I went on BLM land and strung up about 200ft of long wire with a
Palomar magnetic balun in the center. I still got better SNR with the
30ft loop on the ALA100, and this is in an environment where there was
little man made noise.

I think too much is made about the strength of a signal versus the
quality. You can alway use a preamp for more gain, but that generally
doesn't make the signal sound any better. Signals sound cleaner on the
loop.

[Reminds me, I have to put that balun on ebay. ;-)]