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New FM Antenna

Negotiableterms

Negotiableterms

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We're building a house, and I want to install FM antennas and wiring before the sheetrock goes on. There are restrictions in our city about no big antennas, and while those might be invalid, I'm not interested in fighting the city... especially before our final CofO is issued. So, I'm thinking of putting one antenna system in the attic (but we have a concrete tile roof), and something small and simple outside.

In the attic:

Two of these, at 90 degree angles, so that their amplifiers will overcome the concrete tile:
http://www.amazon.com/Dual-Drive-Am...d=1432526208&sr=1-24&keywords=best+fm+antenna

http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-HD-6...id=1432526208&sr=1-4&keywords=best+fm+antenna

Outside, on the roof:

http://www.amazon.com/ANTENNA-AM-FM...F8&qid=1432526469&sr=1-33&keywords=fm+antenna

http://www.amazon.com/Magnum-Dynala...d=1432526208&sr=1-12&keywords=best+fm+antenna

All alternative suggestions welcome (except for big stuff I can't have).
 
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Your choice, the MD ST-2 is excellent, small, and versatile, very good gain. Can be used inside/outside.
 
I don't think much of those skinny, negative-gain whips, but it'll probably give better results than your proposed attic antennas which themselves are pretty low gain. Multipath may be a problem; I have issues down here in Auburn with analog FM stations. HD Radio ignores multipath.

What constitutes a "big" antenna? The very few remaining directional FM-only antennas left on the market are relatively compact.
 
Half a decibel is trivial, and the gain figure is probably isotropic, which is referenced to a theoretical point source rather than a real dipole. Gives a bigger number, but that's about all.

But it'll probably work. Put it up and see if it'll do what you need it to do.
 
signal amplifiers, IMO, are a band-aid. They amplify signal as well as noise; I don't think the S/N is actually better with an amplifier.

No room in the attic for a Yagi with rotator?

FWIW, that's my long-term "plan" here -- as much as I have one -- although with a metal, "standing seam" roof I am not sure it's viable. I did have the small attic space above the hifi room wired with coax... but if Mrs. H would tolerate the aesthetics, I could put one outside (here in live free or die NH).
 
Back when I listened to SW radio in an apartment complex under very unfavorable conditions I used an active pre-selector and it boosted and cleaned up the signal. Not sure what this is but if it sharpens the Q at the desired station then it's something I wanna own:

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File this under "Let's not go there":

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What da huh?? skizo skillz bum bum?? I resemble those remarks!! <G>

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That's the Magnum FM Power Sleuth ... old school version, built to drag radio into the Canadian hinterland, kicking and screaming all the way. Very fine for boosting signal as well as attenuating interference or parasitic signals. Couldn't give you the specs, as it's 30 years old and the book went away long time ago. I do seem to remember it adds an IF stage or two after the amplifier to help clean up the signal before passing it to the tuner.

Oh. The concrete tile shouldn't be an issue as long as it's not metal reinforced. Most new tiles have fiberglass instead of the old mesh, but worth checking. My house is something of a faraday cage due to metal plaster mesh in the walls ... I even have to run an outside antenna to get out on my cell ...
 
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Negotiableterms said:
Here's a current model Signal Sleuth. I have one, but as Dr. Hardy predicts, I've never found it to actually do much for signal quality.
http://www.magnumdynalab.com/md205.htm
Click to expand...

Dr. Hardy mentions that the S/N ratio is not improved by amplification. He may have been referring to Terk-like amplification solutions. I don't think he was aiming any predictions at mast-top pre-amps (band-aids used to overcome feedline loss) or tuned pre-selection devices (band-aids used to improve adjacent-channel rejection).

But he can speak for himself. So can sKiZo. I wouldn't mind seeing a nude shot of the Sleuth. When it's convenient of course. No need to take that puppy offline just for a pic.
 
http://www.fmdxantenna.com/proddetail.php?prod=indip

I ordered one of these Rabbit Ear Dipoles yesterday.

I've had two of those Whip Antennas, perhaps were made-marketed by Fanfare, (wasn't it called the FM-2?) Honestly, I've never had much luck with them there, and of course they probably need to be mounted fairly high, which I didn't do.

Joke of it was, the station I usually listen to here, the radio antenna is about 1-1/2 miles away from me. You'd swear it was 40 miles away. Possible the mountains next to me are causing boat loads of multipath distortion?

Tried a Terk indoor too, no cigar.
Hopefully this old school style antenna will work better.
Mark
 
Thought I'd add, the Tuner I'm using is the Tuner within my McIntosh MX-AV Pre/Tuner. (Which I believe is the Mac 7084 Tuner?)

I'm sure it's not anywhere near the league of an MR-78, Day-Sequerra, Magnum Dynalab 109T.

Seems it's not so much a problem with signal strength, although this isn't exactly Chicago here, where I pick up 50 or so stations, I'm lucky if I pick up a 1/2 dozen at most, the reception is utter crap here. My Car's radios work better, but not by much.

On the best station of the dial, the one with the antenna just almost a stone's throw from the house, I get a lot of blinking from the MPX Light, telling me that I'm probably fading in and out of stereo reception.

No doubt a roof mounted antenna would offer much better reception versus an indoor, but have always had some concerns over placing something that could be a snazzy "lightning rod" on top of my house?
Mark
 
markd51 said:
Thought I'd add, the Tuner I'm using is the Tuner within my McIntosh MX-AV Pre/Tuner. (Which I believe is the Mac 7084 Tuner?)

I'm sure it's not anywhere near the league of an MR-78, Day-Sequerra, Magnum Dynalab 109T.

Seems it's not so much a problem with signal strength, although this isn't exactly Chicago here, where I pick up 50 or so stations, I'm lucky if I pick up a 1/2 dozen at most, the reception is utter crap here. My Car's radios work better, but not by much.

On the best station of the dial, the one with the antenna just almost a stone's throw from the house, I get a lot of blinking from the MPX Light, telling me that I'm probably fading in and out of stereo reception.

No doubt a roof mounted antenna would offer much better reception versus an indoor, but have always had some concerns over placing something that could be a snazzy "lightning rod" on top of my house?
Mark
Click to expand...

I had an FM yagi antenna mounted on the roof of my house for 15 years, and it never got struck by lightning. Maybe it was because I had a ground wire attached to it that led to a 3 ft. rod in the ground.
 
I'm using a ten foot rod for the mast and a separate five footer for the coax arresting block. Maybe it helps dissipate a charge, but not always. Lightning need not be a main strike; it can be induced current from a nearby stroke or a branch off the main bolt. I've seen lightning do very strange things:

A strike on a tree in a neighbor's lot not that close to his house girdled the tree, passed through the ground leaving a small trench, jumped the driveway and hit the garage door button, vaporized the fine copper strands in the wire leaving skeins of polyethylene insulation and burned out the motor before going to the house ground. No other damage other than the loud thunderclap while I was looking out the window in that direction, scaring the beejezus out of me.

I'm pretty sure my old Heathkit AJ-29 tuner got zapped by lightning at least once, taking out a FET in the front end. I didn't repair it the second time. The antenna was grounded, but the coax was not.

The most you can hope to do is provide an easy path if you get whammed. Unlike the South where I lived for many years, the Pacific Northwet has only a little lightning, but I'm not taking any chances.
 
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