One thing about loop antennas: you have to point them to where the location of the transmitter whose signal you want to listen to. So either you spin the atenna manually or use a rotator. I have a YouLoop antenna and for MW it is a wonderfull antenna. I was able to listen to an AM station from South Africa only 2kHz below strong signals coming in from stations from my state in southern Brasil and from adjacent countries here in south America. I used an Airspy HF+ Discovery SDR receiver.

Kevin your video raises more questions.
1) the YouLoop is very directional.
Did you rotate for each signal or is it oriented the same as your reference antenna.
2) these are non resonant (?) How does the diameter affect the signal levels?
3) Horizontal would be interesting also, note polarization effects?
3) it would be educational to actually record the levels (v dbm)
4) I note the Chinese version 1:1 transformer was not 'correctly" wound?
73 NO1SE

I experimented building one of these low-Q passive loop receiving antennas a few years ago and one thing I learned is they absolutely require a preamp. Add a good LNA an it will work great.

Interesting for limiting the noise on the broadcast stations. A good test non the less. Look forward to how you work the pre-amp into that loop.

Thank you for this really good video. I had many questions about them and how to make one and you answered all in one video 🎉😊

That coax is RG402 (by the looks of it) semi rigid, PTFE all around (that is why there is no print on it, nothing sticks to Teflon ;) ). Anyway the thing is not a total loss, you got some good coax out of it.

What a great idea.
Thanks man, great video

Be interesting to see a pre amp involved. I’ve had some good SWL results with a Youloop and live in a noisy town centre. They’re inexpensive like the MLA 30 active loop and get you going if you are new to the hobby with restricted outdoor space.

Excellent Video! Thanks for showing the attenuation across the bands.

Thank You very much!👍

Thanks for sharing 👍.

My homemade loop antenna works always better than my at Banggood bought Youloop (I have the HDYloop). It seems that many good looking antennas are only a fake.  Great video.

I predict I am the eleventeenth person to point out that these antennas are great if your receiver is very very sensitive, basically like the Airspy HF+ Discovery, but for the majority of other receivers in my experience, you need to use an LNA preamp because it's not the antenna that is deaf. It's your radio.

I have a 30dB LNA when I use mine with my SDRplay Duo, but the HF+ Discovery doesn't want it at all. If your radio wants teeny tiny signals then the naked Youloop is great. If your radio wants old school big copper signals then you will need the preamp

Great information and explained easy enough that even I could understand. I am so good at soldering, that I never mock anyone else's. :-)

That's impressive.

I wish I could give you two thumbs up. One for the wonderful content 👍 , one more for using metric system 😊👍

Thanks for the info and look forward to the pre-amp experiment.  73 es de N5XS

Great video!  I live in an urban area that is just the 'pits' for noise so I was glad to see this loop investigation.
To me you had a better S/N ratio in the BC band; so maybe the loop is too large or possibly the transformer/loop-capacitance is limiting the upper frequencies. I would think that if you can achieve a S/N ratio on one frequency, you could replicate it on another.
At 18:00 you compare the new loop but use a completely different reference-antenna; why not just stick with the doublet since it was the initial frame of reference?  Then, you only demonstrated it on the 20 meter-band; it would have been interesting to see if it had the same 'good' performance as your HB one on the BC band.
Finally, is it possible to unplug the solar charger during the brief times you are conduction these tests, as along with the 'pips', it probably has some contribution to the noise floor?

I just got one of these antennas.  Using a Nooelec Ham it Up Plus V2 and Nooelec V5 SDR.  From my home in Brandon, Manitoba, I was receiving voice on the 20m band from Riverside, California.  Over 2000 km's away.

Hi Kevin,

Yeah, that AM station you were seeing on 660 kHz is most likely KTNN, the Flame-Thrower  - 50,000 Watt station in Window Rock, AZ.
It is about 300 miles to the east of you.

Ironically, I can't pick it up well down here in Tucson; too many mtns. in between & too much local noise.

Now, what I found interesting was the non-10kHz spaced signals; like the one at about 603 kHz.  As that may be a station in the Caribbean or central/S. America as they use 9 kHz spacings (or sometimes 5 or 8).  Therefore with your SDR PLAY or your even more sensitive 7300/705, you should be able to pull it in.  Let us know what it is - thanks.

The problem with those small loops is that... well, they are small!  The basic laws of physics dictate the the more metal you have, the greater the gain.  

I like working with big; fullwave loops. Frankly, I wish I had enough space to put up a huge Rhombic!  There"s a reason the ARRL logo uses a Rhombic as its outline! It works extremely well, and are known for their outstanding gain!