FM Reception or Lack Thereof

[cheesy]

I have two things working against me in the big garage. 1, I am now located in a bowl instead of on a hill. FM is line of sight. 2, I think the garage is framed with steel studs.

AM, not a problem, the little classic rock station 15 miles away(at least until sunset), Nashville, Toronto, Dallas, and of course, Chicago.

SW, meh. I’ve picked up a Canadian SW/AM, a religious station or two, a few Spanish language stations, the time signal out of Colorado. No luck with Radio Havana (I have a story about listening to it in the sixties for a later time)or Radio Romania. I’m sure the bowl is playing into it.

FM, zip, nada, nothing. Not even the local NPR college station 18 miles away. I have three different FM radios in the garage. The new Eton Field radio has a 75 ohm plug, so I bought an Omni-directional FM antenna to try. I’ll try it in the attic first, mainly because it’s winter. If need be it will be outside on a pole in the spring. We’ll see how it goes.

[JerryHawk250]

Now know why the previous owner moved. Lol put up an external antenna.

[cheesy]

Now know why the previous owner moved. Lol put up an external antenna.

:lol:
Antenna will be here late next week. I’ll be working in northern Minnesnowta, dealing with another Beaufort f-up.

[bogieboy]

smart phone with your music streaming service of choice? you can get bluetooth receivers to plug into a standard RCA pair for an old receiver...

i have one similar to this (https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bluetooth-5-0-Transmitter-Receiver-Digital-Optical-3-5mm-Wireless-Audio-Adapter/113772215000?epid=24027553231&hash=item1a7d5a3ad8:g:W~kAAOSw-DRc9vLL) (mine doesnt have the abiility to transmit, only receive, but i got it like 10 yrs ago) and have it hooked up in my basement shop to a 200w altec lansing 2.1 system....

[cheesy]

Good idea but my cell phone belongs to my employer for another 21 months. Also, cell reception here isn't the greatest. If I wanted, I could probably BT my Ipod to the Eton.


However, and bogies' suggestion spurred it, I do now have killer wifi. I haven't tried it yet in the garage, so if it works, radio.com. That said, I just like analog sound better than digital. I'm old.

[bogieboy]

Good idea but my cell phone belongs to my employer for another 21 months. Also, cell reception here isn't the greatest. If I wanted, I could probably BT my Ipod to the Eton.


However, and bogies' suggestion spurred it, I do now have killer wifi. I haven't tried it yet in the garage, so if it works, radio.com. That said, I just like analog sound better than digital. I'm old.

use the phone on the wifi...LOL as for digital vs analog, youre talking to a 32 yr old with a decent record collection, and my main guitar amp is tube powered... :hehe:

[Its_not_a_honda]

Good idea but my cell phone belongs to my employer for another 21 months. Also, cell reception here isn't the greatest. If I wanted, I could probably BT my Ipod to the Eton.


However, and bogies' suggestion spurred it, I do now have killer wifi. I haven't tried it yet in the garage, so if it works, radio.com. That said, I just like analog sound better than digital. I'm old.
Yeah analog is just a better quality. The young folks just don't know (by design) what they are missing. Most don't even know how good music can be. They've been listening to tiny phone or laptop speakers. I've actually went all the way back to vinyl.

BTW....Antennas are kinda a mystery even to the people who design them. I can get the same or better reception from a piece of wire (randomly shaped) as from a $50 antenna.

[bogieboy]

Yeah analog is just a better quality. The young folks just don't know (by design) what they are missing. Most don't even know how good music can be. They've been listening to tiny phone or laptop speakers. I've actually went all the way back to vinyl.

BTW....Antennas are kinda a mystery even to the people who design them. I can get the same or better reception from a piece of wire (randomly shaped) as from a $50 antenna.

true that... ever listen to a pair of Beatz headphones? they are crap in my opinion... but i have an old second gen set of Bose noise cancelling headphones (the qc2s,) that are crazy good sounding...albeit they arent as good as a true analog set, as they have the digital noise cancelling...

[cheesy]

you’re talking to a 32 yr old

Jeez, I have bicycle tires older than you.:lmao:

WiFi in the garage is very good. So, for the time being I can listen to WXRT (Chicago’s Finest Rock)at radio.com through my laptop and a remote Goal Zero speaker.

