LNA for SW and MW?

[henryb]

I read of the advantage of turning on the LNA for SW and MW reception. The SDRplay functional block diagram shows that the front end LNA is connected to the filters above 60 MHz but not below. How would amplifying a range of possible interference help SW and MW reception? In my experience turning on the LNA does nothing for MW or SW. I have a G5RV antenna which gives me great reception on SW but is mediocre on MW. Has anyone experienced any advantage in running the LNA on SW and MW frequencies?

Thanks, hb

[henryb]

On reflection I should have put this question in the SDRplay antenna group. I would greatly appreciate if the forum admin could move this thread to that group. My apologies to this group.

Cheers, hb

[g1hbe]

Hi HB
There's an additional LNA above 60 MHz, but there is a switchable LNA on the tuner chip that works on LF/MF/HF. Whether it benefits reception probably depends on signal level and your local noise level. I've just had a fiddle around and it is of no use on MW as signal levels are high anyway. On the lower HF bands it certainly helps to bring signals up to a usable level. But if you suffer from high levels of noise it's not going to be much good and also if you have a few very strong signals locally it may cause intermod and ghost sigs.