In an earlier review of the P-Loop 2.0 I wrote:
"Living in an HOA stronghold I've tried several ways to have clandestine outdoor antennas
, but they were spotted by HOA observers with binoculars so I tried some indoor wire antennas. Last year I took the plunge and bought the P-Loop 2.0."
Well, no longer having my P-Loop I looked online to find that the P-Loop was no longer available but I had previously eyed the F-Loop for 80m capability but it was more expensive last year (the basic F-Loop will get you on 80m)
Because the F-Loop was their only MLA now, several things had changed:
1. Price. It was always more expensive than the P-Loop, but now the base price was lower ($399) which is what the P-Loop was selling for last year.
2. Accessories: The solid radiator that could be optionally purchased was discontinued. An e-mail exchange with Chameleon indicated this was do to a material/price change that no longer made this feasible. As well, while the P-Loop had a tripod (of sorts) the F-Loop now doesn't. It's okay in my situation because I used one of my heavy-duty camera tripods on the P-Loop to begin with, and now have the "F" model on it.
I bought one a couple weeks ago. Using the slower FREE shipping it arrived on Tuesday and on Wednesday night I made my first-ever 80m contact with a local ham about 40 miles away! To say I was stoked is putting it mildly - with an indoor magnetic loop antenna, taking up no more room than the P-Loop, I was on 80m (I'm listening to a couple fellas on 3918 as I'm typing this).
Build quality is what we'd expect from Chameleon, and having owned several Mag loops previously, it went from box-to-assembled in about 10 minutes. *Note: unlike the P-Loop, the F-Loop isn't a antenna to be left outside (i.e. - not water proof)
Borrowing observations from my previous review I'll save some time with this one:
Price: Relatively expensive, but generally on-par with other vendors. When comparing full price to home grown, home grown wins.
In the box: A canvas carrying bag with a loop of coax for the main loop, another loop of coax for the extended loop, 2 sturdy aluminum coupling loops (one for 60m-10m single loop install, and a larger coupling loop for using the extended cable to get to 80m) telescopic mast, tuning box, 12’ of RG-58 with an RFI choke feed-line, and instructions. The instructions are just copies or laser prints on regular paper.
Assembly: Like I mentioned earlier, after you've owned one, it's easy as pie. If you're new to this type antenna you might spend 20 minutes or so figuring it out, and after that, 5-minutes down and 5-minutes back up.
Tuning: Very easy. The large knob connected the the capacitor shaft and the 6:1 reducer make both small and large adjustments easy. I can easily ballpark my frequency by listening to the receiver while I turn the knob, and use a antenna analyzer to get the best SWR (it was an easy 1.2:1 on 80m)
Performance: I've never had any other style indoor antenna that would really work well due to electrical noise issues so there isn't much to compare it to, but I think it's does a great job. Actually I have a short demo of noise vs no noise to share now (I've had better noise reduction results but this video works):
The antenna usually sits in my 2nd floor shack and using it vertically I've been able to successfully use the null spots in eliminating most of the electrical noise I have around here (from S8/9 to 3/4). While it may take some time for you to get more familiar on-the-fly tuning it won't be long before you're zippity-doo-daa-ing from one end of the capacitor to the other.
Final comments:
Chameleon says it should handle 25 watts SSB but it's not expressly written what they mean by that. Does that mean the power setting of your rig? because if I set my radio to 25 watts it's sure not near that when I talk (as viewed on my PEP meter), so I started to live dangerously several months ago with the P-Loop (and now the F-Loop) by setting my output power on my TS-2000 to 30, sometimes 35 watts. Don't do as I do unless you understand the risks.
It's not a miracle antenna per se (obviously a dipole could do better), except to operators like me who are heavily restricted when it comes to an outdoor antenna. So in my instance it is a "miracle" antenna. I'll update this review if there is something to update..73
"Living in an HOA stronghold I've tried several ways to have clandestine outdoor antennas
, but they were spotted by HOA observers with binoculars so I tried some indoor wire antennas. Last year I took the plunge and bought the P-Loop 2.0."Well, no longer having my P-Loop I looked online to find that the P-Loop was no longer available but I had previously eyed the F-Loop for 80m capability but it was more expensive last year (the basic F-Loop will get you on 80m)
Because the F-Loop was their only MLA now, several things had changed:
1. Price. It was always more expensive than the P-Loop, but now the base price was lower ($399) which is what the P-Loop was selling for last year.
2. Accessories: The solid radiator that could be optionally purchased was discontinued. An e-mail exchange with Chameleon indicated this was do to a material/price change that no longer made this feasible. As well, while the P-Loop had a tripod (of sorts) the F-Loop now doesn't. It's okay in my situation because I used one of my heavy-duty camera tripods on the P-Loop to begin with, and now have the "F" model on it.
I bought one a couple weeks ago. Using the slower FREE shipping it arrived on Tuesday and on Wednesday night I made my first-ever 80m contact with a local ham about 40 miles away! To say I was stoked is putting it mildly - with an indoor magnetic loop antenna, taking up no more room than the P-Loop, I was on 80m (I'm listening to a couple fellas on 3918 as I'm typing this).
Build quality is what we'd expect from Chameleon, and having owned several Mag loops previously, it went from box-to-assembled in about 10 minutes. *Note: unlike the P-Loop, the F-Loop isn't a antenna to be left outside (i.e. - not water proof)
Borrowing observations from my previous review I'll save some time with this one:
Price: Relatively expensive, but generally on-par with other vendors. When comparing full price to home grown, home grown wins.
In the box: A canvas carrying bag with a loop of coax for the main loop, another loop of coax for the extended loop, 2 sturdy aluminum coupling loops (one for 60m-10m single loop install, and a larger coupling loop for using the extended cable to get to 80m) telescopic mast, tuning box, 12’ of RG-58 with an RFI choke feed-line, and instructions. The instructions are just copies or laser prints on regular paper.
Assembly: Like I mentioned earlier, after you've owned one, it's easy as pie. If you're new to this type antenna you might spend 20 minutes or so figuring it out, and after that, 5-minutes down and 5-minutes back up.
Tuning: Very easy. The large knob connected the the capacitor shaft and the 6:1 reducer make both small and large adjustments easy. I can easily ballpark my frequency by listening to the receiver while I turn the knob, and use a antenna analyzer to get the best SWR (it was an easy 1.2:1 on 80m)
Performance: I've never had any other style indoor antenna that would really work well due to electrical noise issues so there isn't much to compare it to, but I think it's does a great job. Actually I have a short demo of noise vs no noise to share now (I've had better noise reduction results but this video works):
The antenna usually sits in my 2nd floor shack and using it vertically I've been able to successfully use the null spots in eliminating most of the electrical noise I have around here (from S8/9 to 3/4). While it may take some time for you to get more familiar on-the-fly tuning it won't be long before you're zippity-doo-daa-ing from one end of the capacitor to the other.
Final comments:
Chameleon says it should handle 25 watts SSB but it's not expressly written what they mean by that. Does that mean the power setting of your rig? because if I set my radio to 25 watts it's sure not near that when I talk (as viewed on my PEP meter), so I started to live dangerously several months ago with the P-Loop (and now the F-Loop) by setting my output power on my TS-2000 to 30, sometimes 35 watts. Don't do as I do unless you understand the risks.
It's not a miracle antenna per se (obviously a dipole could do better), except to operators like me who are heavily restricted when it comes to an outdoor antenna. So in my instance it is a "miracle" antenna. I'll update this review if there is something to update..73
