Anyone know of a good antenna for FM reception for a receiver that is better than that little POS wire antenna that comes with it?
I am looking for something that could be remotely mounted outdoors if possible?

Thanks,
Mark

Antennacraft makes one that we use all of the time. It is the FMSS

We mount them in the attic. Pre-wire with a piece of RG-6. It is an omni directional antenna so you don't have to worry about which way to face it.

[Link: antennacraft-tdp.com]

Robbie

I've had a lot of luck with the ST-2.
Mike

[Link: magnumdynalab.com]

Ditto on the Dynalab

we use fanfare wired with rg6q. are the ones above better? anyone else use these?

Winegard PR6010 loop dipole at about $25.00 is decent. Attic or outdoor.

oex, I think the dynalab and the fanfare are about the same from what I have found by searching. What kind of range are we talking about on the fanfare/dynalab? I live about 40 miles from Columbia SC, about 30 miles from Florence SC, and about 70 miles from Myrtle Beach. Do you think if I mount this in the attic I can get stations from all these. There are no stations in town to speak of.

Thanks,
Mark

Winegard PR-6010 would work well since your trying to pick stations up grom multiple directions...... Attic is gonna hurt ya though, get it outside if your really want good reception.

I also use the PR-6010. I agreed with Impaqt you should put the antenna outside.

The basics are similar to TV antennas. I don't know what you know about TV antennas, so here goes.

First, the piece of crap antenna that comes with a receiver actually works well in locations with lots of signal and very few reflections (multipath). In my market, Los Angeles, those suffice 90% of the time in non-canyon locations.

If you are not in a location with a lot of reflective surfaces, i.e. in a canyon (natural or a la Manhattan), an omnidirectional antenna will pick up stations well from all directions.

Putting an antenna in an attic will give you less signal than putting it outdoors.

If the stations are far away, you might need to get a directional antenna and choose which stations to point at.

The FM band is literally just above channel 6. If you have a TV antenna, it is picking up FM. I would guess that many FM stations place their transmitters near TV transmitters as a good transmitting location for one is also good for the other.

If you have a TV antenna and the antenna system has an amplifier, that amp may be blocking FM signals from getting through. This is called an FM Trap and some amps allow you to switch out the trap, meaning FM goes through.

There are so many FM stations in a given market that passing FM through an antenna amp in addition to the TV stations sometimes makes the amp distort, which shows as diagonal lines on TV stations.

Well, I ordered one of the ST-2's. I have read mixed reviews about it, but I'll take you guys word for it. It should work. It looks like a car antenna, and my car radio picks up all the stations I want... Anyways, what's a hundred dollars amongst friends... If it doesn't work, I'll try another.

Thanks for all your help,
Mark

The ST-2 is a great antenna. Keep in mind it looks like a Car Antenna, so you'll want to hide it. Have fun getting it out of the package (you'll know what I mean when you receive it).

I had my fun with an ST-2 a couple of weeks ago, and you're right...

We've had great luck with the Terk FM-Pro... I'll admit that after 16 years of selling the old Terk 'rubberband' antennae (so named because everyone brought them back every time...) I was skeptical, but we took one outside with an 8-element and a dipole and did some testing, and it really stood up well. We've been using almost nothing else ever since with great results.

I would have to agree on the Winegard and the ST-2, I use both of them all the time in attics. The attic reduces the signal a little bit compared to outside, but it beats the heck out of the hideous dipole wire or any of the frou-frou wedge or Pi antennas that never work well.

By the way, on the ST-2, I use plain old pliers right on the corner of the end seam to peel back the tube to get the cap out and keep peeling 'til I get past the coil pack.

I hope your ST-2 works well for you.

Why do you do this? Looking at the picture on the web site, and reading your description, it seems you are taking the antenna apart!


As an installer who started out as a kid back in the days of tube radios, let me tell you that the most irritating thing about home tuners is that EVERY client will sooner or later say, "Why can't I get KXXX? I get it just fine in my car out in the driveway!" This happens WAY more often with AM stations than FM, but it does happen with FM, too.

I experienced this so thoroughly that when I was a teenager, I modified an old 1940s car radio to work off of a 12 volt, 20 amp transformer (about 60 pounds of transformer), with a silicon rectifier instead of a 5Y3, and I got excellent results. I'm in southern California; a six foot piece of wire got Denver, Albuquerque, Salt Lake, Chicago, New Orleans, and occasionally other further-away stations (I'm talking plain old AM here).