DIY or Commercial FM Antenna

[solomr2]

Can anyone recommend a decent indoor FM antenna, or maybe a web site or other resource where I can find instructions for making my own indoor FM antenna?

I don't want anything too big or bulky, I don't intend to hunt for stations that are hundreds of miles out. But I want to have reasonably good reception, and I want to be able to hold a signal when it has been tuned in. The little wire antenna that comes with the Denon 4306 receiver is very poor and many stations fade out if I just walk around in the room.

Thanks.

 

[Swerd]

Can anyone recommend a decent indoor FM antenna, or maybe a web site or other resource where I can find instructions for making my own indoor FM antenna?

I don't want anything too big or bulky, I don't intend to hunt for stations that are hundreds of miles out. But I want to have reasonably good reception, and I want to be able to hold a signal when it has been tuned in. The little wire antenna that comes with the Denon 4306 receiver is very poor and many stations fade out if I just walk around in the room.

Believe it or not, that little wire, or folded dipole, antenna that came with your receiver is about as good as most other indoor antennas. The problem is that they are flexible. They don't stay in the position you may need to get the best reception. Simple rabbit ears are essentially the same type of antenna. With rabbit ears, you can telescope the arms the same length as the folded dipole, arrange them flat, rotate them until the FM station comes in best, and leave them in that position. I'd avoid the amplified indoor antennas, such as the various Terk models. They cost more and don't work any better than a folded dipole or rabbit ears.

You can read a brief description of how FM and TV antennas work:
http://www.kyes.com/antenna/antennatypes/antennatypes.html

And you can see what is for sale for FM:
http://www.solidsignal.com/cat_display.asp?main_cat=03&CAT=AM/FM Antennas

 

[hyghwayman]

here is a link

on making antnnas. It talks about HDTV , but a UHF/VHF/FM transformer or just a FM transformer will work the same.

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9613&st=80

and here is a link to a picture of a simple antenna, inside of house.

http://www.tech-4-hire.com/images/hd_antenna2.jpg

Hope this helps,
hyghwayman

 

[solomr2]

on making antnnas. It talks about HDTV , but a UHF/VHF/FM transformer or just a FM transformer will work the same.

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9613&st=80

and here is a link to a picture of a simple antenna, inside of house.

http://www.tech-4-hire.com/images/hd_antenna2.jpg

Hope this helps,
hyghwayman

Thanks.

That second image is interesting. I can probably put one up over a tall piece of furniture I have in there. How do you make one of those?

 

[hyghwayman]

check out the

the link to Lumenlab and read the intire thread. It should give you all the info you will need.


http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9613


hyghwayman