antenna advice for my marantz receiver

[progger7]

For some reason I get crappy FM reception in my home on my Marantz 2275. I'm thinking this unit should get great FM reception and trying to determine the cause as my wife now wants to use it to listen to the radio. I have my old plastic wrapped dipole antenna from radio shack I purchased many moons ago. The medal U's at the end of the wires broke off a long time ago and I now just have the wires go into the unit directly without them. Would this make a difference? Before I simply go out and buy a new basic dipole antenna from the Shack is there something better I should do?

[whsh93a]

Your old antenna should be fine - even with the broken wire ends.
A lot of things can affect FM reception - antenna orientation, metal in the walls acting as a shield and even a poorly aligned FM front end.

DH


For some reason I get crappy FM reception in my home on my Marantz 2275. I'm thinking this unit should get great FM reception and trying to determine the cause as my wife now wants to use it to listen to the radio. I have my old plastic wrapped dipole antenna from radio shack I purchased many moons ago. The medal U's at the end of the wires broke off a long time ago and I now just have the wires go into the unit directly without them. Would this make a difference? Before I simply go out and buy a new basic dipole antenna from the Shack is there something better I should do?

[NikkoUser]

It depends on how far away you are from the FM stations. Also, how high up in the air are you? If you're in a basement apartment, you will have trouble picking up stations. If you're in the middle of a city with stations all around you, then you will have trouble placing an antenna that will receive in all directions. But, if you're anywhere within 25 miles or so from stations, you should not have trouble picking them up.
Remember the old TV rabbit ears? They would make a good FM antenna for you.
As for your old dipole with the broken ends on the leadin, make sure you scrape away the insulation and ensure the wires are making good contact.
With the radio turned on, insert the wires into the terminals and you can tell when they make contact.