From: NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com   
      
   On Mon, 22 Aug 2011 20:34:57 -0600, "Pintlar"   
    wrote:   
      
   >I cannot get the local station '91.3' (25 miles distance in mountainous   
   >terrain.   
   >I can receive it fine in my auto 30 feet away from my Sony 'GX5ESII'   
   >receiver, where I can only get it by holding two 20ga. doorbell wires in a   
   >certain position, with the mass of my body necessary to achieve this.   
   >My Sony has two FM antenna plugs (300 ohm and 75 ohm) but I can only get any   
   >reception at all on the 300 ohm I'm using.   
   >Years ago a friend told me to use a dipole but he didn't know the   
   >dimensions.   
   >Would I best use a coaxial from the receiver to the dipole junction?   
   >I sure would appreciate any help as the only radio I now enjoy (old age) is   
   >NPR.   
      
   P&M   
      
   Car radios are better than home radios, probably because the car's   
   sheet metal acts as a ground plane, whatever that is.   
      
   Home radios vary a lot in quality, and price and brandname are not   
   clearly related to how well they receive stations.   
      
   I have radios from 40 years agol that work better than new radios that   
   have more famous, more presigious brands that sold for more, even   
   allowing for inflation.   
      
   Also, for best results on most FM table radios, the power cord, which   
   is the antenna on most of them,  needs to be stretched out at least   
   somewhat, and maybe pointed at the station.  (Although inmy experience   
   direction hasnt' made a difference but beting stretched out and not   
   rolled or folded up has made a tremendous one.   It's reproduceable.   
   I move the cord and the reception gets better or worse.   
      
   While it might help to  add an external antenna and somehow couple it   
   to the radio, I didn't get much from buying one, including the 40 foot   
   folded dipole I put in the attic. .   
      
   Instead, I woudl say you should keep buying radios for 3, 4, 10   
   dollars at Goodwill Industries and yard sales until you find ones that   
   reliabley get your station.   
      
   Radios that allow the AFC to be turned off are a good idea too.   Tune   
   to the weak station with the AFC off, and then turning the AFC on   
   might keep the radio on that frequency.   
      
      
   I live in Balitmore and wan t to get 88.5 and 90.1 in DC.   A lot of   
   radios won't do it.   My most expensive table radio will, but iirc my   
   even more expensive  name brand receiver with digital tuning and   
   multiople inputs and switches for mulitple stes of speakers won't.   
      
   A tube radio from the 60's would get them, but evertunally it broke   
   beyond my abiltity to repair it.    A cheap clock radio gets them   
   both, and a cheap non-clock radio does also.   
      
   When I get them, I use a permanent marker to note where on the dial   
   the station is.   So I wont' pass by it when the radio's cord is in   
   the wrong position.   
      
   WRT AM, I was on a long campaign to get WRC, 980 in washington when I   
   was inside, not just in the car.  Never succeeded and then WRC changed   
   to a weaker transmitter and a different frequency, and I couldn't even   
   get it in the car.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)