Is there a Indoor FM antenna that works well

Yep

There are all kinds of antennas that would be bad news if RF behaved the same way DC does...

I used to have plans for a 6 meter (50MHz) collinear array, it was hangable like a dipole, and had more gain in some directions. Not easy to rotate, but I guess you could point it in the direction of a favorite station or two and it'll work well.

Back in 1989 I worked at a Radio Shack inside a mall. We couldn't pick up anything at all inside the mall.....unless we used their little Archer amplified antenna! I was so impressed with it back then that I bought one and have used it ever since!

http://chihuahuasoup.com/new3/fmamp1.jpg

I just have a basic set of rabbit ears and it gets the job done. Maybe not ideal for doing any radio DX work but it pulls in all the 40 mile distant Philly stations with clarity and I can get some Reading and Baltimore stuff as well.

...a cheap(est) low tech option?

...curious if anyone has experience in just putting an alligator clip on their metal roofed building and running a wire down and hooking that up to the receiver?? I'd appreciate hearing if anyone has done this and what they found out.

Out in the Lost River area of Mazama, besides having a metal roof (read deep snow country) we are around a bend in a deep glacial valley. Spokane NPR comes in weakly on an old boom box but there now is a station in Winthrop 17 miles down valley that does mixed formats and local stuff that would be fun to hear. Other than Spokane, the closest civilization is either in Canada or Omak.
Best,
Randy

I'd rather just cut a wire to the specific frequency...that roof might work well for shortwave, though

Modified Cubical Quad

JMathers,

I agree that the original website did not provide very clear information (either graphically or verbally) for the proper construction. See the following sites for clarification:

http://www.audioasylum.com/scripts/vt.pl?f=tuner&m=5838

http://home.att.net/~dmva/wsb/html/view.cgi-photo.html--SiteID-854786.html

The second site listed is also referenced in the first one.

Hope this helps.

Rabbit ears (don't use the tv uhf/vhf type) are tuned both frequency wise by the angle and length of the "ears" and by direction. Obviously that is achieved by rotating the ears on the pivot but I'm just trying to be clear. You can't compete with an outdoor antenna so if you want the best reception/sound get on the roof. But indoors, unless you only listen to one station and take the time to build an antenna designed for said station, well use the rabbit ears and save your money. IMHO

Jeff here are some photo's of the one I built

not to go OT but where did our CCrane transmitter thread go???

I picked up a Tandberg TR-2045 recently and the seller kinda threw in a Magnum Sleuth FM 95 that dates to the era of the receiver. It looks like this unit:
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/3190 with the large knob marked for the FM frequency and the small knob doing on-off/'volume'. It seems to work as I have used it and watched the signal meter indicate more signal when the unit is switched in and adjusted to the frequency of the station.

Grumpy had one of these and sold it (found this out by searching here for the unit). Saw one on the bay located by google that has great pictures.

The antenna that was with this unit was a tunable set of rabbit ears. I haven't seen this type before but it makes sense. It is two lengths of shiny tape measure type metal, coming out of the center part with the ends folded back to the unit. As the knob on the front is turned the 'ears' get longer or shorter, allowing tuning for different frequencies. The unit looks a bit like the magnum SR-100 without the vertical mast. I guess it works, too, but I have more testing to do to see how it compares to a tuned T-antenna.

I've got one of these Terk AM/FM+
Stereo Antenna with Gamma Loop Technology Antennas and so far I'm not real impressed if at all. I need to find an old fm wire dipole from another radio and connect it to see if its the location, on a shelf in our bedroom, or actually the Terk antenna itself. I've read some reviews on the net that said it was great and then others that said it wasn't worth a crap. So who knows..
Tony

TonyKZ1 said:

I've got one of these Terk AM/FM+
Stereo Antenna with Gamma Loop Technology Antennas and so far I'm not real impressed if at all. I need to find an old fm wire dipole from another radio and connect it to see if its the location, on a shelf in our bedroom, or actually the Terk antenna itself. I've read some reviews on the net that said it was great and then others that said it wasn't worth a crap. So who knows..
Tony

Click to expand...

I have that thing too, man, it sucks.

