Arails for FM

I may decide to get a proper outdoor FM arial for my existing sony fm tuner as I am currently using a bit of copper wire wraped around a shelf and I can only get a decent signal on Radio 2 (60db).

I am scared of heights so I cannot fit this anthena myself, does anybody know how much a local company cost to install one?

Also will sticking an FM anthena in the loft do any good?

 

From about £60 upwards I'd say. Final cost will depend on the type of aerial you get installed.

An outdoor aerial is always better than one installed in a loft as that way you get a clearer line of sight to the tranmitter which is important for the cleanest/most distortion free signal.

 

Thanks, so in peoples opinion do you think the cheapest FM anthena will make a worthwhile gain from copper? My radio sounds great on Radio 2 atm, but all the other stations sound hissy, I think an anthena will solve this, plus I may be able to get other stations.

 

Yep, an outdoor aerial is definitely the way to go if you can.

Reception of just about all FM station is very hissy with portable radios in my house, but the main hi-fi tuner which is hooked up to an outdoor aerial gets everything very clearly with no hiss at all, except for Radio 3 if I were being pedantic (but that's a slightly different issue).

Try and get a 3 element dirctional aerial as a minimum, the more elements the more ability an aerial has of pulling in weak or distant stations. Directional FM aerials look like TV aerials except that they have fewer horizontal elements. The elements are also spaced wider apart on FM aerials than they are on TV (UHF) aerials - that's how you can tell them apart.

Omni-directional aerials have a single circular or curved element. Omni-directionals are good if you want to pick up stations from transmitter located in different compass directions as they have equal pick sensitivty all around. These types of aerials are at best a convenience/compromise compared to directionals as they do not have as much signal grabbing capability and are also more prone to picking up reflected signals bounced off buildings/hill/etc which ends up manifesting itself as distortion on the audio. You pays your money, and makes your choice.

 

FM Radio Aerials - 101

Once again the old saying "the bigger the better" often holds true, I think a quick trip to Ron's site will give you an idea of what is available. An idea is to write to Ron with a sae + 50p stamp and request a copy of his free catalog.

Lots of ideas, some explanations and a price list - a good place to gather knowledge.

Auric

 

unfortunatley ron is no longer in the aerial buissness ,he retired a few months ago after a major health scare,however he was selling of the remaining stock so it maybe worth a call

 

Hi,

See this link for info on FM reception...lots of useful info here.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/factsheets/index.shtml


Regards