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FM Antenna Improvement for Receiver

AudioJuice

AudioJuice

New Member
I’d like to improve the quality of my FM antenna and am struggling to research exactly what I need.

I have a Sony STR-DH770 receiver. The manual calls the antenna type an “aerial” antenna (single wire).

It gets decent reception, but never for all the stations at once. I have to move it around to different positions to get different stations to come through properly.

Is there a hack I can use to improve the quality (extending the wire, connecting it to a lightning rod⚡️, etc)?

Or if there is a better antenna I can buy, where do I find one that fits into this particular receiver connection? The research I’ve done on here all seems to point to antennas that connect with coax or 2 connection points, but not the type of connection my receiver has.
 
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I live in a valley berween a couple mountains. All I use is a piece of speaker wire and get reception batter than I expected.
 
I looked at the rear of your receiver, it has a strange FM connector.
You need to find a manual for your unit to explore what is required.
It is not a balun like I expected.
 
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I've never seen an antenna connection like that, either. Expected to see a PAL or an F-plug, if not the usual coax, but it's completely different from any standard tuner antenna connection I've seen. Nor is it twin-lead, Could be something borrowed from portable radio land, don't know.

Could just be a Sony tuner afterthought for this model surround receiver. I note the instructions recommend keeping the single wire horizontal - if you haven't tried it vertical, run it straight up for height. Horizontal placement makes the antenna directional so stations to either side won't come in well. Vertical provides more of an omni-directional pattern so stations from all directions come in about the same.
 
Make your own dipole from some cable coax and 2 - 25 inch pieces of old tv antenna aluminum tubes. One for each side, connect the braided line to one and the center conductor to the other. Kinda looks like this ~y~ when your done.

This will kick some ass and you’ll pull more stations than ever.

Keep searching on the net for am-fm dipole antenna you’ll find the one I’m talking about. It’s absolutely amazing how well this thing works.
BBB17A56-201F-4A73-8AF2-2FF33B1C06F3.jpeg
Damn dark pictures.
 
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7.62 said:
Make your own dipole from some cable coax and 2 - 25 inch pieces of old tv antenna aluminum tubes. One for each side, connect the braided line to one and the center conductor to the other. Kinda looks like this ~y~ when your done.

This will kick some ass and you’ll pull more stations than ever.

Keep searching on the net for am-fm dipole antenna you’ll find the one I’m talking about. It’s absolutely amazing how well this thing works.
View attachment 2052313
Damn dark pictures.
Click to expand...
I read a bunch about dipoles searching AK posts, but was confused about how I could connect the coax to my receiver? Connect the single wire coming the receiver to the coax somehow?
 
Strip off the end of the wire and connect it to a longer piece of wire, or to the center pin of an antenna with a coaxial cable.
 
Once you get the connection in the back figured out, a simple tv rabbit ear antenna served me well for years at my old house. I had it zip tied into the rafters in the attic -getting up higher into the attic made a huge difference for my reception. Mine was a 75 ohm rabbit ears, I ran a coax thru the wall and down to where my tuner was.
 
Got an old rooftop TV antennae on your house? You can always tap into that, you might be surprised at the results. I'm not sure on that specific connector on your Sony, but you can usually find a way to connect bare wire to terminals.
 
Before getting a rooftop mast antenna*, I used one of the $15 HDTV indoor antenna for radio and it worked pretty well.

*No cable or high speed internet in this rural area, so I watch over-the-air TV. It's like the old days, 3 network channels, PBS, and some "UHF" oddballs. :)
 
wmgwizard said:
The antenna connector on the back is a threadless "F" type female coax connection.

This design utilizes the center pin only and does not rely on the shielding of the standard coaxial cable.

You can use a push on 75ohm to 300ohm adapter and use a regular dipole antenna or an old set of rabbit ears as suggested previously in this thread.

https://www.showmecables.com/300-to...pGoNMwnIq0LKzy-rWTCYtqxvT0vviEa8aAippEALw_wcB
Click to expand...

No, that isn't the connector.

Found the question online and marked "solved" was this answer:

"You need a JST-PH 2 pin connector."

Bill S seems to have it right, though the linked one lacks the PH designation. Search Amazon; they have several options.
 
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once you have the connector oddity solved keep in mind that FM is line-of-sight, which is to say the signal doesn't bounce around as well as other parts of the spectrum (AM, shortwave, etc). The TYPE of antenna matters (simple dipole vs more elaborate arrays)
but for any of them, the HEIGHT of it may matter as much or more. The higher the antenna, the fewer obstructions it has to deal with, the more an cleaner the signal you are likely to receive. In other words, a simple antenna 20' off the ground (in your attic for instance) is apt to do better than a $150 dedicated FM antenna 6' above grade, 'just saying....
 
Someone suggested extending the length of the single-wire aerial antenna you have now, and that might help, but you'd be much better off ordering a proper two-lead connector so that you can connect a dipole antenna correctly. I have a Pro-Ject Tuner Box S tuner that comes with a single-wire aerial, though a different connector - it should be an F-plug, but they cheap out (DIN-plug in Europe, same plug). I ordered a proper F-plug and connected a dipole I built and get good results. Single aerials don't include ground, so your dipole won't function as it should if you try to connect it to an aerial.

For those who have connectors that appear similar to cable TV coax but regular 75ohm connectors don't fit, then you likely need either a PAL connector or an F-plug - you have to get the correct one but the differences are distinct once you google and examine images. Both these are push-on types.
 
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