Well as it turns out, I guess its partly my location in the house. I took a FM dipole from my stereo in the living room and connected it to my Technics SA-411 here in the bedroom, no change in FM reception. I then took the Terk to the stereo in the living room and it worked fine on FM.
Oh well I guess, Tony

TonyKZ1 said:

I've got one of these Terk AM/FM+
Stereo Antenna with Gamma Loop Technology Antennas and so far I'm not real impressed if at all. I need to find an old fm wire dipole from another radio and connect it to see if its the location, on a shelf in our bedroom, or actually the Terk antenna itself. I've read some reviews on the net that said it was great and then others that said it wasn't worth a crap. So who knows..
Tony

Click to expand...

Best Indoor FM Antenna

As no one has mentioned one, Radio Shack sold a pair of FM-only rabbit ears considered the best available indoor antenna. I bought mine about 15 years ago and it is very good; the best I've owned and I've tried them all through the years as some years I find myself living where I can't have an outdoor solution. Radio Shack stopped selling it about 5 or 6 years ago.

For transparency, the antenna I'm about to mention is one that I had manufactured based on the RS rabbit ears. I purposely haven't jumped into the conversation because I have always gone out of my way to not appear as a shill or spammer for my products but two of the products I sell are the best available or equal to the best available. They are the outdoor dipole I sell and the indoor dipole I sell; they are the best omni-directional solution for FM radio available.

The indoor dipole I sell has the same fine tuning knob the Radio Shack rabbit ears has and both are telescopic. I have done a head-to-head test and FM signals are stronger on the new antenna I sell and I suspect it is because I'm using coax with an F connector rather than the 300 ohm flat with spades that the Radio Shack one has.

http://www.fmdxantenna.com/proddetail.php?prod=indip

One other difference between this new one and the original RS set is that I had these built so that it could be mounted completely vertical with both rods on a vertical plane (straight up and down). This makes a HUGE difference in the locations I tried it in. I set the rods to the 1/4 wave length for the goal station and then adjust the knob to best reception and seriously can pull in stations noticably stronger than with the other highly-regarded set. This turned out to be the best orientation in two locations which surprised me because I have always believed the slight directionality of the rabbit ears at 90 degrees was one of the strong advantages; even in that orientation the new set out-performed the RS rabbit ears.

For additional transparency, let me add that any outdoor antenna will work better than the indoor antenna I have (except maybe those crappy MD and Fanfare end-fed half-waves that are actually marine two-way radio antennas as they are the equivalent of having a wet string for an FM aerial) and in addition any directional antenna, even the smallest, will work better (with a rotor) than any omni-directional antenna.

The rods on the antenna I sell are fairly flimsy and break easily so they need to be handled with care. I always mention this because my other antennas are darn near impossible to break, but this one is easy to break and you don't want to break it because it really is a fantastic performer.

In addition, with indoor FM antennas, all the rules still apply, height is great, no obstructions is even more important so putting the antenna in front of a window to the side of the house where the FM transmitter is located is best. If you live in a metal trailer you probably aren't going to get good reception indoors from any antenna as there is no way I'm aware to overcome the laws of physics.

I have written my own version of an FM Reception guide at the following URL:

http://www.amfmreception.com

My FM Antenna business is located at the following URL:

http://www.fmdxantenna.com

Regards,

Lake DeLoach
FM DX Antenna Co

Lake, I bought your indoor antenna through Audiogon. I'll set it up soon and report. Right now I'm using TV/FM rabbit ears from Radio Shack which work fairly well.

Can one dipole antenna be used for more than one receiver at the same time? Can I buy a dipole and then connect two or three different receivers to it that may be tuned to different stations at the same time? :scratch2:

theoretically, yes, but...

Raiko said:

Can one dipole antenna be used for more than one receiver at the same time? Can I buy a dipole and then connect two or three different receivers to it that may be tuned to different stations at the same time? :scratch2:

Click to expand...

... it all depends on the signal strength and I doubt an indoor dipols will have enough to survive a split or two. Each time you split a signal you lose at least 3 db, more if you figure the insertion loss.

I see. I was contemplating using a 1/2 Wave Dipole Outdoor Antenna. Probably using it for three different rooms (receivers).

It can be done

Probably want to use an amplified splitter or signal distributor. Don't use any more amplification than is necessary to overcome the insertion and cable loss.

Many people mount these in the attic and split it near the antenna and then make your runs to your tuner/receivers.

You'll probably want to get an electrician or cable puller involved depending on the size of the project.

R,
Lake