The above posts from bogie got me to thinking about car shows, the DeSoto, and old radio shows. My IPod Nano is packed with radio shows from the late thirties to the early eighties, heavy on sci-fi. So, I sprung for a cheap BT speaker so I can play said programs when showing the car.

[OneLeggedRider]

About 20yrs ago I retired my old Marantz reciever and 18" woofers for a 500 watt Sony that's still going strong today. I too had reception problems out here in the sticks, could only get one or two stations to come in. So I bought a set of TV rabbit ears and an RCA adapter and put the whole system including the subwoofer up in the loft. I think it sounds better up there and now I get about 30 stations. :tup:

[wheelbender6]

If the antenna tower doesn't help, I would get a tablet computer and stream the FM broadcasts. I listen to NPR while driving because it has a calming effect on me.

[cheesy]

Back when my daughter was home from college during the summer, I’d do breakfast on the grill and have my old Grundig Field SW radio set on China Radio International, then switch over to Radio Havana. My neighbor must have thought I was a commie bastard. Just ignore the propaganda and there’s a lot more international news to be had.

BTW, my new Eton Field radio is an updated version of the Grundig Field.

[OneLeggedRider]

Interesting story about that Marantz. I seen it at a yard sale for $20 and I recognized the name and it was in beautiful condition. I got it home and discovered one side was burnt out. Well it had 5 boards in it and it took me a couple of days to isolate and test everything.

I discovered 3 bad transistors. Made a quick trip to RadioShack and they didn't have the exact same ones, but I found equivalents that would work. So for less than $3 and some solder I had a really nice reciever. I played that thing almost every day for about 10yrs till I decided to get some newer equipment.

[duck9191]

I have the same issues, but i also have a spotify family subscription so i just put a chromecast audio (no longer made, idiots) hooked up to the amp in the garage. I'm about 60 miles north of detroit and 50 miles east of flint so there are just no good stations. Well i mean if you really, really like rush and nickelback there is a rock station out of sarnia ONT but its not my cup of tea lol.

I have 4 3-way 15" PA's and a behringer inuke 6k amp, planning on adding a dual 18" sub cabinet and another inuke to the rack. Need to drown out the neighbors drunken stupidity and crappy taste in country.

[minimac]

I can't stand "commercial" radio, two songs then 5-8 minutes of commercials, so I bought an old XM Roady, car kit and home kit for $10 off fleabay. Called XM/Sirius and after 35 minutes of BS, they finally offered six months @$5/mo -but only when I told them I can get Pandora for that. I have no reception issues(being in a valley) and the added plus of being able to take it on my scooter or motorcycle, after adding a 12 volt outlet to them. I just have to remember to call and go through that whole ordeal to renew every six months, or they charge some outrageous amount. It's been a small price to pay, and I get a great selection of what I want to hear, when I want to hear it.

[bogieboy]

i just use amazon music (i subscribed to the unlimited) or iheart... no ads ever, and iheart i can get all the local decent stations as well...

[cheesy]

If the antenna tower doesn't help, I would get a tablet computer and stream the FM broadcasts. I listen to NPR while driving because it has a calming effect on me.

I know most of the NPR stations in Illannoy, and those between home and my Dads’ place. When I’m driving and cannot locate one, then I plug in my IPod. Unless we’re in my wifes’ car, then it’s satellite.

The FM antenna arrived Monday, but I am in Minnesnowta this week and probably a good part of next week, too. Thanks, Beaufort.

[Merlin]

Your best bet is a very long pole with the biggest antenna you can find. I have listened and talked to people around the world with a very long pole and a very big antenna.

[Weldangrind]

No need to boast, Merlin. Now I have pole envy.

[culcune]

There was that big company that had radio station transmitter kits as well as all kinds of other project kits. The had some receiver kits that you built that claimed to pull in stations from miles away. I know they had AM and FM radio station kits that you could build, but also sold ready made ones. You could broadcast your own stuff. I think they went out of business because the FCC cracked down on pirate broadcasters who would use the stations and amplifiers. Shame because the company wasn't promoting that, but was promoting the old fashion building electronics hobby for kids. I believe the company was called Ramsey. You should be able to find their products on Ebay and/or Amazon.

[cheesy]

Well, I know I won’t get to the antenna this weekend now. Home late, late tomorrow and back up to Minnesnowta on Monday. This one to two hour job is going on four days now.