Best way to improve FM reception?

Face

My oink has pretty poor FM reception. I have a cassette player mounted under my kitchen cabinets from the 80's that puts it to shame. They're only about 15 feet apart, so I don't believe it's the location of the receiver. I also purchased one of those powered antennas, but it didn't make much of a difference at all. I was considering running a wire from the powered antenna up to my attic, would this help at all?
TIA,

F1nut

An outdoor antenna such as one made by Dynalab will get you best reception possible. They run about $100.00 and worth every penny if FM is your thing.

dudeinaroom

you could also buy a pre amp for the antenna, just make sure it does not have an fm trap, and if it does make sure it is defeatable.

dorokusai

A simple T-wire often works better than the aftermarket stuff(e.g. Terk). An outdoor antenna, as mentioned by F1Nut, is the best way to go if you're an FM hound. Channel Master is an old school choice and often picked up pretty cheap.

Don't waste money on a FM line amplifier unless you want to amplify noise.

bikezappa

RS used to sell a good outdoor Yaga FM antenna for $30. They may still have one at your local store. Highly recommended.

Try the dipole twin lead antenna suggested by doro first and try to get it as high as possible. Next would be the rabbit ears sold at RS for $10. Also get as high as possable. The FM ampilfier will not help.

If the oink is a new surround reciever the FM part probably cost $1 so you may be screwed.

dudeinaroom

Before I moved into an apartment I used an uhf/vhf/fm antenna on a 20 Ft pole with pretty good results. Now that I am in an apartment I can no longer do this and a simple dipole(T-wire) just does not do it in here. So now I'm using a set to vhf/uhf/fm antenna with a 25 db preamp with no noise. so it can be done.

Willow

do you get cable tv? if so, you can try hooking up your cable to your receiver. It works for me every time with no interference.

Face

Thanks for you help guys!

One comment though, I remember using the cable line as an antenna worked great years ago. But I heard now since they're digital lines, they don't work as well. I guess there's only one way to find out. I'll let you guys know, thanks!

jakelm

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2455310&cp=2032057.2032187.2032189.2032204&fbn=Type%2FFM+only&f=PAD%2FProduct+Type%2FFM+only&fbc=1&parentPage=family

This worked the best for me. And very very cheep.

Willow

Face wrote: »

Thanks for you help guys!

One comment though, I remember using the cable line as an antenna worked great years ago. But I heard now since they're digital lines, they don't work as well. I guess there's only one way to find out. I'll let you guys know, thanks!

the only issue I had is that the station was not the same ie 106.9 ended up being 110.5 (only example). What I did was run the cable from the wall to my panamax out from panamax to splitter , splitter to hdbox /receiver for FM

dorokusai

dudeinaroom wrote: »

Before I moved into an apartment I used an uhf/vhf/fm antenna on a 20 Ft pole with pretty good results. Now that I am in an apartment I can no longer do this and a simple dipole(T-wire) just does not do it in here. So now I'm using a set to vhf/uhf/fm antenna with a 25 db preamp with no noise. so it can be done.

I never said it couldn't be done, just that its a waste of money in my experience. It worked for you, great, enjoy it.

dudeinaroom

in the area I live in I could get 2-3 channels clearly with out the amp. with the amp I now get 15+ radio stations clearly. I live about 3 hours from Detroit and on a good night I can pick up 3 radio stations from there with very little static. I also live about a mile away from Saginaw bay which does help with radio reception believe it or not

danger boy

most of todays receivers have pretty piss poor tuners in them.. you'll be lucky if you can tune in more than two or three stations without an antenna.. even with a good antenna.. they are still questionable.

So the solution is then to get a stand alone tuner... better build quality.. better reception, better channel seperation.. and damn it if they don't sound pretty dang good IMHO. Much, much better than a receiver tuner POS.

dorokusai

FM is a waste of time and a dinosaur of the 21st century. I'm not saying that this or that is the future but FM peaked more than a few years ago.

Face

I somewhat agree, but since they just put my favorite station back on the air, I want to be able to listen to it in my home. Otherwise I've used my tuner for a total for 5 minutes for the last 6 months.

dudeinaroom

the only time I really listen to FM any more is in the car. Local stations are either streaming music or using mp3's. Their is one country station up that a swear is using some think like 30kbps for about 50% of their music, you just can not listen to it it is so horrible.

danger boy

dorokusai wrote: »

FM is a waste of time and a dinosaur of the 21st century. I'm not saying that this or that is the future but FM peaked more than a few years ago.

