AM and FM Antenna Placement.. and making them.

[surreal]

Grrr, and that's a Clearchannel station! I got DSL in LA so I could listen to Wjrr in Orlando, and they quit streaming their boadcasts! Because of advertising issues. Geez wonder why I never mentioned it to ya !! Thanks ..
Duhno how well it will work being back on dial up tho..

Here my ears were rotting off in LA and you had the inside scoope. Shoulda known when your mp3's were many of the same ones I had!

Oh and I think I figured out on my own why 300om wire is used.
Cause you can make a continuous loop to the reciever? But what does terminating the ends do?

[BBA]

Surreal, at one time I had made a 1/2 wave FM antenna out or a couple of pieces of PVC pipe and some 300 ohm antenna lead. Basically, I took a piece the right length ( about 6 foot if I remember ) and put a "T" fitting in the middle of it, connected to a long piece as the mast. The wire was strung inside it and help in place by PVC glue. I mounted it about 6 feet above my roof.

I could get at least 100 stations crystal clear. It was the best antenna I have ever had for FM.

BTW: I never had any luck with signal boosters.

Tonto - I guessed that too when I saw dutchmaster's first post - It was 30 years ago when I last played with the stuff - Besides - there are so many people here with real expertise - in diverse areas - that really know how to do it - that I figured my thread cr pping would be too much -

Now how - is surreal making out with her radio anyway??

wizofid

[thekingofpain]

One other alternative---check your cableTV provider out and see if they offer a digital audio feed, some do...

[DanU]

Wow! Lots of good info here for sure.

Sounds like your best option is to put the antenna in the attic.

When aiming one of those multi-element "fishbone" antennas, remember that the open end of the "V" is supposed to point towards the signal. However, since the strongest signal may not be the most direct one, most folks find that rotating the antenna till the signal is strongest works the best.

Signal amplifiers are communly misunderstood. Many folks think that they're a cure-all for all of their reception problems. In reality, they are only useful when you have very long cable runs or lots of splitters. Since you have neither, I wouldn't bother with them. They can cause more problem than they solve.

One trick to improve twin-lead's performance is to twist it a couple times per foot. The twisting helps reduce any interference it may pick up. For a short run of cable like yours, this may not make any difference. Co-ax is already inherently resistant to this type of interference.

If you go with coax cable, RG6 cable has less loss than the more common RG59 cable. Again, for short runs this won't make an appreciable difference.

Good Luck

[surreal]

Well, I've gotten in my station with just a split piece of speaker wire on the ceiling..
Naturally tho the gears are turning and I'm thinking..

Ok now a circle of wire on the ceiling, to suspend the antenna from and I can give it a spin as I spin the dial on the tuner...

Am I a lost cause?

[DanU]

If it works, don't fix it... unless you're a "techimo tweaker" with a type A personality

[surreal]

Oh DanU, am I that transparent?

I've been pegged!

[surreal]

How about an AM antenna?
Does anyone know how I can make one of those? I can't get anything AM here and figured once I was setting up an FM antenna perhaps...