Pre-amp for a tuner?

[R-2-R]

As others have already stated, you just may need another/different and stronger antenna and also taking the time to place it in a proper area of your home/apartment, etc.in order to get better reception.

There are also products commonly known as "antenna signal strength boosters" that are used in line between the tuner and the antenna.

Previously some audio manufacturers used to make such items to accompany their tuners such as Magnum Dynalab did with their FT-101A Analog FM tuner.

It was known as the Magnum Dynalab 205 Signal Sleuth and it works very well.

How do I know this...because that is exactly what I have connected my FT-101A Analog FM tuner.

I live out in the country and like you, I also was tired of not receiving other radio signals/stations that I could receive in my vehicle, etc.

Hopefully you can basically find something to the same sorts or get a better, more powerful antenna, etc.

Good Luck to ya!
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/racked-system.371286/#post-10136720

 

[amptramp]

This brings up a distinction between amplifiers and preselector amplifiers like the Magnum Dynalab Sleuth. The preselector is tunable so it can select a narrow frequency range to amplify. A lot of receivers have a problem with excess signal level.when an amplifier is used, causing numerous intermodulation products to appear. By eliminating the frequencies you were not tuning, this allowed you to amplify the signal without introducing artifacts from stations far from the selected frequency.

I have an original edition Sleuth, the Magnum model 95 which has two transistors and four tuned circuits tuned by varactor. It had a tuning control and a signal strength control so you could select the centre frequency, set the level and get the signal improvement you were looking for.

Ordinarily, I don't like untuned amplifiers because they can degrade the signal to noise ratio but with frequency selection, the performance can be improved.

 

[radioactive]

This brings up a distinction between amplifiers and preselector amplifiers like the Magnum Dynalab Sleuth. The preselector is tunable so it can select a narrow frequency range to amplify. A lot of receivers have a problem with excess signal level.when an amplifier is used, causing numerous intermodulation products to appear. By eliminating the frequencies you were not tuning, this allowed you to amplify the signal without introducing artifacts from stations far from the selected frequency.

I have an original edition Sleuth, the Magnum model 95 which has two transistors and four tuned circuits tuned by varactor. It had a tuning control and a signal strength control so you could select the centre frequency, set the level and get the signal improvement you were looking for.

Ordinarily, I don't like untuned amplifiers because they can degrade the signal to noise ratio but with frequency selection, the performance can be improved.

See my post #7 .
I agree unturned amplifiers without a tunable range i.e preselection that amplify the the whole range of what they cover are useless.im a active short-wave listener and have many different amplifiers ,preselectors and even passive ones.some of my older drake receivers had the pre selector for the frequency range which you were tuning and as you went up the band you'd have to peak the preselectors.

 

[radioactive]

Fwiw here is one of the 2 drake receivers that I own although I stole the picture off the internet. I also have the matching q multiplier speaker 2bq that was sold separately.

 

[radioactive]

 

[radioactive]

@amptramp fwiw I use to have a ft11.i miss that tuner.