Kaito AN-100 Tunable Passive AM Radio Loop Antenna for All Brands Like Kaito,Sony,Panasonic,Grundig and More

Bought this off Amazon and fullfilled by Electronix. Not the first time I've dealt with this combination and results were excellant as always. I bought this to replace a Select A Tenna that I lent to a coworker who was getting into m.w. dx'ing to show him how good these small tuned loops are. Unfortunately I. Don't expect to get this back anytime soon and the Select A Tenna is no longer in production. After reading good reviews ofthe AN 100 I bought one and am very impressed with it. Normally I wait at least a month to review a product after I purchase it to avoid new "toy" enthusiasm, but being aquainted with the Select A Tenna and it's performance I felt a review was in order and also to point out a few quality concerns regarding this antenna. First though I'll tell you that it's every bit as capable as the Select A Tenna, maybe better. It seems to tune better across the band. As I neared the end of the mw band on the Select A Tenna it's tuning capabilities seemed to be be rather ineffective. Not so with the AN 100. From 550khz to 1710khz the tuning knob is effective in bringing in the desired signal. Probably the most impressive thing about it is it's ability to FINALLY make my Tecsun PL 880 to perform as a very good A.M. or M.W. radio. I was always dissapointed in this otherwise excellant radios M.W. performance. The noise floor was excessive in my opinion and the AN100 rectifies this. It now is all most on a par with what I consider the benchmark of portable radios the Sony 7600gr. And it also improves this excellent radios reception as well although to a lesser extent. Directly coupled to my Grundig Satellit 750 it allows this excellent radio to be all that it can be. I can finally use the wide band without excessive overloading highly recommend this antenna particularly at it's current price point. As to the quality issues, I have read of several cases where this antenna was received with a loose tuning knob and or loose connecting cable input jack. Mine was received with both of these loose but they can be tightened with little effort. Tightening the input jack requires a small standard screwdriver to turn it's retaining ring clockwise to tighten. To tighten the tuning knob, pull the knob off to reveal the adaptor which is retained by a small phillips screw. Two other phillips screws are also visable at this point. The center adapter screw is the one to tighten but since the other two are exposed at this point you may want to snug them up as well. Overall, this is a great antenna, a near must have for the serious dx'r and the casual user will appreciate it's ability to improve the reception of their favorite station.

I’m not impressed. Another compromised antenna.It did help marginally, but did not tune in all the am band stations.I’ll end up making my own with 500 ft of doorbell wire, looped inside of a 4’ diameter 1/2” PEX attached to a small mast on the roof of my house, grounded, directly to my receiver.500’ is approximately 1/2 wave.I have a NanoVNA analyzer to dial in the band/frequency range.

I received the Tecsun branded version of this loop antenna and it works comparably to the Terk Advantage which I also have. I wanted another loop and the Kaito (Tecsun) is less expensive so I gave it a try. While the Terk feels sturdier, I like the Tecsun for its looks and the more convenient placement of the tuning knob.These loops are fun to use and magically seem to increase reception when tuned in. To use these you need to tune the antenna separately after you first tune your radio to the desired station. This may be a bother for some people but it is the price you pay for improved reception. I find no obvious difference whether using the antenna inductively or wired so I don't bother with the wires. (The radio needs to have an internal antenna for inductive coupling - most do - but some stereo receivers don't. See my review of the Terk Advantage for more details.)So if you have only fair AM reception now and want to increase it, this loop should work very well for a reasonable price. It's a nice product. If you are getting poor reception now due to building construction issues or noise problems, then this antenna might not help. The Physics here is simple and has to increase the signal delivered to your radio. But if you don't have much of a good signal to work with, you'll likely be disappointed.Addendum: After only three months of use, the operation of the tuning control produced static sounds when reaching the proper adjustment point. This tuning point seemed to drop away when I removed my hand from the control, thus requiring multiple retunings. I suspect that the dial controls a cheap potentiometer which requires spraying with a contact cleaner. Unfortunately, I can't figure how to take the antenna apart without breaking it so I will just have to live with it. I have removed one star.

Upon connecting this to my Pioneer Stereo Receiver (to replace a standard AM loop antenna), I was very disappointed that I was still not able to pull in the AM stations that are easily received with my car's standard AM antenna. I live 30 miles north of Green Bay, Wisconsin and can clearly receive WGN 720 AM in Chicago, and WTMJ 620 AM in Milwaukee on my car's radio. With some static, I can also pickup some AM stations in Michigan, like 590 AM in Kalamazoo!Connecting the Kaito AN-100 helped me pick up Milwaukee's WTMJ a little better than the loop antenna does, but not by much. The antenna doesn't pick up the Chicago or Kalamazoo stations at all. I've tried the AN-100 with a few other radios and receive only a slight improvement is reception. There are so many variables as to how well someone's reception is going to be, it's hard to say that this antenna wouldn't do a good job under different circumstances...in another area.As for me, it doesn't really provide a benefit for AM reception over a standard, low-cost loop antenna.