I agree FM radio hasn't changed or improved in the last 30 yrs.. but it'll always have a audience.. albeit smaller and smaller every year.. just like broadcast television is dying too.

There are very few truely good FM radio station around the country anymore.. that doesn't help.

Over the weekend I was listening to alot of Sirius sat radio.. and I loved it. Sound was better than XM, and so were the overall stations. IF i chose one, it would be Sirius over XM.

engtaz

Face wrote: »

I somewhat agree, but since they just put my favorite station back on the air, I want to be able to listen to it in my home. Otherwise I've used my tuner for a total for 5 minutes for the last 6 months.

Go for it. Enjoy. It great for a varity of music and musicians.

sucks2beme

A good tuner can be light years better than a bad one. My Nad tuner pre
runs rings around everything else in the house with just a short piece of wire.
Adding an antenna and preamp on others had minor gains in perfomance.
Start with the good stuff first. Maybe Russman has still got one left for sale?

Eric W

Winegard HD6065P on a rotator

bikezappa

FM allows you to listen to a wide variety of music and talk programs for FREE.

It's all about being introduced to new music isn't it?

I realize that the quality of FM has degraded in the past 10 years because of compression and pissy music chooces. However there are still excellent FM stations that broadcast live country, jazz and classical music. In addition, if you find a DJ that is interesting and plays new music that you like you will enjoy it. You need to look for the good FM stations.

Try http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/

The best FM tuners were made in the 70s and 80s and can be purchased for small money now. As some one said the tuners in recievers now just plane suck. With a good tuner and an out side antenna you can get very good sound quality and a wide selection of music and it's all for free. You will miss the very bottom end and may get some hiss but the rest is there.

The NPR and college stations are my first option because they don't compress the FM signal very much and have fee ads. If you live near a large city you will have many FM station options. If you are in the country 100 miles from the city your are screwed.

Free music and music is the best

Face

Well, I used one of those "T" shaped antennas(wire type) with and without the powered antenna. Reception for a few stations has greatly improved, but I still can't get the station that I want. Maybe I'll try one of those rat shack boosters combined with what I'm using now. As for using cable, that's a no go due to causing interference, and I'm not putting anything on top of my house.
Thanks for everyone's help.

Face

Ha, I should have thought of this earlier.

They have a live stream off their website already. http://cbsplayer.streamtheworld.com/?CALLSIGN=WFNYFM
Since I have my PC hooked up to my receiver, it's a no brainer.

bikezappa

Face wrote: »

Well, I used one of those "T" shaped antennas(wire type) with and without the powered antenna. Reception for a few stations has greatly improved, but I still can't get the station that I want. Maybe I'll try one of those rat shack boosters combined with what I'm using now. As for using cable, that's a no go due to causing interference, and I'm not putting anything on top of my house.
Thanks for everyone's help.

I don't think the booster will help. Try it you can always return it. Can you try a set of RS $10 rabbit ears in the attic? Can you get the FM station in mono?

madmax

I thought FM would be cool but ended up getting hooked on AM and never looked back.

Face

Ok, for some reason my computer doesn't want to stream that site anymore.

Plus putting an antenna in my attic did nothing for reception.

But I did find a solution, I picked up a Mcintosh MX-115. It was recently aligned/serviced and is in like new condition. Reception is impressive. I can even pick up stations broadcasting in CT and NJ.

ben62670

I had the same problem. My HK had good reception, and my Outlaw doesn't. I was about to put an antenna on the roof, and for ha ha's I plugged my cable wire in while I had the radio on. When I inserted it I had reception then no reception. With the cable wire's center conductor only it worked pretty good. If I plugged it all the way in I totally lost reception. Maybe it will work for you?

Face

I've been told that it's not a good idea with digital cable. Can cause interference on both ends, etc.. I remember doing that years ago with analog and it worked great.
Thanks anyway.

dorokusai

It's not good to do with any cable as the shielding is often the grounding and it has nothing to with an analog or digital signal.

ben62670

dorokusai wrote: »

It's not good to do with any cable as the shielding is often the grounding and it has nothing to with an analog or digital signal.

I'm using the center cable only, and I am getting a lot more stations that way. The shield isn't connected to anything at all. I am not getting any noise out of it either. Is there something I should be concerned about?

Thanks Ben

read-alot

madmax wrote: »

I thought FM would be cool but ended up getting hooked on AM and never looked back.

Back in the day my 55 Chevy coupe only had AM capabilities. I can remember the push for everyone to adapt to the FM for the clarity and when a thunder storm was near you didn't have to hear every lightning strike over your radio.
My how fast times have passed.