I’ve had great success with a Pm3 and a cylindrical antenna that I hacked together. The antenna itself I actually got from the DangerousThings xEM access controller kit:
https://dangerousthings.com/shop/xem-access-controller/
After locking my xEM with the infamous BlueFreakingCloner (before knowing the issues). This coil was my saviour. It gets clean reads an inch away from my skin when orientated as shown in the picture below:
