Why bother when you have internet FM?

Getting off topic, but I'm surprised you can't get WBJC where you are. I know I used to be able to when I lived in Falls Church.

Well, I just presumed I couldn't. We don't have a rooftop antenna (tho I have a huge Winegard 9095 UHF corner reflector, preamp & rotor from my DXing TV days). We have no chimney and I didn't want to install a tripod on this house, plus we reshingled a couple years back and I'm even less inclined to do a rooftop antenna now.

I just checked to see if I can get WBJC on the rabbit ears I have connected in the plant room (ground floor). I'll be darned - just a faint bit of noise - but its there (the Carver is a pretty sensitive tuner). Thanks!

Edit - 01/11/18 AM - And I checked on the way to work today and found I can pick it up in my car on the way to work today (Springfield - Ft. Belvoir area) - tho with a bit of noise here and there ...

WBJC-FM-915-5791.jpg
 
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Gee, what a wonderful thread. On a forum where everybody is having a good time and sharing, somebody comes along and asks why bother ? The defensive position is almost like Mom caught you wanking. I find no reason to excuse myself for liking something. Don't bring ants to the picnic.
In the sixty's it was do your own thing...
 
That'll be some good old tropospheric ducting (tropo) :). I have long been into FM DXing and use a 9-element Yagi with a rotator (since October 2014). Between May 2006 and October 2014 I had a 5-elment Yagi fixed beaming east.

I have lots of recordings of DX, including tropo, E-skip and meteor scatter here:

https://app.box.com/s/kakv3v8snn5qmli1dffclcas1mr0w3rm

Several tuners were used to make these recordings but the ones from May 2017 onwards were made using the RBRX Encore.

This is one of the reasons I love FM!
And you have Radio 3 & 4! The Shipping Forecast!

And 6, although, isn't that digital-only?
 
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Well, I just presumed I couldn't. We don't have a rooftop antenna (tho I have a huge Winegard 9095 UHF corner reflector, preamp & rotor from my DXing TV days). We have no chimney and I didn't want to install a tripod on this house, plus we reshingled a couple years back and I'm even less inclined to do a rooftop antenna now.

I just checked to see if I can get WBJC on the dipole in the plant room (ground floor).
I'll be darned - just a faint bit of noise - but its there (the Carver is a pretty sensitive tuner). Thanks!

View attachment 1085736

Is your attic big enough that you could put a VHF/FM antenna inside the attic? Only reason that wouldn't work is if you have a metal roof (as I actually did back in the day) now most of my gear will get that station but most of it is in Aspen Hill so that's not a really great test.
 
I used to favor FM as a good tuner on a good station can sound better than streaming. But as the number of decent local shows has decreased and some of the good stations have taken a dive in broadcast sound quality I have switched over to all internet. The better streams have very good sound quality and the "reception" is consistently perfect all the time. One of the other reasons I had been keeping a tuner on my desktop system was in case the internet went down but it has been very reliable around here. Having just one digital connection to the computer for music server and streaming stations makes things simpler and not having to deal with a tuner and antenna makes the set up cleaner. I do keep a look out for nice FM tuners however, because they are so cool to look at and use!
 
Location, location, location. There's plenty of quality and semi-quality FM stations here in Chicagoland where presets and a remote comes in real handy. When I'm listening with an dial tuner I am much more inclined to suffer through commercials and tiresome or overplayed tracks. WXRT 93.1 is my go to radio station for 40yrs. Even through management and ownership changes "Chicago's Finest Rock" has maintained a quality format. Some of their shows like Sunday night Jazz Transfusion, Little Stevie's Underground Garage, new artists on The Big Beat, or Saturday Morning Flashback where they feature a single year for 4hrs are more or less must listen radio for me. Some of their broadcast concerts are saved for prosperity on cassette or R2R though I can do that just as easily with an internet broadcast.

The broadcast FM tuners in my house, workshop and garage ain't going anywhere.
 
Location, location, location. There's plenty of quality and semi-quality FM stations here in Chicagoland where presets and a remote comes in real handy. When I'm listening with an dial tuner I am much more inclined to suffer through commercials and tiresome or overplayed tracks. WXRT 93.1 is my go to radio station for 40yrs. Even through management and ownership changes "Chicago's Finest Rock" has maintained a quality format. Some of their shows like Sunday night Jazz Transfusion, Little Stevie's Underground Garage, new artists on The Big Beat, or Saturday Morning Flashback where they feature a single year for 4hrs are more or less must listen radio for me. Some of their broadcast concerts are saved for prosperity on cassette or R2R though I can do that just as easily with an internet broadcast.

