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Post Info TOPIC: FM Radio antenna for the garage??
DonSSDD


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FM Radio antenna for the garage??
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Anyone got an FM antenna that works? I'm on the edge of FM range inside my garage, if its cloudy or high humidity, i lose my clear signal and get varying degrees of static. I have a homemade T on the wall made with speaker wire, found that idea online, it helped some but not enough.

 

I have a Panasonic, its old enough to have a CD player and cassette, so likely25 years old or so. Works perfect on CD, but FM is not good. No AM radio here now, all gone. When I was young, I could get Radio Moscow on shortwave (old 30's floor model radio) during the Vietnam war, and on AM when atmospheric conditions were right Wheeling West Virginia and the big rock stations in NYC (WABC or WNBC?).

 

Let me know what you country people have used that worked.

Thanks,
Don



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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC.
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Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
cdnpont


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Basically you need the "antenna" outside and as high as possible.

 

Make a heavy wooden block with a length of straight coat hanger attached to it facing up. Maybe 40" of wire. Connect the core of a long length of coax to that coat hanger wire (strip the paint or coating from the wire). Keep the outer coax braid shield away from the core wire. Seal the connection from the weather.

Place the "antenna" up on the highest point you can find outside on your garage. Feed the coax back into the garage. Leave a generous amount of coax available up top.

Run the coax back in to the radio. Attach the center core to the antenna jack input, or right onto the collapsed antenna with a very short alligator lead. Keep the coax outer braid off the center lead.

 

Move the antenna around outside experimenting with finding the best signals. Bend the wire to suit.

Unplug or unclip the antenna from the radio when not in use.

 

If possible, for an improvement, attach a ground wire to that outer braid of the coax at the radio, and run it outside. Pound a long copper or steel rod into some soil outside. Attach the ground wire to that.

 

If all else fails, buy an internet radio that uses your house wi-fi and get all the stations in the world.

 

 



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Prefectca


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My workshop has steel siding inside and outside with a steel roof. My cell phone wont even ring in the workshop if the doors are closed. For my fm radio I mounted the antenna on the wooden window frame. The radio seems to be able to pick up a signal through the glass. Its not perfect, but better than no radio. All I used for an antenna is a three foot piece of 1/8 steel welding rod, the type used for torch welding without any flux on it. Its pretty basic, I would have used an old car antenna mast if I had one at the time.

Paul

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DonSSDD


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I have an old car antenna, I may have a try at that before going marks route.

Thanks,
Don

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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC.
1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada

Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
cdnpont


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Sometimes just moving that dipole antenna you made around the shop could help.

I do like the idea of placing the antenna in a window.

 

Did the coat hanger (actually an aluminum TIG filler rod) and coax at the steel mill I worked at, we were in a steel clad shack surrounded by motors, inside another big building, and little if any signal could penetrate.

Placed the wire outside on the roof of the shack, and low and behold, It could pick up most everything.



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Canadian Poncho


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DonSSDD wrote:

I have an old car antenna, I may have a try at that before going marks route.

Thanks,
Don

 That should work well Don as it's already tuned to the FM band. 

 



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DonSSDD


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Not sure what the antenna is off but its working so far just next to a window. Its 6 ft long and has a side mount setup, for side of a fender, not top. No idea where I got it.

Thanks very much for the advice.

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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC.
1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada

Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
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