Not sure if this is the right spot or if it should be in general. I have an older receiver (tuner?) like you would have in your house, and would like better reception. Can someone tell me the best way to go about this? I only get one station that is clear (most powerful station by us), and a couple that have just enough static to make them irritating. Someone told me to mount a car antenna to the peak of the roof (low roof, about 12-15 feet off the ground) and solder a wire to the base of it and connect it to the receiver. My receiver looks to require two wires for the fm, not just one. Any help would be great, thank you
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radio reception help
- Thread starter monkers
- Start date
Steve.S
Well-known member
The two terminals are there because your FM antenna should be a loop of wire.
Check out this link for some ideas:
http://www.wryr.org/Antenna_instructions.pdf
I've had luck with just a short (5-6 ft) loop of wire.
Hope this helps.
Check out this link for some ideas:
http://www.wryr.org/Antenna_instructions.pdf
I've had luck with just a short (5-6 ft) loop of wire.
Hope this helps.
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Alchymist
Well-known member
Head off to Radio Shack and buy some "twinlead" wire. Then go to the library and find a copy of the "Radio Amateur's Handbook". In it will be a description of how to construct the antenna. Pretty simple - cut and solder the twinlead as specified - boom - FM antenna.
SIDECAR BOB
Well-known member
metal building? will shield a lot of the signal , may need to get it outside ,otherwise all good suggestions
knobby
Well-known member
just a little heads up most new T8 and T5 florescent fixtures produce significant levels of interference (RFI) so it would be wise to keep any antenna as far away as possible
dave67fd
Well-known member
The two terminals are there because your FM antenna should be a loop of wire.
Check out this link for some ideas:
http://www.wryr.org/Antenna_instructions.pdf
I've had luck with just a short (5-6 ft) loop of wire.
Hope this helps.
NO. Shouldn't be a "loop" that would be for AM reception. For FM you want a dipole configuration. This could be constructed of two identical lengths of wire. A simple configuration would be to take a length of speaker cord and peel apart to the required length and leaving the "feed" (the stereo end up to where the two pieces split. This length would be as long as you need it to be, say long enough to go outside a window up the building to an acceptable height for good reception) unsplit.
You also could for cheap money purchase an FM antenna (at RS) and mount at the top of the building with a length of 75 ohm coax. If your stereo doesnt have a cable type connector just by the coax to twin-lead transformer (75 ohm to 300ohm)
The wire dipole calculator is 468/freq.
If we assume 100mhz (middle of the fm band roughly 88-108Mhz)
468/100=4.68' total or say 2.5' per side. At this freq. it's not that important for general coverage. So peel the wire so there is 2-3' on each side will work fine. If metal building make sure you don't tack the ends to the building through the wire. Don't strip the wire but put a small loop or tie a knot on each end then slip it over a nail or hook or whatever to attach to building.
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SGKent
Banned
An AM antenna is just a straight lead. An FM antenna on a stereo that has two connectors in the back is a dipole antenna. Two single wires won't work. A cheap $2 set of rabbit ears lying around pulled out to 30" - 31" is perfect. Or buy one of these. http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062691
Knuckle Buster
Well-known member
I have several vintage receivers, some with sweet 8 gang tuners inside them. I cut a piece of speaker wire and split it into a T and thumbtack to the wall and they pick up very well here in the sticks.