FM Antenna????

Fishoz

Fishoz

Veteran and General Yakker
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Northeast Illinois
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Always learning!
Is there an FM antenna that is actually good????

I'm thinking that rabbit ears would do the job?
 
I'm hoping the Magnum Dynalab ST-2 is as good as folks say. I just bought one & 100 ft. of coax. Just not sure where to put it yet.
 
I simply tapped into the lead-in wires that were dangling from the garage ceiling when we moved in. I still don't know what kind of antenna is up there, but reception is more than good.
 
Fishoz said:
Is there an FM antenna that is actually good????

I'm thinking that rabbit ears would do the job?
Click to expand...

Can't be answered unless you give us more info. Like distance from transmitter towers and topography of the area.
 
How 'bout a big ass Channel Master or Winegard designed for analog TV? My "RCA" (likely Winegard) UHF/VHF combo yagi antenna is great for DTV and FM. But I'm only 35 miles from ABQ and all the FM towers here are on a 10,000 ft mountain.
 
I give two thumbs up to the Magnum Dynalab ST-2 . It made such a difference that it's still just sitting here in the living room. Once I get it up in the air it may work even better.
The only station with a strong signal on the standard dipole played a constant loop of Disco Duck, Rubber Band Man, Convoy & Enery the 8th.
Now the dial is full & I found a very nice classic rock station the real thing. And of course here in the Ozarks LOTS of Bluegrass!
 
There's no good antenna . It depends on the enviromental condition !
1) Start with the simplest solution : a 300 Ohm dipole
2) Check the RSSI using strength meter and tuning meter
3) Search weak stations ( classic music ) and check the noise
due to multipath
4) In case of poor results use a roof antenna ( omni or yagi )
The real problems in FM are the reflections , because the wavelenght is approx . 8 ' ( lambda )
Riceiving antenna system are calibrated on lambda / 2 = 300 Ohm .
Every roof antenna has a " balun " to translate the impendance from 300 to 75 Ohm
Try and try again .

Ciao
Marco
 
Have to agree with Marco's very last point and over-arching theme. Environmental and equipment factors play a huge role.

That said, I've tried a bunch, found so many passive & active solutions to be utter s h ! t in my situation and have had very good results with this in our current abode as well as in Cali, where radio reception was utter garbage due to terrain and structural interference and the like. So in a nutshell, having the same tuner and amplified antenna in two vastly different environments proved to me that this bit of kit is solid. Don't recall how remotely you live from towers & such - so my recommendation could be meaningless. In Cali we were more than 60 miles away from San Fran (and further) stations and across anything remotely resembling what I would call 'flat land' ... and this Terk worked.

https://www.terk.com/radio-antennas/?sku=EDGE
 
marcok said:
https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/locate?select=city&city=Gillette&state=WY
I have found this table ( Gillette is an example and a " tribute " to Lee )
Very helpful , but probably known by all of you .
Ciao
Marco
Click to expand...

Thanks Marco. It's interesting to compare ' air miles' to actual travel distances with the chart. Mostly about double the miles for me. I tried the same thing for TV stations while considering an antenna. There are zero tv stations close enough to me. I wonder what these hillbillies did before cable around here?
 
Bradrock said:
Thanks Marco. It's interesting to compare ' air miles' to actual travel distances with the chart. Mostly about double the miles for me. I tried the same thing for TV stations while considering an antenna. There are zero tv stations close enough to me. I wonder what these hillbillies did before cable around here?
Click to expand...

I remember one house I lived in outside West Plains, where I used a pipe wrench as an antenna rotator for TV...I'd give the mast a nudge and call out, asking if the picture were any better.
 
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