Amplified radio antenna?

Question

I'm trying to listen to the radio at work, and its annoying the heck out of me. The station that I really like to listen (FM) to fades in and out a lot. Sometimes its fine, sometimes its pure static. I have a digital tuner, so I know its on the right channel, but it is just a cheap CD/radio "boombox". I've tried tinfoil (hey, cheap and easy) but no luck. It also works fine if I'm touching the antenna. Any suggestions?

OHh, and I am inside a brick/concrete building, so I know thats got something to do with it, but really I think I just need to be able to boost it a little bit more, since I CAN usually listen in.

Answer 1

It depends, are you good at electronics, if yes, google the net to find antennas, and boosters schematics,

if no, i kno a technique that always works, first connect a small piece of wire to the antenna of the radio, then try to search something which consists of iron, and has an average size, like a window, iron door. Scratch to remove only a small part of paint / primer,  and stick the wire with tape onto the scratched part.

Answer 2

Try an older radio, newer radios don't have the sensitivity and channel-selectivity in their receiver circuits like the old ones.

Here at my house I listen to a FM Station with a 30 year old portable radio, while the CD Boom-Box produces nothing but fuzzy bleed-over from other adjacent FM stations.

Also keep in mind that the length of the antenna is important for better reception, meaning for receiving a station at the upper end of the FM band (higher numbers) the antenna would have to be shorter and partially shoved in, than it would have to be for Stations at the lower end.

Also placing the radio at a different location (on top of a file cabinet) and positioning the antenna in an angle could possibly bring better results, since the reception of FM waves inside a building like your's is merely based on reflections by the walls.

An Amplified Antenna would mostlikely not help anything in this case, unless the antenna and amplifier is placed somewhere else and then connected with coax cable to the radio.

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