RTLSDR and mag loop antenna

[David Gustman]

Does anyone have any experience connecting a RTLSDR to a mag loop antenna that has a amplifier powered by a Bias-T? I'd like to run the dongle through my MFJ 1888, but I'm nervous about how to connect the dongle. I'd hate to burn it up because power from the Bias-T got into it. I'm running 12 volts DC to power the antenna. Thanks.

[Clint Bradford]

What frequency range are you trying to monitor?

[David Gustman]

All ham bands. 80 through 10 meters. I pick up lots of stations with just the RTLVertical antennasdr. Do you think I need to add the Ham It UP upconverter for better signal strength? The mag loop operates with a much lower noise floor

Vertical antenna reception.

Mag loop reception without the bias-T amp.

Does anyone have any experience connecting a RTLSDR to a mag loop antenna that has a amplifier powered by a Bias-T? I'd like to run the dongle through my MFJ 1888, but I'm nervous about how to connect the dongle. I'd hate to burn it up because power from the Bias-T got into it. I'm running 12 volts DC to power the antenna. Thanks.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "Ultra Cheap SDR" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/ultra-cheap-sdr/XcPE5K0p5w8/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to ultra-cheap-s...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ultra-cheap-sdr/66aa6b0c-3792-440a-9983-d006f90e71b6n%40googlegroups.com.

[David Gustman]

Actually, this is the mag loop. 

On Jan 13, 2022, at 7:26 PM, David Gustman <mssp...@icloud.com> wrote:

[jdow]

For HF you need an external bias-T to feed the mag loop. A proper bias-T includes a DC isolation component on the feed to the receiver. The RTL is likely to be a dead short on the antenna feed at DC. The RTL bias-T probably will not power your loop amplifier.

{^_^}

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ultra Cheap SDR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ultra-cheap-s...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ultra-cheap-sdr/0ADC0AF3-1F22-48DE-9E7B-CB0DD876BEEF%40icloud.com.

[David Gustman]

Thanks. I have a bias-t for the mag loop. My problem was the last time I tried to connect the RTLSDR dongle to the bias-t, it burned up. The RTL people tole me it was caused by bad silicon chips, which failed, and caused a dead short. I wasn’t sure if I had connected it correctly to the bias-t. I connected the new dongle, and it worked perfectly. I went from around 8 db signals with no power to the mag loop amp to 20+ db with it powered up. Gotta say, mag loop receiving technology really works!

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ultra-cheap-sdr/b87a17ec-9349-8117-3487-bdfe01f536a1%40earthlink.net.