Radio signal, metal roof

[Bradbilt]

Guys, what are you doing to be able to listen to a radio in your garages with a metal roof?

I can only get ONE station on my garage and I HATE it. Any time I pull a vehicle in the garage the radio goes instantly to static.

I am not a music buff I just want to listen to something other than silence in the garage

 

[jimkinney]

Put up an external antenna.

I don't have a metal roof, just a second story over my garage and can't get but a few stations, none of which I can stand to listen to.

I have antennas in the attic for TV and FM reception, but you could mount on a mast tall enough to get above the roof.

Good luck,

 

[Bert_]

Antenna outside

 

[kaymccampbell]

Metal sided and roofed buildings are veritable Faraday cages. You will need an external antenna. Anyone who says otherwise is smoking something.

 

[txvwnut]

If you have a window put the radio near it and use an external antenna. That’s how I have mine setup and can get all the stations I want with no issues.

 

[ronr80]

I have metal wall coverings and same issue , I put in a computer and listen to Internet radio, thousands of music choices. R

 

[Bradbilt]

Ok, thanks guys

 

[BillK]

Brad,
What kind of antenna do you have now ? Is only the roof metal or the entire building ? If it is just the roof then a simple dipole antenna should be able to get most stations in the area.

http://home.earthlink.net/~dsc560/antenna/PlainWireFancyReception.html

 

[OptionalStop]

I didn't think of this when I was building my metal sided shop. Now I have bad cell reception and hardly good radio. I do find it better if I place the radio near a window with an antenna over it. I'm going to dig a shallow trench for ethernet line soon which I should have put in while I was trenching for utilities.

 

[MushCreek]

How do you connect a portable radio to an external antenna? I've tried just attaching an antenna wire to the radio's antenna, and it had no effect. Most radios today have terrible reception. They don't seem to make just plain old radios any more; I don't need a CD player or whatever else they add to them- just give me a radio with good reception. I have an old Sony boombox that has good reception, but it's too big to be handy.

 

[Badger 13]

I put a magnetic mount antenna on the roof of mine, and fished the cable under the soffit and in. Didn't have computer access in my shop.

 

[Radio Flyer]

I do the internet radio as well (Tune In Radio App). The only problem is that local sports are blocked out. I have an old PC in the garage.

It's an old windows 7 machine, with a WiFi dongle plugged in.

It's been so slow to load recently, that I rarely use it. I need to revisit it.