Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions How to achieve better AM/FM reception???

Hi All, I was just curious as to how AM/FM reception can be improved. The room where my AVR currently sits doesn't get the best reception, and mostly ALL channels contain serious static. In other rooms, it doesn't seem to be an issue, but in this one particular room, reception is horrible.

The antenna wire supplied with the HK isn't very long -- i.e. if I would have to extend it, so that the wire sits outside of a window, that wouldn't be an issue...just that I would have to 'extend' it. Might that solve the issue, and if so, what kind of wire could I use?? Would it be safe, during lightning/thunder storms?

Is there an FM booster out there that doesn't cost too much? Not sure if I would need it in the future, if locations change...so no need to spend crazy money on something like that.

Any advice is all good.

Thanks,
i.

Many things affect AM & FM reception, but not necessarily the same things. AM is also known as 'LF' or low frequency - roughly 1 MHz. At this frequency, radio waves are roughly 300 meters long and a good antenna (depending on design) is 1/4 or 1/2 that long. 50 meter (~160 ft) antennas aren't usually practical except for us Hams so you usually compromise with something shorter. AM stations of interest tend to be local and powerful so you can get away with those little loops and bits of wire. For AM, I'd suggest running 20 feet of wire along your baseboards or up the wall or out the window. Try to stay away from power lines, flourescent lights or other 'transmitters'. Kept low, I wouldn't worry too much about lightning. The long runs of power cable and phone wire in your house will do more damage in even a near-miss.

FM is a different story because it is roughly 88 to 108 MHz with wavelengths close to 3 meters or 10 feet. Here you see traditional 'dipole' or 'folded dipole' antennas that look like 'T's. The main problems here are height & orientation. Get a folded dipole for FM - you can make one with some 300 ohm twinlead or buy one from RatShack. Get a 300- to 73-ohm transformer (little screws on one side with a type-F connector on the other) and hook it to the back of your receiver. Then play with its orientation - North-South, E-W, other variations. You will have to experiment to find the best spot. Lightning will not be a concern.

Hope that helps!

73!

-Brian n8wrl

i had poor reception for FM at my parents house while i was staying there, on the stereo in the guest room, so i simply made a longer antena.. just get a thin power cord, or a pair of thin wires, and attach them to the FM antena of the reciever and you should be good to go. The one that I used I think was about 2 or 3 feet long?

My new receiver is going to have access to an old 75ohm cable that runs to a arrowlike TV anteana in the attic. Will this get me good good FM reception? I'm about 30 miles outside of the big city.

yeah, anything metal will help, the bigger (longer) the more it will help