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General discussion

FM radio reception problem

by foodfiend Apr 2, 2006 6:41AM PDT

We have a vacation home on the bank of a river, in a valley surrounded by mountains. It's a relatively remote area with no cable, and a satellite system cannot be installed either (obviously, we do not have a tv). I have a hard time pulling in the local radio stations, which doesn't really bother me because I don't like their programming, but there is a station located in a city about 65 miles away which I would love to be able to listen to. I can get reception when I drive my car to the top of the mountain, but it disappears as I head down the driveway. In the house, on a cloudy morning (not in the afternoon, and sometimes in the evening), I can get this station if I turn the radio and the built-in antenna a certain way. It's about 20% static, which I have learned to ignore as much as I can, but I want a better system!

Is there a certain type of antenna which would pull in FM signals? I've been told that an antenna is only as good as the hieght that you can mount it above surrounding tall objects, but I can't put one at the top of the driveway. Or do I have to increase my cd collection and forget about the radio?

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2 Posts

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buy more CD's,,,

by jcrobso Apr 2, 2006 9:16AM PDT

FM and TV are line of site transmission. john

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FM Signals

by RoadRunner6 Apr 2, 2006 10:38AM PDT

You didn't say if this is just a table model radio or what? FM signal strength depends on the quality of the FM tuner in the radio and the FM antenna, besides the geographical terrain and height of the antenna. As mentioned above, FM signals are line of sight, so anything in the way such as mountains, trees and buildings reduce the strength and can cause multipath signals.

A good quality outdoor (or maybe indoor) antenna should help somehwere between zero to a huge difference. Try one from an electronic's store with return priviliges.

A table radio with an excellent FM tuner such as the "PAL" radio from Tivoli Audio (do a google search) might be able to pull in the signal. They have a decent built in antenna. But at your distance an external antenna might be the only answer. These radios have pretty nice sound or you can use them as a tuner only and hook them up to any audio system.

As a last resort, try XM or Sirius satellite radio.

RR6

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