Jim Thornton wrote:

I thinking about replacing my 20-year old McKay Dymek DA-100D active SW
antenna. Does anyone have any experience with the active antennae from
Dalong, McKay Dymek, MFJ, Sony, etc., and would highly recommend
one over another? I don't want a tunable version; it must be a broadband
model to cover the standard shortwave broadcast frequencies. My old antenna
sits on the peak of a two-story home and I have never changed any of its
settings.

In the etc. catagory, I strongly recommend you take a look
at the Wellbrook line of active broadband loops.
See: http://www.wellbrook.uk.com/ .

My ALA1530 was a superb performer - especially considering
how noisy my location is - up to the moment I accidentally
transmitted into it on VHF due to a coax cable mix-up
accident.

The ALA330 is even more highly rated by Passport than the
1530 was. If you care about AM radio (BCB band .54-1.7 Mhz)
or longwave, then the ALA1530 is the better choice, since
the '330 filters out frequencies below shortwave. For just
shortwave, the ALA330 sounds to be the best choice.

Either choice rocks, IMHO.

Both are a tad expensive (though nothing like the
much-lower-rated RF Systems DX-1), but it really seems to
pick up more signal and less noise than anything broadband
I've tried. In fact, I gave up on random-wire + matching
transformer, since in A/B comparisons, the loop usually
delivers a quieter, and surprisingly often, a stronger,
signal!

Disclaimer: I'm in a very horribly noisy location, and the
yard is small enough that I can't escape being in the
influence of my and my two neighbors' PCs and other
electrical noise sources even after extensive
experimentation. Therefore, all wire antennas I've tried
tend to pick up a fair bit of noise.

If you have a good, relatively quiet location, of course
you'd be far better off with a wire antenna instead.

Just my personal $0.02 worth. Free advice is often worth
what you pay for it, but I wouldn't hestitate to recommend
the Wellbrook loops.