I want to hook up a good,strong,INEXPENSIVE,fm antenna for my home stereo.It can be whatever design.Heck,it can be a satellite dish aimed at the radio stations or homemade.Give me your recommendations!Also,since I'm at it, what about for the car?Will a dipole work better than the rod that already comes with the car?
Good FM antenna?
- Thread starter daves66nova
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For house an antennacraft fm 6 six element yagi antenna has about an 80 mile range for a little over $30. This design has been sold by Radio Shack for years. Has about a 70" boom length. Pretty good performer if you want reasonably sized outdoor antenna. You could put this in your attic as well if you don't want an outdoor install. I think it would work much better than rabbit ears. How distant are your stations and are you in a big city or rural?
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I'm about 15 miles from L.A."boom" is length of antenna?
Well the boom is the middle section that holds the elements. Are there some really weak signals you are trying to pull in? Are the stations in LA that you are wanting to hear? If the signals are strong a simple rabbit ear setup would probably work for less $. Are there stations that you cannot hear that you want to hear or are weak?
only 15 miles from Los Angeles?!?! I suspect your problems will be mainly with selectivity & overload, not sensitivity. The abilitiy to rotate the antenna may be valuable- the rig described above, with a rotater, should be just about the ultimate.
But- got any old rabbit ears? Before you spend any $$, you might try a set of old TV rabbit ears on a Lazy Susan. Looks a litle cheesy, but I've seen it work near-miracles for someone who'll mess with rotation, and positioning/extending/shortening the whips.
Then there's the old "T-Wire" dipole- looks like a T shape, made of old style TV flat antenna wire, joined & spliced so that it's one contimuous wire around the T. Mebbe $5 at Radio Shack.
Also: Google "FM antennas" & variations; you'll find more ideas than you can try in a lifeime!
But- got any old rabbit ears? Before you spend any $$, you might try a set of old TV rabbit ears on a Lazy Susan. Looks a litle cheesy, but I've seen it work near-miracles for someone who'll mess with rotation, and positioning/extending/shortening the whips.
Then there's the old "T-Wire" dipole- looks like a T shape, made of old style TV flat antenna wire, joined & spliced so that it's one contimuous wire around the T. Mebbe $5 at Radio Shack.
Also: Google "FM antennas" & variations; you'll find more ideas than you can try in a lifeime!
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Originally Posted By: daves66nova
I'm about 15 miles from L.A."boom" is length of antenna?
I'm pretty sure that in your area stations will be in every which direction around you. You shouldn't need much of an antenna and the many element antennas are directional which will be to your disadvantage unless you get a rotater. With a rotater, it would be great.
For your car, a the simple vertical factory metal rod is had to beat, a dipole is directional and not what you want.
I'm about 15 miles from L.A."boom" is length of antenna?
I'm pretty sure that in your area stations will be in every which direction around you. You shouldn't need much of an antenna and the many element antennas are directional which will be to your disadvantage unless you get a rotater. With a rotater, it would be great.
For your car, a the simple vertical factory metal rod is had to beat, a dipole is directional and not what you want.
Originally Posted By: oilstudent24
For house an antennacraft fm 6 six element yagi antenna has about an 80 mile range for a little over $30. This design has been sold by Radio Shack for years. Has about a 70" boom length. Pretty good performer if you want reasonably sized outdoor antenna. You could put this in your attic as well if you don't want an outdoor install. I think it would work much better than rabbit ears. How distant are your stations and are you in a big city or rural?
+1
For house an antennacraft fm 6 six element yagi antenna has about an 80 mile range for a little over $30. This design has been sold by Radio Shack for years. Has about a 70" boom length. Pretty good performer if you want reasonably sized outdoor antenna. You could put this in your attic as well if you don't want an outdoor install. I think it would work much better than rabbit ears. How distant are your stations and are you in a big city or rural?
+1
If your radio has 2 screws (300 ohm) for the antenna, make one out of 300 ohm lead like THIS ONE toward the bottom of the page. Over the years I have made quite a few like that and they pulled in lots of FM from Cleveland and Detroit ( I live between the 2 cities ). It is a half wave folded dipole.
If your radio has a Motorola jack or other coaxial input (50/75 ohm) use a car antenna as a cheap FM antenna.
If your radio has a Motorola jack or other coaxial input (50/75 ohm) use a car antenna as a cheap FM antenna.
How does ohms work on this? Also,which is better,300 or 75 ohm?
One isn't "better" than the other (well, there are applications where one system would work a better than the other but that is a long story for a designer to address). It depends how the radio (receiver) was designed.
2 screws indicate that it was designed for a 300 ohm balanced input antenna. A coax jack says that it was designed for an unbalanced 50/75 ohm input antenna.
2 screws indicate that it was designed for a 300 ohm balanced input antenna. A coax jack says that it was designed for an unbalanced 50/75 ohm input antenna.
ok,now what's meant by balanced and unbalanced?
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