AM/FM Broadcast Radio Antenna
by David Harvey VK2DMH on Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 | 1 Comment
The stereo in my living room gets no AM/FM reception whatsoever. What’s a good, cheap antenna that will work the best to get me AM and FM reception of the regular broadcast bands?
Internet searches and reviews are all about HDTV antennas. All I want is a simple AM and FM, indoor broadcast band antenna that lets me listen to the usual music, news and interviews from my local broadcast radio stations.
I have tried two store-bought RCA antennas that don’t work. This is one of those situations where you finally manage to get some radio reception, but the moment you move your hand away from the antenna the signal is lost – and all you can hear is static noise.
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Oh dear, that’s not much information to go on but let me try and help anyway. Firstly, you don’t say whether the problem is with the AM stations, the FM stations or both.
The AM broadcast band picks up signals between 530 kHz and about 1650 kHz. To tune these in you really need a gigantic antenna that is hundreds of feet long – so your set may have this in the form of a large external loop or coil. Sometimes they have a ferrite rod with the coil wound around that rod. But coil or rod, the thing needs to be turned in whichever direction gives you the strongest signal.
The FM broadcast band picks up signals from 88 to 108 MHz, and these are normally picked up by either a telescopic antenna or a T-shaped antenna made from 300-Ohm twinlead (like old fashioned flat TV antenna lead). These need to be aligned for best reception as well.
If you have had these antennas aligned with one of the walls in your home and they didn’t work right, try changing the alignment by 45 or 90 degrees and see if it fixes things. Otherwise you may be forced to put up an outside antenna, at least for the FM band.