The broadcast FM tuners in my house, workshop and garage ain't going anywhere.
Please don't let me start crying regarding WXRT. I lived the first 36 yrs of my life in Chicago. I left Chicago in 1986 now live in a vast FM wasteland. I can remember when their studios were on west Belmont Ave. close to where I lived.
 
now live in a vast FM wasteland
I think that sums up many of us.
I think you'd be surprised and disappointed if you went back though. (Not to '86 but to Chicago) (I am guessing here).
I'm only going by what happened in NYC area . 4-5 stations playing a few hundred songs a day, mixed, old, new, genre crossing, current event news feeds (relavent to the moment ) mixed with music clips to keep it interesing,)
Now 1 or 2 stations playing the same dozen songs 90% of the time)
Mainstream for me works a couple of hours a month ,which I can get at work and or in the car.
I catch the cool shows (little Steven for instance) rarely though it is an oasis .
 
Yes, limited daily playlists are the bane of all radio stations. Even with a quality format like WXRT I'll hear and like some new artist, then when they get somewhat popular the station plays the crap out of them until the songs lose their attraction for me. I've even noticed this on my somewhat limited satellite radio experience. Variety is the spice of life. It's why we have large vinyl and cd collections.
 
Yes, limited daily playlists are the bane of all radio stations. Even with a quality format like WXRT I'll hear and like some new artist, then when they get somewhat popular the station plays the crap out of them until the songs lose their attraction for me. I've even noticed this on my somewhat limited satellite radio experience. Variety is the spice of life. It's why we have large vinyl and cd collections.
Please excuse me if I digress slightly. If I recall, the epitome of this was about 15 yrs ago when the group "Hootie and the Blowfish" hit the airwaves. Their singles became so overplayed even the DJ's made subtle comments and their second album collapsed because no one wanted to hear them anymore. About twice a year I hear them on Muzak somewhere and I still cringe.

To me, the big attraction of radio and FM in particular was that you tolerated a few commercials on your favorite station which reduced the need to pull out albums and CDs. It's funny but I don't recall every being beaten to death by Miles Davis or Dave Brubeck on a jazz station.
 
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Please excuse me if I digress slightly. If I recall, the epitome of this was about 15 yrs ago when the group "Hootie and the Blowfish" hit the airwaves. Their singles became so overplayed even the DJ's made subtle comments and their second album collapsed because no one wanted to hear them anymore. About twice a year I hear them on Muzak somewhere and I still cringe.
Local FM station DC-101 had a way of overplaying a certain set everyday at Noon or so -
drove me away from their station, drove me away from certain albums for years
(esp the live version of Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, and Rock'n'Roll animal version of Intro/Sweet Jane) -
fortunately, after years of avoiding that station, I can now enjoy those songs again! Great songs!
tho Cream and Hendrix were a hard listen for years too ...
 
Honest question guys n' gals. I'm seriously considering a vintage tuner but wondering if it's just redundant. How does internet radio compare? Reception is obviously not an issue but what about overall sq?

I tend to like it when I want music low in the background while gaming on my computer and don't want the game's audio mixed in. Also I don't want to play around with my sound settings that much to find a happy mix. With the tuner I can just flick the switch make a minor adjustment to the tuning and pretty much just let it be. Plus it matches the amp. I've considered setting up some sort of permanent digital solution as additional option but mainly for stuff like spotify.
 
Please excuse me if I digress slightly. If I recall, the epitome of this was about 15 yrs ago when the group "Hootie and the Blowfish" hit the airwaves. Their singles became so overplayed even the DJ's made subtle comments and their second album collapsed because no one wanted to hear them anymore. About twice a year I hear them on Muzak somewhere and I still cringe.

To me, the big attraction of radio and FM in particular was that you tolerated a few commercials on your favorite station which reduced the need to pull out albums and CDs. It's funny but I don't recall every being beaten to death by Miles Davis or Dave Brubeck on a jazz station.
I'd be happy to be beaten to death by Miles Davis or Dave Brubeck, rather than the %&^%$#ing *@#$ (don't know if this forum moderates profanity) I have to hear in most retail establishments!
 

Ooooh yeah, me too!

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You guys forget the airwaves are FREE. I know you already have internet for youre computer but you pay for it. Its always fun to get something for nothing.
 
You guys forget the airwaves are FREE. I know you already have internet for youre computer but you pay for it. Its always fun to get something for nothing.

"If it's free, it's for me!" is one of my many credos. When it comes to digital I staunchly prefer to own, not rent. That has kept me away from streaming services, i-tunes, satellite radio, etc. I ain't cheap, just frugal. (I guess that's another one) I do have an amazon account though. When I found out that "download songs" to them was store in some cloud folder for future use I was like, "Yeah, that figures!" If I can't burn it to a cd or put it on a thumb drive and bring to the campsite for leisurely listening wtf good is it to me?
 
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