Best antenna for the ATS Mini
The stock telescopic whip is genuinely fine for FM and a strong local AM station. On shortwave it is fighting physics: a quarter wavelength at 6 MHz is about twelve metres, so a 60 cm whip is a tiny capacitive stub. The good news is that the ATS Mini is designed around exactly that — its antenna input is deliberately high-impedance, tuned for a short whip rather than a 50-ohm coax feed — and that the best upgrades are cheap. This page matches an antenna to your situation; every pick is covered in detail, with links to listings, in the antenna catalogue.
The short answer, by situation
| Your situation | Best pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Apartment or indoor listening, MW + SW, electrical noise around | YouLoop passive loop + a counterpoise wire | A passive loop is quiet and directional: rotate it to null out the noise from chargers and routers. It cannot overload the radio, and it needs no power. |
| Portable travel — pocket kit, listening from a park or hotel | Reel wire antenna clipped to the whip + a counterpoise | A retractable wire packs flat and clips onto the extended whip for a quick boost. Use its alligator clip, not the 3.5 mm plug — that jack on the radio is audio out. |
| Serious SW DX on a budget, with a garden or yard | 9:1 unun + longwire | An end-fed random wire through a 9:1 matching transformer is the classic cheap outdoor upgrade — quieter and stronger than any whip. Keep the wire modest; long wires overload this radio. |
| Balcony or rooftop, no room for wire | MLA-30+ active loop | An active receive loop cuts urban electrical noise the way loops do and fits a railing. It needs USB power via its bias-tee and really wants outdoor mounting. |
| Very tight space, LW/MW/SW, quiet surroundings | Mini Whip active antenna | The classic E-field probe punches far above its size, but it amplifies local noise too — it is happiest away from household electronics, with power fed up the coax. |
| Mostly better FM (and strong MW) | Longer telescopic whip | Near 100 MHz a longer whip approaches a resonant quarter-wave, so extra length genuinely pays off on FM. On shortwave it helps far less than a counterpoise. |
| CB (27 MHz) and the upper shortwave bands, outdoors | 27 MHz CB antenna | A resonant 11-metre element, not a broadband antenna — but as a bigger outdoor whip it hears the upper SW bands better than the stock one. |
| Spending as little as possible | Counterpoise / ground wire | A few metres of clip-on wire to the radio’s ground lifts shortwave signal and SNR more than extra whip length will — the highest-value upgrade on this page. |
How to choose: three questions
- Where do you listen? Indoors, local electrical noise — not signal strength — is usually what limits you, and quiet, directional antennas (loops) win. Outdoors, sheer capture area wins, and wire beats everything per dollar.
- Which bands? FM rewards a longer whip. Mediumwave and the low SW bands reward a loop or a ground reference. The whole of shortwave rewards outdoor wire or an active antenna.
- How much space and effort? A counterpoise is zero effort. A loop hangs on a curtain rail. A longwire needs somewhere to string it and a moment of weatherproofing.
Whip vs wire vs loop vs active
A whip is convenient and self-contained; on FM it can be genuinely good, on shortwave it is always a compromise. A wire has the most capture area for the money and, outdoors and away from the house, the lowest noise — through a 9:1 transformer it is the classic step up. A passive loop trades raw signal for quietness and directionality, which is exactly the trade you want indoors. An active antenna (Mini Whip, active whip, MLA-30+) adds an amplifier behind a small element: more signal from a tight space, but also more risk — all of them need DC power fed up the coax, and all of them can overload the SI4732’s modest front end and throw ghost signals across the bands. If that happens, the radio’s own attenuator and AGC are the first thing to reach for.
The counterpoise: the upgrade that is almost free
The whip works against a ground reference, and on a pocket radio that reference is normally your hand and body. That is why the radio often sounds worse sitting in a stand than it does held. Clip a few metres of ordinary insulated wire to the radio’s ground and let it trail on the floor: signal and SNR on the low bands climb further than any amount of extra whip length. The ground is the outer metal of the SMA socket the whip screws into, or the knurled nut at the whip’s base; a double-ended crocodile lead holds on there. Not the whip’s rod: wire on the rod makes the antenna longer, which is a different trick. Leave the far end loose and connected to nothing. Whatever main antenna you choose from the table, add the counterpoise too.
Mind the connector
The radio’s jack is SMA female, so anything that screws on must end in an SMA male — the connector with the small centre pin. Watch out for RP-SMA, which looks identical but has the pin and socket reversed and will not mate. Antennas ending in BNC, PL-259 or TV plugs need a single adapter; the adapters guide covers which one and how to avoid the classic mistakes.
Accessori consigliati
- Crocodile-clip leads for a counterpoiseAntennaThe cheapest pick on this page and the one to add whatever else you buy — a clip-on ground wire lifts shortwave signal and SNR more than extra whip length does.
- YouLoop passive magnetic loopAntennaThe indoor pick: a passive loop is quiet and directional, so you can rotate the noise from chargers and routers into a null.
- 9:1 unun + longwire kitAntennaThe outdoor pick: an end-fed random wire through a 9:1 transformer is the classic cheap step up for shortwave.
- XHDATA AN-80 reel antennaAntennaThe travel pick — a retractable wire that packs flat and clips onto the extended whip with its alligator clip.