How can I improve my radio reception?

Question

I have a medium-sized radio/stereo and it gets terrible FM reception. (I'm not really concerned with AM, so I haven't tried it out.)

I think it is because I live in a dorm... there's a floor above me, and probably lots of metal. Granted, it doesn't have a steel roof like the last place I lived, but even that got better reception. The only way that I can pull in a radio station is if I am standing exactly six inches away from the set.

Even then, I can only get one radio station, and it is a country music station about seventeen miles away. I can't even get campus radio, whose transmitters are located less than a quarter of a mile away!

Anyway, would it help to bend up a coathanger, or are the old rabbit ears not going to help? I know there's always internet radio, but it's just not the same.

Answer 1

Hi, there. Go to radio shack & ask for an indoor FM antenna. They are cheap. It's made of 'Twinlead' like old television lead-in. It's made for the band that FM uses. 2 spade lugs go on the FM antenna screws on the back of the radio, and position the horizontal legs for best reception.

If you've got a radio with  just a single wire coming out of the back, you're stuck. If you have only a single 'rod' antenna, you can tape one lug of the indoor guy to it, and tape the other so it doesn't contact the rod. This will do better than rabbit ears if you have both screws, like old TVs used to.

Concrete, brick 'n' steel are your enemies. Closer to the window may help. Campus radio stations are frequently very weak - 10 watts!  Good luck.

Answer 2

You can do all that, and it may work. I'm having the same problem pulling in a late night paranormal talk radion show. I'm considering going the catalog route and trying  the C.Crane catalogs for antenna booster.