# FM Antenna

Category: Broadcaster's Lounge

## Post 1 by Leafs Fan (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Friday, 24-Sep-2004 23:15:34

Hey all. This may not be the best place to have posted this topic, but I got a new stereo today. It came with the hoop AM antenna and the wire FM antenna typical of multi-component stereo systems. My question is, what is the best way to position one of these wire antennas to pick up the most stations? Alternatively, is there another antenna a person could purchase to increase the number of stations received? Thanks!

## Post 2 by KC8PNL (The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.) on Friday, 24-Sep-2004 23:43:52

The best place for any antenna is outside in as high of a place as possible. Of course, u can't put one of those cheep wire antennas outside, so the best thing to do is put it up as high as possible, and as close to any windows as possible.As far as other antennas go, the answer here depends on several factors. The biggest of which is how much u want to spend. Also, your location can be a factor. Oh yeah, and how much time u want to dump in to such a project. U can buy antennas specifically designed for the FM band that cost as much as 300 dollars. And, u get what u pay for.

## Post 3 by melodica (Account disabled) on Saturday, 25-Sep-2004 1:12:34

I have a wire antenna that splits in two like a tuning fork, or for the sighties, like a letter Y. I have it stretched out as far as it will go so it's almost a T and it's way high up toward my ceiling. I couldn't put it near the window in my room, but I'll remember that if I move, thanks for the tip. I get some stations from the Bay Area and some even from up in Chico and Redding. Not that everyone knows where Grass Valley is, but those places are three or four hours away travel time in a car, so it's amazing what I can get, same with TV!

## Post 4 by KC8PNL (The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.) on Saturday, 25-Sep-2004 1:36:18

Yeah, when conditions r right, U can hear stations from a long ways away. Now is a good time of year to listen for distant stations too. I don't want to get too technical, but the summer can offer some of the longest and farthest listening. I think my best fm grab from MI is either WBAM, 98.9 from Mount gummery Alabama, or WAQY from Springfield Ma. These openings don't usually last long, u just have to be at the right place, at the right time.

## Post 5 by Leafs Fan (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Saturday, 25-Sep-2004 15:05:36

Thanks guys. i think I will invest in another antenna. I know of a number of stations that we should capture relatively easily in this house, and very few of the FM ones come in on this new machine. The antenna is taped to the wall as high as it will go, and it is right by the window. I think the guy at the store told Amanda it should be wrapped around something metal to improve reception. At any rate, this is odd because the Am hoop antenna I have is letting me pick up stations from all over hell's country, far beyond what other radios pick up in this house. Weird.

## Post 6 by KC8PNL (The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.) on Sunday, 26-Sep-2004 1:06:58

Well, AM and FM are two entirely different things. U should be able to here AM stations from quite a ways away at night with just about any decent radio. FM doesn't have even close to the reach as AM under normal circumstances. If u want, I can explain the reasons y, but no sense in getting in to a disscussion about it if no one is interested.

## Post 7 by Leafs Fan (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Sunday, 26-Sep-2004 10:17:12

I wouldn't mind knowing the reasons why. I have been an avid radio channel surfer all my life. I have noticed the AM radio night time phenomenon. I listen to news and sports talk radio from the States on occasion on Am at night. The point I am making a about my new stereo is that during the day, I can get AM radio stations steadily that I don't get with most radios in this house. So this is an antenna that is likely to pick up remote signals, which is reasonably rare. I also understand and have a lot of experience with the FM band and the difficulty picking up stations, but an explanation of why would be interesting here also. However, with this FM antenna, I can't even pick up most of the FM stations right in the city. As I say, it's just the wire that hangs down, though even with it tpaed high on the wall by the window there is not significant improvement. I am floored by the AM one though. I think stereos, from my experience, typically have a good Am hoop and a shitty FM antenna. But anyway that's enough of my rambles. Talk to you lal later.

## Post 8 by KC8PNL (The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.) on Tuesday, 28-Sep-2004 1:35:52

Ok, let's see if I can fit this all in to one poste. The short and simple reason why AM signals travel so far at night time has to do with the frequency at wich these signals are sent. The AM band, wich goes from 0.52 MHZ to 1.710 MHZ, is much lower than that of the FM band, thus it's signals travel differently. With all radio signals, they are sent skyword, and bounce back to Earth. The difference is that some travel strait up in to the atmosphere normally, that's your FM signals, while others travel on angles, your am signals and lower frequency signals. In the day time, these AM signals are sent in to the atmosphere and our absorbed by the layer of the atmosphere known as the ionisphere. Since the sun's ions are what cause the expantion of that atmospheric region, durring the night when the sun is not ionizing this layer, AM signals go considerablly farther. And, since in the winter we get the least amount of daylight, this normally allows for these AM signals to go quite a bit farther than in the summer. And no, I'm not Bill Ni the science guy. LOL. I'll save the explanation of FM signal travel for another day and another poste. Hope u found this info of some help, or at least interesting.

