FM Radio, A Thing of The Past? Choosing and Installing External FM Antennas.

December 12, 2018

#296

Gentle reader,

This is my second writing of this article. Some Blogger.com glitch erased everything. I do not know why. I just hope I am as brilliant this go round. Humble! I meant humble.

I belong to a number of FaceBook groups devoted to classic and vintage stereo equipment. Sometimes the subject of radio comes up, "Does anyone still listen to FM?" Or the subject of reception, "What do you use for an antenna?"

I have captured a number of images of analog TV "Rabbit Ears" antennas. This image is via wiseGEEK.com.

I use one similar to this RCA model on top of my retro floor radio (seen further down the article) and it does a good job. I cannot use the built-in amplifier as it creates noise. I suspect because the radio's antenna is a simple wire which I screwed to a 75 Ohm coax-to-300 Ohm adapter.

Terk is a company famous for it's antennas. Two of which are shown above, both I have used with mixed results. Bottom photo is via B&H Photo.com.

We live southwest of Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland. About 35 miles down I-95 from the Potomac river crossing into D.C. via I-395.

So, reception with an indoor antenna is not going to be very good. It depends upon the device. A SONY under-cabinet radio/CD player in the kitchen picks up D.C. stations just fine. And it has no visible antenna.

I put a TV antenna on the chimney on the other end of the house. It is one made for HDTV digital broadcasts. It works well and brings in every HDTV channel beautifully. Except FOX. Which is just fine with me. I added a lightning arrestor and ran a ground wire to a stake at the base of the fireplace.

I found this FM antenna on eBay, made and sold by a seller. I put it up a few years ago. He made it out of two car aerials in a bipole or dipole configuration. I can never remember which is correct. It worked well and even picks up HDTV broadcasts. My wife has a small flat screen TV in her "office" next to mine. Great picture, too. Who knew?

Detail shots of this antenna can be seen further down in the article when I show it's new location.

Parts Express: Speakers, Amplifiers, Audio Parts and Solutions  sells a number of antennas at reasonable prices. This omnidirectional FM antenna is one of them. It sells for less on Amazon, but I prefer to deal with companies rather than further enrich Jeff Bezos, whenever I can.

I did not put a lightning arrestor on the old FM antenna, but at the urging of my FaceBook colleagues added one to this, the ground wire is the grey one.

Our house faces almost due south. This room is on the front of the house, the listening room is on the back. My retro floor radio is what I use when I just want to listen to the radio on this end of the house. It sits in a corner of the listening room. Both photos that flank it I made on film up in the Blue Ridge mountains.

You may recall I wrote about upgrading the cheap factory 3-way speakers with the baffle and speakers from a vintage Citation speaker? It sounds terrific and the antenna, a Radio Shack unit, can be seen on top of it.

I was an early adopter of HD Radio when it came out. I bought an Insignia HD Radio tuner, a rebadging of a tuner made by a famous radio company, whose name escapes me.

I used it when the stereo was still in the living room and I ran speaker cables through the attic into this room, my "office". Hard to believe I used to have only one stereo.

Later on, I bought this SONY unit, it is simply a radio with no way to output it to a stereo. It sounded very nice and it got all the side bands or channels.

HD Radio, like broadcast digital HDTV (over the air television) have side bands or channels. Most FM HD Radio broadcasters have up to three channels. I chose HD Radio because that was the only terrestrial way to receive Smooth Jazz over the air. 

I even put HD Radio it in my car. Below are shots of my 2000 Audi TT quattro. Lest you think I'm wealthy, you are incorrect. I sold my two cars to get the cash ($10,500) to buy this ten-year-old car. 

I also had Sirius satellite radio. So, I came up with a way to tastefully add both receivers to the car, playing either through the cassette deck and one of those adapters, seen sticking out of the factory radio, above.

Do you like my handles? They look like miniature rack handles. The toggle switch was to switch between the receivers outputs. 105.9 HD2 was the Smooth Jazz side channel.

And here is my car. I can tell stories about it, but I wont. The thing about buying a car which was $40,000 when new, used, is it is still a $40,000 car when it needs repairs. I miss the car, but not the expensive things that went wrong with it. But man was it fast!

If you are interested in receiving HD Radio, click this link:  Homepage - HD Radio - HD Radio

So, I have shown you internal and external FM antennas below is a shot of the new antenna and the way I chose to attach it to the house. There are numerous brackets sold to mount an external antenna. Just search "TV antenna brackets" to see the variety.

I carefully measured and marked and using a LONG 3/8" drill bit drilled through the two studs that this vent is mounted to. Then used 3/8" threaded rod, sleeves and various other pieces to utilize the brackets that are actually holding the antenna pole. We have a metal roof which covers over the fascia boards, so it had to extend far out from the house.

The directions that came with the antenna stated to point the aerial that is pointing away from us (above) towards the stations. Since D.C. and Baltimore lie 40 degrees off of north, when Spring returns and my wife is home to steady the ladder, I will orient it to that angle and see if it improves reception.

I found this Trisonic broadcast amplifier at a thrift store. Does it add 36 decibels? I have no idea, but it makes a huge difference in receiving clear FM broadcasts. 

Despite Steely Dan's lyrics, "FM, no static at all." FM has static, it is more prevalent on older analog tuners, at least ones I have used, where newer digital-readout receiver tuners seem to filter it out.

You may have noticed the three retro radios on top of my classical LP records shelves? I used to have a bunch of them. Well, I found this Radio Shack branded one recently. I put it in our laundry/workroom. But reception was poor, it's semi-below grade. The "antenna" was a wire wrapped around the AC power cord. 

I unwrapped it and passed it through a hole in the back of the radio. A little better, but...........

I decided to try adapting the old FM antenna to it. Our natural gas supply pipe runs right through this room parallel to the back wall of the house near the ceiling.

I clamped the antenna to the pipe, facing the window. Details of the construction of this antenna can be seen by examining the photos. He secured the car aerials to the tube above with tiny set screws. Each aerial is 1/4 the length of mid-FM band wavelength. So, together, they are 1/2 the length.

I attached one end of a coaxial cable to the antenna's adapter and the other end to another adapter. I crimped one wire of that adapter to 1/2" of bare wire I stripped from the radio's antenna wire. Just for the heck of it, I poked the other wire into the crimp (below).

Reception is excellent since the antenna faces north. I'm pleased and these old retro radios tend to sound better than one would expect, since the speaker is in essentially a speaker cabinet. Plus, they are cool looking.

Well, do you think I have covered this subject well? Are you now inspired to improve your FM radio listening experience? 

WARNING: Do not attempt to climb ladders, work from ladders, walk or climb on a roof unless you are experienced at such activities and have followed ALL safety rules! Death or severe injury can and do occur when individuals attempt to work on or install antennas such as those I have shown you.   

You have been warned. I worked as a professional for forty-four years with electricity and have climbed more ladders than I care to think about. I never once got injured.

Once again, thank you SO much for taking the time to read my words and view my photos. Your kind words encourage me to keep cranking out these articles.

Scott

December 12, 2018

#296