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Indoor Urban Apartment Antenna Question

M

milton10

New Member
Hey guys, I am pretty much a newbie to the FM antenna scene, but want to improve the reception of my HK730 tuner. I live in an apartment, so an outdoor antenna is out of the question. My tuner picks up most stations with strong enough signal to get clean stereo reception on most stations above 94 on the FM dial, but everything under that is not being picked up. I am currently using one of those cheapy dipoles that comes with radios.

I don't know much about antennas, but I do know that bigger is better, and that bigger and outdoors is better. I don't have the option of outdoors but have been toying with the idea of putting a big antenna under my bed (something like an FM6 or FMSS). Is this crazy thinking? Or will I improve my FM reception? I live in urban Orlando with FM stations about 10-25 miles away at the most.

Thanks,

Milton
 
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Most of the time a simple set of Rabbit Ears will work , then tune it (Move or rotate) for the best reception.



Barney
 
Thanks for the reply. I have tried rabbit ears with no better success than the dipole. It may be cray, but I have a feeling that bigger may be better - kind of like some folks putting an antenna in their attic.
 
Try moving the equipment to another wall , like 90 degrees from where it is now and see if this helps any...
The FM is horizontally polarized , so should be the antenna.

Barney
 
Try to build a dipole for the lower end of the band?

The total length (in feet) should be around 468/desired center frequency in MHz, for a non-folded dipole.
 
Alternatively, try to find a BIC Beam Box. (I got one on that auction site). I live in an apartment in Brooklyn, and my listening space is in an English basement, and I found the BIC really does help reception, especially on the low end of the dial. And it looks good, keeps from cluttering up your system.
 
Strong proponent of the BIC Beam Box here. I use an FM-10 that I found on the bay some time ago. It is tunable, so no need to move it around as you change stations.
 
Thanks for the responses so far. So what I am gathering so far is that a large antenna will NOT work any better than a smaller one indoors - right? I will have to look at the BIC Beam Box.
 
The laws of physics don't change once you get indoors, but depending on what your apartment is made out of, it could be significantly handicapping reception - no matter how much capture area there is. Steel/reinforced concrete can be a problem...
 
Thanks for the response Jim.

My building is a wood frame apartment building. I live in the second floor of a three story building. Unfortunately, all my windows face the opposite direction of all the FM towers in my area.

All stations from 94 and above come in crystal clear with about 7 to 8 on the meter. The station at 94 on the dial comes in about 5 or 6 on the meter and below that from about 4 or 5 - but with no stereo. I don't know if multipath is an issue since all the stations sound nice and clear (no hissing or flutters, etc.) but it may be because I have a great tuner in my HK730.

All I am looking to do is boost the signal a bit more to receive below 94 on the dial in stereo.
 
I'm not generally a big fan of receive preamplifiers, but maybe try one? Find a place that has a good return policy if it just overloads the receiver's front end :)
 
How about something like a Dynalab ST-2 stuck outside my window (on the ledge)? I know the towers are on the opposite side of the building, but would it help?
 
A couple of ideas. I have a pair of the 730s and they are located in my studio in my basement. I have used a couple of Terks, both amplified and non. They are very directional and seem to understate mulitpath problems. The other may not be possible but if you could get access to the attic or crawlspace to place it there, it could be a boon to your reception. Good luck!!
 
I've had good luck with a square loop antenna indoors. See a thread I started a few months ago "Cheap homebrew antenna" or something like that. Basically, it's a wire in the shape of a square, with each side 30 inches long. Outperforms a dipole antenna quite nicely.
 
The Modified Qubic Quad is my choice for an indoor antenna and can be made for under $10.00

I'm going to be building one for my sons apt later this week I will do a complete HOW TO thread on it. If you can hang on. As your on the second floor you could easily place it under your bed. The one I'm designing for him will have a single screw ceiling mount to allow it to be turned to get the best reception. It would be easy to screw this to a 12" square piece of MDF or plywood and place it on a floor under a bed to hide it.
 
Hi Mark,

I would be very interested in this. Keep me informed.

Thanks,

Milton

Mark W. said:
The Modified Qubic Quad is my choice for an indoor antenna and can be made for under $10.00

I'm going to be building one for my sons apt later this week I will do a complete HOW TO thread on it. If you can hang on. As your on the second floor you could easily place it under your bed. The one I'm designing for him will have a single screw ceiling mount to allow it to be turned to get the best reception. It would be easy to screw this to a 12" square piece of MDF or plywood and place it on a floor under a bed to hide it.
Click to expand...
 
I'll be interested to see Mark W.'s "how to" thread on the qubic quad. Last night I threw together a 30 in. by 30 in. square like the one shown on Mortsnets second link above just to see if it would out perform the cheapo folded dipole that comes with any fm receiver. I used the white wire from some 12 ga. Romex. It is ALMOST stiff enough to work without a frame. I hung it about 7 feet up on the wall behind the receiver on a couple of push pins. Not pretty but the signal strength on two of my favorite stations went from 2 to 4. I'm thinking of making one of heavier copper wire but I'll wait and see what Mark comes up with. :lurk:
 
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