## Post 9 by Leafs Fan (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Tuesday, 28-Sep-2004 8:52:18

Well thanks for the info. And guess what? My GF took a look at the thing last night and realized we had plugged the FM antenna into the wrong jack on the stereo. LOL So now I have beautiful FM radio reception! Like the AM, it is stronger than a typical radio in the city, so I really got a good machine!

## Post 10 by the crashing machine (200) on Tuesday, 28-Sep-2004 19:40:02

I have my own little story to share with you. My family and I, took a vacation up to maine,
and I brought my diskman with me, and I was able to get coast to coast a.m. on an fm station here on the cape, but I had to listen to it on an a.m. band
wile I was up there, and it was fading in and out, and sounded offal! The strange thing is that I was able to get 96.3 f.m, the rose, pretty well, even
though I was about 7 or 800 miles away! It isn't supposed to go that far, and here I was, at 10:00 p.m. listening to a cape cod radio station in Maine
of all places! Strange, isn't it?
Well, tell me if any of you have had a similar experience.
src333 a.k.a. Shaun

## Post 11 by KC8PNL (The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.) on Tuesday, 28-Sep-2004 23:53:37

Yeah, this is what first peaked my interest in radio. I have always been interested in listening to music, but I remember what really got me in to listening to distant stations. One night, at about 2 AM, I was trying to listen to a station out of Detroit with a walkman. Detroit was about 45 miles from my location. Well, instead of listening to that Detroit station that night, I ended up listening to WLUP out of Chicago, witch is about 350 miles, or 530 KM away. I listened to the Chicago station for a good 45 minutes before it droped out and was replaced by the Detroit station again. I just thaught that it was cool to be able to pick up stations so far away. Oh yeah, about the Cape Cod to Maine listening on fm. The FM band is in the range of frequencies wich allow for long disto travel quite a long distance over a large body of water. In fact, a friend of mine in FL frequently hears stations from Boston and all along the east coast. This same sort of long distance listening can occur over land, but it is not as commen. When I have more time I'll make a poste about how FM signals travel normally, and how sometimes they can travel extremely far.

## Post 12 by KC8PNL (The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.) on Tuesday, 28-Sep-2004 23:54:55

Yeah it helps to plug the antenna in to the proper jack. LOL

## Post 13 by vocal aggressor (Generic Zoner) on Saturday, 02-Oct-2004 9:42:27

hi all, i am having problems with my stario as well, i just moved, and the apartment i am in does not allow the fm radio, to work at all, of course we get the 1 or 3 spanish channles just fine, but nothing else. we even have one of those fm amplified antenna's which is spposed to bring in more stations, but to no avail here. it is wierd because in the other place we lived in, it worked fine, but here, all i get is electrical sounds, and static, i asked around to see if there were any antenna's that would correct this, but was told not that they knew of. not having radio, sucks smiles. does any one have any ideas, of what i can do to fix this? thanks for the help.
shane

## Post 14 by JH_Radio (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Sunday, 03-Oct-2004 19:27:46

Hi all. Yes, DXing the FM band is quite fun. I just love it when I can be at home in Bensalem, PA and get WEBE "WeBe 108" Westport, CT when tropo is up. In normal conditions, it is fady, with usually WKRF (Translator for 98.5 WKRZ) comeing in.
Tropo is a lot higher in the summer time, usually the best months to get it I've found are July and September. Then again, I have a Yamaha T-85 tuner with selective filters matched and put in for both wide-band FM listenign for good sound, and Narow-band sellectivity with not such good sound, but better station sensativity and sellectivity. I also have a winagard antenna on my rooph with rotator so I can turn the antenna in any dirrection I want. I don't think that most people in apartments would let you put something like that on there rooph though. Electrical noise is annoying. I have it here at the center. The Six-foot teliscoping antenna I hve on my boombox, does help. John

## Post 15 by ka3m (Account disabled) on Monday, 31-Dec-2007 6:31:18

I completely understand one's frustration on what we call qrn. Electronically interference around the bands that make listening a real fuckin pain. Sometimes there really isn't a solution for man made or atmospheric interference. Fortunately enough where I live even in, an rf hell hole I can still improvise. I took some copper wire and strung it up about 2 wave length outside just above the apple trees and connected that with alligator clips to the little crappy antenna that was on my fm set. The copper wire I cut out for 49 megahertz. At about forty feet of this stuff it served at best as a mobile antenna for six meters. I figured it would work too for fm and it did. It worked like a charm. Stations I used to pick up way in the bushes either came in clear in stereo or I had to flick my mono switch to get rid of the hash and trash in between. There's one disadvantage with this contraption. Can you guess what it is? Well, I'd pull in all kinds of extra unwanted noise. I have some machinery interference to put up with. At most other times with my walkman it wasn't as bad. Now it's hitting my S meter at 4 to 5 S units covering up shit? forget about it! I deal with it as anyone familiar with fm does anytime you put up an outside antenna you'll increase your receive for the hash and trash too, but you take the chance because the reward all though tricky sometimes can be worth it.