Improved radio reception for a cheap radio

[Popeye]

Anyone have a good solution to better reception from small radios in the shop. Everything I have is in the clock radio inexpensive desktop radio category. You know the type, with one thin wire for an antenna, anyway to extend this? The best I can do is a couple of FM stations that are not what I like to listen to.
I live 15 miles from the nearest broadcast station and 45 miles from the nearest stations I listen to on the car stereo. Lots of tall pine and live oak trees nearby. Radio is mounted by a large picture window in the shop. I just can't justify buying an expensive reciever to put out in the shop but I'd really like some tunes and the news. Thanks, Pat

[Red88chevy]

Read somewhere you could take that thin wire and tie it onto some large metal item. It was a story from long ago, they tied the wire to some old bed springs. Not sure if your radio wire is exposed, if not, cut back the insulation and try tieing it to some metal thing in the shop, such as garage door rails, or even a longer wire.

[RAV2]

Check out this company:

http://www.ccrane.com/antennas/index.aspx

They have great stuff..........

[Daryl]

Try a simple dii-pole antenna. They are easy to make with a length of tv twin lead and you can optimize it for the frequency you are listening to. According to this Wikipedia article, they were invented before radio existed.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipole_antenna

[Stytooner]

Stop into any auto parts store or Wally World and pick up a cheap car antenna. They extend the range pretty well.

[Popeye]

Thanks folks. I stopped by Radio Shack this afternoon and got a dii-pole this afternoon, I'll see what I can do with it tomorrow, If that doesn't do it then I think I have a truck antenna around here someplace. Pat

[JoeyGee]

This is likely painfully obvious to most, but I recently discovered that if I have my radio at work plugged into it's own surge suppressor, I get much better reception. Of course, this is my office, and I separated it from my PC and monitor, which probably generate "noise" that a shop doesn't.

[Charlie R]

I read that if you take a length of two conductor lamp cord and put a plug on one end connected to one wire (only) and connected the other wire to the antenna of the radio the signal that the house wiring picks up would get to the radio boosting its antenna range. If it doesn't work reverse the plug in the outlet. Insulate the end of the wire that goes to the plug.

[TheRic]

I read that if you take a length of two conductor lamp cord and put a plug on one end connected to one wire (only) and connected the other wire to the antenna of the radio the signal that the house wiring picks up would get to the radio boosting its antenna range. If it doesn't work reverse the plug in the outlet. Insulate the end of the wire that goes to the plug.

Just tie the antenna into the ground of the plug, assuming you have a three prong receptacle. Use to do electrical construction, when I had to work on/near the panel box in the basement I would wrap all the ground wires together and attach it to the antenna. Worked great!!

Something else to consider. The antenna wire might not be attached inside the radio or might be broken somewhere. Might want to consider opening it up and checking, then again if you open it up just solder a little thicker wire inside while you have it open.

Keep in mind that fluorescent lights will give off static, radio station freq and strength play into how much it effects it.

[Popeye]

Ok, here is the attachment point for the single wire antenna in my desktop radio. Not being an electronics type, how would I go about attaching another type antenna to this?

It's soldered to the board at that point. Thanks Pat

[Knottscott]

Crutchfield (and others) sells FM signal boosters ...Radio Shack and auto parts stores might too. Based on the tech notes, I'm not sure it's a great choice for you situation, but might be worth looking into. ~ $15.

Good luck.

[Daryl]

Ok, here is the attachment point for the single wire antenna in my desktop radio. Not being an electronics type, how would I go about attaching another type antenna to this?

It's soldered to the board at that point. Thanks Pat

I would put one side of the twin lead in place of the black wire and the other side to ground in the radio. I would guess the screws that hold the pcb board to the case are at ground or a little investigation will find it. YOu might consider adding an RCA jack to the case of the radio for an antenna connection.

[ironhat]

I have an old boom box with a one-leg, telescoping antenna and I haven't had any luck getting better reception with an extended wire or connecting it to metal objects. Heck, come to think of it I have a newer, but still cheap, boom box and it has one antenna - same issue. I'm not sure there is an answer for some of us and I tend to think that it's location, location, location.

[LCHIEN]

I have an old boom box with a one-leg, telescoping antenna and I haven't had any luck getting better reception with an extended wire or connecting it to metal objects. Heck, come to think of it I have a newer, but still cheap, boom box and it has one antenna - same issue. I'm not sure there is an answer for some of us and I tend to think that it's location, location, location.

that's true, if there's no signal to be had, no antenna in the world is going to create one.

And, if there's too much noise compared to the signal, then a booster will boost the noise along with the signal, same result.

If you have a very marginal signal (reception is noisy), then the only way you're going to be able to improve it is to put a directional antenna on it with pickup sensitivity higher in the aimed direction and reduced sensitivity in all other directions. This only works if 1) you have it poited in the right direction and 2) if the noise is coming omnidirectionally - from all around and not all from the same direction as the signal.

All these suggestions for coupling to the house wiring and grounds and stuff won't fix the directional aspect any.

Cheap radios have notoriouly bad receiver sections. Any FM radio can pick up a strong signal but better receivers have more sensitivity, more adjacent channel rejection and more selectivity and better quieting, allowing decent listening in marginal reception areas. A ~$100 radio with a decent antenna might well put you in FM heaven, if its worth that much to you to listen.

in a new radio you might try one of the Henry Kloss Tivoli models, like the Model one
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...0b9-2025352-20

there's probably a number of old Stereo tuners or receivers with good FM front ends available on eBay for not too much money, offhand I'm not able to name more than a few but hanging around classic AV forums will get you a few names. Dynaco, Dynalabs, Marantz, Mcintosh all had renowned FM sections back in the day. But the Tivoli will be smaller and simpler.

"There's no continuous substitute for Good".

[BigguyZ]

Um, I have an idea.... get a cheap $15 MP3 player? Unless you're dead-set on FM...