AM FM DX Link-o-rama

This may be a lame noob question, but will someone 'splain-to-me-Lucy what DX means and what it's all about? I see the DX switch on a few of my old tuners but never understood what it was for. Thanks!
 
DX is the abbreviation for long distance.

Its roots and its origin goes back to the Morse code days of radio, when abbreviations were used to speed communications.

In our hobby the DX switch is used to increase the receivers sensitivity. Some receivers will have the switch labeled...Local...Distance (DX).

The reason the switch is needed is because a very strong local signal may overload the tuner, so the switch is placed in the local position and when additional sensitivity is needed for weak signals, the switch is placed in the DX position.
 
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DX is the abbreviation for long distance.

Its roots and its origin goes back to the Morse code days of radio, when abbreviations were used to speed communications.

In our hobby the DX switch is used to increase the receivers sensitivity. Some receivers will have the switch labeled...Local...Distance (DX).

The reason the switch is needed is because a very strong local signal may overload the tuner, so the switch is placed in the local position and when additional sensitivity is needed for weak signals, the switch is placed in the DX position.

Thank you very much, fine sir.
 
I'm also a noob and since I moved to this home in the mid 90s I've stopped using my FM reciever because I no longer have a roof antenna. Can you guys suggest an efficient low cost antenna for a 1 story home in the New Orleans area that would allow me to access FM stations thru my NAD 1600 Preamp reciever?
 
I'm also a noob and since I moved to this home in the mid 90s I've stopped using my FM reciever because I no longer have a roof antenna. Can you guys suggest an efficient low cost antenna for a 1 story home in the New Orleans area that would allow me to access FM stations thru my NAD 1600 Preamp reciever?

I just saw your message.

I have 2 of these and like them, great bang for the buck.

http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-HD-6...TF8&qid=1386638035&sr=8-4&keywords=fm+antenna
 
Making a database from FM fool

Happy March!

I saw fmfool mentioned and went to their site http://www.fmfool.com/. What is great about their site is that you write in your home address, zip code and antenna height and they generate a personalized list of stations covering the FM spectrum from 88-108 Mhz. The information is extensive including the relative signal strength, distance and direction of the station from your home. Their list is listed in order of signal strength from the strongest signal to the weakest.

I wanted to do a complete survey of all the FM stations that I could receive and wanted to make my list in order of frequency, so I could set some stations into memory and in frequency order. It was an afternoon's project and I transferred their listing into a database of my own. I used "Ability Office" for the project and used their information for each station, which was extensive plus three extra fields: Location, Type of broadcast (Rock, Classical, Talk, etc.) and quality of signal (Good, Fair, Poor and Dead).

Good=solid signal with no noise
Fair= signal with some fading or noise
Poor=Signal that was very weak with lots of noise
Dead=Unable to hear the station

The spreadsheet, three pages long, which was generated was the most informative batch of info I have ever seen, customized for my own location.

Thank you, fmfool.com! :thmbsp:
 
I have a summer project to redo my fm roof mounted antenna. I thought I would try to be a bit scientific and ran across the "Splat!" software:

https://www.qsl.net/kd2bd/splat.html

It did produce some interesting looking maps and graphs, and the software is obviously smarter than me. Unfortunately, it only helped confirm my suspicions that I also need to install a 100 foot tower in my back yard

this google earth .kmz file was also fun to play around with:

http://www.fccinfo.com/fccinfo_google_earth.php

the site is actually run by a radio engineering company, they are not the fcc.
 
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