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Vintage Radio (domestic) Domestic vintage radio (wireless) receivers only. |
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13th Sep 2020, 7:00 am | #1 |
Octode
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Stockport, Greater Manchester, UK.
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Antique loop aerial, mains powered
Hi,
Coming across a couple of these antique, mains powered loop aerials (copper or aluminium) for sale, mainly from Europe. Has anyone got one and can comment on whether they work or are likely to. I do like the look of them and they would make a nice and potentially practical accessory but they don't come cheap though. Gabriel |
13th Sep 2020, 10:56 am | #2 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK.
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Re: Antique loop aerial, mains powered
No reason why they shouldn't perform as well as one with a single transistor wideband amplifier. Maybe even better for intermodulation with strong signals.
A simple home built tuned loop would probably work just as well though you would have to use a two handed tuning technique to sweep across a band. https://www.4mcveys.net/2018/10/05/a...am-broadcasts/ gives the general idea.
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13th Sep 2020, 12:51 pm | #3 |
Octode
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Stockport, Greater Manchester, UK.
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Re: Antique loop aerial, mains powered
I'm afraid Mrs G will hang me from that frame if I bring that in the house!
Thanks for the info Chris. So what's the difference between the powered ones and the passive ones, performance-wise? Gabriel |
13th Sep 2020, 4:02 pm | #4 |
Dekatron
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Re: Antique loop aerial, mains powered
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13th Sep 2020, 5:04 pm | #5 |
Heptode
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: East London, UK.
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Re: Antique loop aerial, mains powered
I had one of these stylish French numbers several years ago but never got round to powering it up.
https://antiques-european-design.com...elard-in-1955/ |
13th Sep 2020, 6:16 pm | #6 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK.
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Re: Antique loop aerial, mains powered
Quote:
It's a tuned amplifier, not a broadband one. The mysterious box in the circuit contains a selector switch and some coils and a capacitor (at least that's what's visible) for LW,MW and SW. The circuit is clearly for a later model since it shows an EF80 with different resistor values from the unit in the pictures which uses an EF42. Attached is "English style" version of circuit. Assuming that the actual loop is a simple single turn of chromed tube it would make an interesting DiY project.
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13th Sep 2020, 6:33 pm | #7 |
Octode
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Stockport, Greater Manchester, UK.
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Re: Antique loop aerial, mains powered
If you ever do test it let me know
Crossed posts this was meant for #5 Last edited by Gabe001; 13th Sep 2020 at 6:40 pm. |
13th Sep 2020, 6:55 pm | #8 | ||
Octode
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Stockport, Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 1,611
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Re: Antique loop aerial, mains powered
Quote:
I believe there was a copper loop version and an aluminium loop version. The copper loop version allegedly performed better. If someone here does make one, I'd be interested to know how it pans out. Gabriel Last edited by Gabe001; 13th Sep 2020 at 7:02 pm. |
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23rd Sep 2020, 5:01 pm | #9 |
Nonode
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Stockport, Greater Manchester, UK.
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Re: Antique loop aerial, mains powered
To avoid the need to tune the loop while you tune the receiver you should use an untuned amplified loop like the one discussed in the thread MLA-30 Active loop antenna for valve radios
I was very pleased with mine when used outside with a larger single turn loop, but I've just tried it indoors with 5 turns of thick copper wire, dia about 8 in. This gives good reception of the local and semi-local MW and LW stations, as well as all SW bands. You would need to experiment with a step-up ferrite transformer Should fit in your radio, and you'd need to find somewhere around 12V DC for it
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24th Sep 2020, 6:10 pm | #10 |
Tetrode
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
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Re: Antique loop aerial, mains powered
Those antennas are perfect for older tube radios - I have got 2 Belgian ITAX and 1 Swiss Komet, plus a gigantic passive SIEMENS one.
All of them give perfect results. |
24th Sep 2020, 11:17 pm | #11 |
Octode
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Stockport, Greater Manchester, UK.
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Re: Antique loop aerial, mains powered
Thank you Julian and Rojo.
Julian I've had a read of the mla-30 thread and how to make the transformer and may give it a go when I have some time. Rojo, when you say perfect results, does this mean pulling local and foreign stations on all wavebands without noise? Gabriel |
25th Sep 2020, 9:33 am | #12 |
Octode
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Stockport, Greater Manchester, UK.
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Re: Antique loop aerial, mains powered
The ITAX looks great and is quite rare from what Ive read
Circuit diagram attached and good info on https://www.vintageradio.nl/Diversen...nne_engels.htm Gabriel |
25th Sep 2020, 6:39 pm | #13 | |
Tetrode
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Posts: 65
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Re: Antique loop aerial, mains powered
Quote:
It is very much working like a ferrite-antenne in a sixties radio, but it is meant for tube-radios, without a built-in antenna. |
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25th Sep 2020, 6:50 pm | #14 |
Octode
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Stockport, Greater Manchester, UK.
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Re: Antique loop aerial, mains powered
Thank you
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