Outside antenna

[493 scamp]

I can't get any reception in my Garage due to the ballasts in my lighting. Will adding an outside antenna to my old boom box work or will the interference still get in? I have an automotive antenna I was thinking of mounting outside on my Dish pole and running coax in from it. Will this work and how do I connect to the radio? Do I need to cut off the original antenna and solder to the end ?
This is a pole barn with steel outside and soon inside. Can I also use a splitter on the wire and connect my garage door opener as well for increased range?

 

[pattenp]

So you are saying with the lights turned off your boom box plays ok? If so, then that's noise over the power line due to the ballast. I don't think an antenna will solve that problem. I believe you need a power line noise filter.

 

[justsam]

Before going to the trouble of rigging your auto antenna, just hang a piece of wire outside the building a bit away from the building. Virtually any wire type will suffice. Connect it to the spring terminal on back of boom box.

To eliminate line induced noise try running the boom box on batteries and see if the noise is still there.

Receiver performance is really a function of signal to noise ratio. So reducing the noise amplitude, (taming the lights) or increasing the desired signal amplitude, providing an outside antenna) is the name of the game.

I would not try to split any type of outdoor antenna you provide. Without going down a rabbit trail, depending on if you are listening to AM or FM radio, the GDO operates at a very different part of the radio spectrum. Most garage door operators offer external antenna kits, and I would look to that.

 

[Gerald O]

So you are saying with the lights turned off your boom box plays ok? If so, then that's noise over the power line due to the ballast. I don't think an antenna will solve that problem. I believe you need a power line noise filter.

Not necessarily conducted noise. I get bad RF noise from the CFLs inside my garage that is picked up by car radios on AM. Switch the lights off and its gone.

 

[slowthump]

I had very annoying radio static in my shop. The static was coming from the t8 fluorescent light fixtures. When i shut the lights off, radio came in perfectly. Last night I replaced the fluorescent lamps in the fixture closest to my stereo with LED tubes and eliminated the ballast completely. I had to re-wire the fixture and now power is fed directly to one side of the fixture. The radio lost 90% of the static and I am confident that as soon as get the next closest fixtures retrofitted there will be no more static. I used Toggeld brand LED bulbs from Home Depot. There are cheaper options available online and there is a good sticky at the top of the lighting and electrical board on this site.