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Message from PaulD at Wednesday, 13-Jan-10 12:15:31 GMT
I have been asked by a number of people about what I think of my Antenna.
I have now owned this for approximately 2 months, and have moved location.
The first place was in a quiet area of Cumbria where little interference arises. The first antenna was just a random bit of wire which was working well. I was thinking hard and wondering if I should or shouldn't get one of these ALA1530’s. After a lot of reading and reference anyway I plucked up the courage and ordered one.
Two days later, it arrived, Very well packaged and was recorded delivery. I couldn’t wait to open it up and get it up and running. Unfortunately that was when the cold and wet weather came in. Anyways, after about a week I managed to get it out and setup. Once I had sorted my dodgy wiring out, and got it connected to my AOR 7030, with the antenna pointing 90/270 degrees I tuned it to 5505 USB, I heard audio which I guess was a good thing.
In the workshop (early evening) I started to tune away, and on some of the frequencies I know (mainly aviation HF) and was very surprised at the performance of this. After a bit of fine tuning on the receiver, I was able to get virtually background noise free stations. Kinloss Rescue on 5680 was once a noisy frequency was dramatically improved, with very little interference heard. Average strength was about 75% + from a reasonable (I thought) 50% from my wire antenna.
I then tuned into AM frequencies and yet again with little fine tuning from the AOR I was able to pick up distance AM stations a lot sooner than the wire antenna. In fact at Dusk I was able to receive German and Spanish AM Stations which I was pleased with. I then tried 40mtr band and sure enough the results were outstanding and vastly improved.
I think is it fair to say I was extremely happy.
Then something really annoying happened that not even the ALA1530 would help…
….. Home plugs!!! This was nearly the death of Cumbria HF.
Anyways, I though ok, I have nothing to lose, so I took everything away from my Father’s home, and moved it into the garage at my place. This is in a built up area of town (Cockermouth, Cumbria) I thought it would perform quite poorly.
How wrong could I be??????
Well to be honest Very wrong.
I currently have it in a temporary location leaning against a Pear tree (cable tied so it don’t fall in the wind) about 5 foot in the air. After fine tuning the AOR 7030 and playing with the direction of the antenna again, much to my astonishment and annoyance it performed really well. Again tuning to the frequencies I know, it performed really well, in fact dare I say it, better than at my father’s with some frequencies. For it now being in a built up area, it out performs the wire antenna I had there by a long way.
Tuning to 40mtr band again proved to be effortless for the antenna and picked up very strong signals. Even the AM DX band is quiet and clear.
There is no doubt that you will not eliminate all noises from within a built up area, but the ALA 1530 really performs well and to be very honest I am very pleased with it.
The conclusion:
Would I recommend this to friends? Well to be very frank Yes!! It is a very good quality and high performing antenna. I would recommend the antenna to anyone who has limited space and who needs performance in DXing.
You can try before you buy on Cumbria HF receiver or Saint-Jean HF receiver with 2 totally different receivers and two totally different locations.
Paul D Site Op Cumbria HF
I have now owned this for approximately 2 months, and have moved location.
The first place was in a quiet area of Cumbria where little interference arises. The first antenna was just a random bit of wire which was working well. I was thinking hard and wondering if I should or shouldn't get one of these ALA1530’s. After a lot of reading and reference anyway I plucked up the courage and ordered one.
Two days later, it arrived, Very well packaged and was recorded delivery. I couldn’t wait to open it up and get it up and running. Unfortunately that was when the cold and wet weather came in. Anyways, after about a week I managed to get it out and setup. Once I had sorted my dodgy wiring out, and got it connected to my AOR 7030, with the antenna pointing 90/270 degrees I tuned it to 5505 USB, I heard audio which I guess was a good thing.
In the workshop (early evening) I started to tune away, and on some of the frequencies I know (mainly aviation HF) and was very surprised at the performance of this. After a bit of fine tuning on the receiver, I was able to get virtually background noise free stations. Kinloss Rescue on 5680 was once a noisy frequency was dramatically improved, with very little interference heard. Average strength was about 75% + from a reasonable (I thought) 50% from my wire antenna.
I then tuned into AM frequencies and yet again with little fine tuning from the AOR I was able to pick up distance AM stations a lot sooner than the wire antenna. In fact at Dusk I was able to receive German and Spanish AM Stations which I was pleased with. I then tried 40mtr band and sure enough the results were outstanding and vastly improved.
I think is it fair to say I was extremely happy.
Then something really annoying happened that not even the ALA1530 would help…
….. Home plugs!!! This was nearly the death of Cumbria HF.
Anyways, I though ok, I have nothing to lose, so I took everything away from my Father’s home, and moved it into the garage at my place. This is in a built up area of town (Cockermouth, Cumbria) I thought it would perform quite poorly.
How wrong could I be??????
Well to be honest Very wrong.
I currently have it in a temporary location leaning against a Pear tree (cable tied so it don’t fall in the wind) about 5 foot in the air. After fine tuning the AOR 7030 and playing with the direction of the antenna again, much to my astonishment and annoyance it performed really well. Again tuning to the frequencies I know, it performed really well, in fact dare I say it, better than at my father’s with some frequencies. For it now being in a built up area, it out performs the wire antenna I had there by a long way.
Tuning to 40mtr band again proved to be effortless for the antenna and picked up very strong signals. Even the AM DX band is quiet and clear.
There is no doubt that you will not eliminate all noises from within a built up area, but the ALA 1530 really performs well and to be very honest I am very pleased with it.
The conclusion:
Would I recommend this to friends? Well to be very frank Yes!! It is a very good quality and high performing antenna. I would recommend the antenna to anyone who has limited space and who needs performance in DXing.
You can try before you buy on Cumbria HF receiver or Saint-Jean HF receiver with 2 totally different receivers and two totally different locations.
Paul D Site Op Cumbria HF
Message from Calico at Wednesday, 13-Jan-10 16:32:01 GMT
So glad things worked out well Paul, it was worth the hard-earned money you\'ve invested in it, and the antenna shines in the built-up residential area where you\'ve repositioned it.
The same model I bought back in 2002 from Christchurch (The Shortwave Shop, before Bob retired, for the ones who remember him)! It has never let me down so far, so you can look forward to long trouble-free service!
Some rounds of self-amalgamating tape, especially on the BNC connector outside on the antenna, might be an idea, especially this crazy winter! This sticky elastic tape will keep it dry, free of oxidization if not worse, since that connector is LIVE to feed the electronics at the antenna base.
As we were discussing before you bought the antenna, a worthy addition for both the antenna and the AOR-7030 may be a light duty (TV) rotator. It is when you rotate the ALA-1530 and listen to various gremlins disappear from the radio as you travel around the bands, that you will get a wild, triumphant smile on your face. ;)
Though something tells me you haven\'t stopped smiling since you started using this \'tena ;)
Last but not least, for the ones who are rather convinced by bench measurements than enthusiastic impressions and glossy pamphlets, please have a look at legendary WRTH\'s review and lab-figures:
http://www.wellbrook.uk.com/reviews/WRTH2004.pdf
Because...we\'re worth it ! (And this ...and the other gizmo) :-)
Tim
The same model I bought back in 2002 from Christchurch (The Shortwave Shop, before Bob retired, for the ones who remember him)! It has never let me down so far, so you can look forward to long trouble-free service!
Some rounds of self-amalgamating tape, especially on the BNC connector outside on the antenna, might be an idea, especially this crazy winter! This sticky elastic tape will keep it dry, free of oxidization if not worse, since that connector is LIVE to feed the electronics at the antenna base.
As we were discussing before you bought the antenna, a worthy addition for both the antenna and the AOR-7030 may be a light duty (TV) rotator. It is when you rotate the ALA-1530 and listen to various gremlins disappear from the radio as you travel around the bands, that you will get a wild, triumphant smile on your face. ;)
Though something tells me you haven\'t stopped smiling since you started using this \'tena ;)
Last but not least, for the ones who are rather convinced by bench measurements than enthusiastic impressions and glossy pamphlets, please have a look at legendary WRTH\'s review and lab-figures:
http://www.wellbrook.uk.com/reviews/WRTH2004.pdf
Because...we\'re worth it ! (And this ...and the other gizmo) :-)
Tim
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