• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Antennas are strange things!

catman

catman

Addicted Member
Banned
G'day all, as a Ham Radio operator I already knew that but last night it was proven again!

In my bedroom I have a GE Superadio Mk2 and a simple 300 ohm twinlead (commercially made) folded dipole to feed it. Indoors, the signal is never particularly good hung from that wardrobe, so I spent a bit of time trying to find a better 'position' for it.

The photo shows what I eventually came up with. In this position the FM signal is strong and noise free! No other antenna position works as well as this position in this room! So with antennas, 'you just never know!' :yes: Regards, Felix (vk4fuq) aka catman.
 

Attachments

  • FM folded dipole. 002.jpg
    FM folded dipole. 002.jpg
    113.5 KB · Views: 124
Last edited:
Register to hide this ad
I know what you mean. In the particular area where my main stereo resides, the one thing, no matter the tuner, that always works best is a simple five foot stretch of 20 gauge wire. No Magnum Dynalab or Terk antenna that's been placed in the same area or even mounted outside can do better. Go figure! :dunno:
 
Antenna placement, ESPECIALLY FM, is more of a Black Art than a science, I'm convinced. Still can't forget the time I was sitting in my 1979 Olds Cutlass, outside a burger doodle in Surgoinsville, Tennessee, sort of in a little cove....A Saturday in the late fall. Waiting for my burger, I was fiddling around w/the radio, picked up quite clearly a football game broadcast by a station in Warner-Robins, Georgia, a good 300 miles away. No, it DIDN'T fade in & out, it was a good signal for as long as I sat there. Believe it or nutz, I've picked that station up a few times since then, too, at that same location.
 
G'day mate, yep, those sorts of strange things happen and that's one reason why I love radio. :yes: Regards, Felix (vk4fuq) aka catman.
 
Many years ago (in the 80's) our local police department (Arkansas) and the PD in Ocean City, NJ (I think it was NJ) were receiving each others broadcasts clear as day. It went on for nearly a week and then stopped as suddenly as it had begun.
 
G'day mate, that sounds ike 'tropospheric ducting' related to weather conditions. It's fun when it happens. :yes: Regards, Felix (vk4fuq) aka catman.
 
But the next time you need to open the cabinets , you will never get it to receive the same again,







barney
 
my garage stereo has a straight wire going horizontally on the wall about 3' long -works pretty good
 
Hey, Felix - just tell 'em it's a Calder ;)

Alexander_Calder_Enseign_de_Lunettes_238_65gagosiangallery.org_.jpg
 
Hi Guys!
I have noticed the same thing. Sometimes trying to listen to one of my favourite FM stations. I get frustrated and "throw the dipole" and all of a sudden I get good reception.
Thats what makes radio "special".
Being a Ham, I can appreciate this.

N1RND
 
I had a console stereo when I was a kid that used a dipole like this inside of the cabinet and remember that it had very good FM reception.
 
Celt said:
I know what you mean. In the particular area where my main stereo resides, the one thing, no matter the tuner, that always works best is a simple five foot stretch of 20 gauge wire. No Magnum Dynalab or Terk antenna that's been placed in the same area or even mounted outside can do better. Go figure! :dunno:
Click to expand...

I replaced my rabbit ears with a 5ft wire and it works better for me too.
 
This brings to mind one of the controversies over the Amelia Earhardt disappearance.

A New Jersey (?) woman claims she, as a little girl, heard signals from the then-vanished Amelia on her dad's SW, even though Amelia was on the opposite side of the globe. The girl's notes are cryptic and not clear what frequency she was receiving, but it certainly would've had to have been a harmonic of Amelia's radio.

Implausible, yes, but not impossible. I'd like to see Mythbusters try to duplicate the feat.
 
Antenna's are very strange indeed!!

can i hook up both a yagi and a simple piece of wire at the same time kinda like being in parallel ....as my Yagi wont pick up a good local station that a piece of wire can!:tears:
 
Just yesterday I hooked up a nice pioneer tuner so i could finally test it and see if it worked. i had no real antenna so I took a piece of speaker wire and clamped each end down in the FM connectors. The piece of wire was probably less than a foot long and it pulled in stations loud and clear even in my basement. Cool stuff!
 
In general it may work OK. But depending on the separation of the antennae, the time of arrival differential on some of the signals may appear at your tuner as multi-path distortion.

You may also have destructive interference, that is when the signals from the two antennae combine, due the relative phase of the signals, they may combine in a manor that actually decreases the signal strength.

With antennae, it is location, location, location. What will work well for some, may not work well for others.

Understand that I am not saying that you should not try it. In many cases it will work OK.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom