little advantage it it’s directional, so broadcast stations can be seperated from each other and sometimes the magnetic loop antenna reduces
noise.
BUT: the cheap MLA-30+ overall is not a good antenna and even not very good at VLF or AM.
i bought a Whip Antenna (Bonito Boniwhip) and set it up on a 10m Fibre Pole.
thanks to the RSPduo i can compare all three antennas directly. the Whip is excellent at VLF and AM, where Wire and MLA don’t work.
in the “middle” section (80 – 15m) the difference is minor, depending on noise or daytime.
big advantage of the BoniWhip is the bandwith from 10kHz up to 300MHz (guaranteed) but it works up to 500MHz, which includes the 70cm Band.
small disadvantage: the Whip needs 12V Bias-T (injector included) and can not be powerd by the RSP.

73
Ralf

[Author]

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