If you had a bunch of boxes indoors, and none of them picked up stations very well, what would you do?

- Hook up an outdoor antenna?
- Hook up an indoor "powered" antenna (are any of them actually any good?)

But then, what if you didn't want to drag a wire from your new antenna to every single one of your boxes? What would you do then?

Should I just skip the whole idea and subscribe to satellite radio instead?

Heres the deal,many of these radios don't have very good front ends and were probably designed around the whip antenna. If you try and connect an antenna of longer length to it you risk overloading the front end of the tuner and getting ghost images,more than one station coming through at once and other anomalies.

Indoor amplified antennas are hit and miss as many just amplify the signal but along with this they amplify the noise and so the gain you end up getting is pretty much negligible. Some indoor antennas are of the loop persuasion and allow you to directionally null stations and this can help cut down on noise. Its a bit hit and miss here,really. Try at your own risk.

The best bet for a boombox is to just take an alligator clip and clip a few feet of speaker or bell wire to the end of the whip antenna. It'll be enough to give a noticeable improvement but not so much that it will overload the front end.

exactly,the old fashioned longwire,works very well,so fla radio has alot of pirates that interfere with licesned stations,and our radio especially fm band overloads,a good antenna,will reduce the overload,and will also greatly help poor reception,just remember to disconnect the antenna during a storm,lol,u wouldn't want a fried bbx!

You would be surprised with the good results you will get if you feed a nice rack system type home stereo tuner into your boxes aux in...if your aux jacks are in good working order..

quote:

Originally posted by Jovie:
You would be surprised with the good results you will get if you feed a nice rack system type home stereo tuner into your boxes aux in...if your aux jacks are in good working order..

Right, but that only serves one box at a time, not multiple boxes in multiple rooms.

i have been doing the old ugly alligator clip with the 2 foot wire for years --
never could admit it till now !!

thanks , you guys -- for substantiating this foolproof technique

quote:

Originally posted by redbenjoe:
i have been doing the old ugly alligator clip with the 2 foot wire for years --
never could admit it till now !!

thanks , you guys -- for substantiating this foolproof technique

Alligator clip to the end of the telescoping antenna? Why not clip it to the auxiliary antenna screw on the back of your box?

best and cheapest set up,u can get a good longwire set up for less then 10 bucks!

quote:

Originally posted by Reli:

quote:

Originally posted by redbenjoe:
i have been doing the old ugly alligator clip with the 2 foot wire for years --
never could admit it till now !!

thanks , you guys -- for substantiating this foolproof technique

Alligator clip to the end of the telescoping antenna? Why not clip it to the auxiliary antenna screw on the back of your box?

Again,you just want to slightly lengthen the antenna just so you can bring in as much signal as the front end will allow. If the signal levels rise too high imaging can occur.

I dunno, I'd prefer a slightly less "ghetto-looking" approach. Maybe I'll have to buy an outdoor antenna, hook it up to one boombox, and then broadcast that box to all my other boxes using an FM transmitter.

I would ,,, uh ,, Pull out the Antenna to it;s fullest extension ,,, this would normally get the best reception but would be poking me somewhere ...

but to improve the reception hmmm just listen to the radio as night when all the stations for some reason or other get's better recepion at night and play your cassette's during the daytime

this pulling out is something i dont normally do

as i normally leave it in, ( the antenna ) to prevent damage to it.

and since i normally only listen to the radio only to see if the bbx works

and then I play my cassette's


... I dont worry too much about the reception of the radio ....

quote:

Originally posted by Reli:
If you had a bunch of boxes indoors, and none of them picked up stations very well, what would you do?

- Hook up an outdoor antenna?
- Hook up an indoor "powered" antenna (are any of them actually any good?)

But then, what if you didn't want to drag a wire from your new antenna to every single one of your boxes? What would you do then?

Should I just skip the whole idea and subscribe to satellite radio instead?

yes subscribe to that subscription radio stuff and then you would have to get another bbx made specifically for the reception of that kind of programming .... and also you would have to have more adapter's and such, to plug the new radio into your old boombox to have that really good sound again that you cherish through your oldtime boombox

quote:

Originally posted by Reli:
I dunno, I'd prefer a slightly less "ghetto-looking" approach. Maybe I'll have to buy an outdoor antenna, hook it up to one boombox, and then broadcast that box to all my other boxes using an FM transmitter.

Well most outdoor antennas are quite large and would not suit boomboxes very well so I don't think it'd really work for this application. Are you trying to improve FM,AM or SW reception? If you're looking for better AM or SW reception then I'd just recommend buying a decent tabletop shortwave receiver which actually has the dynamic range necessary to handle outdoor antennas.

quote:

Originally posted by DecentMan4You:
but to improve the reception hmmm just listen to the radio as night when all the stations for some reason or other get's better recepion at night and play your cassette's during the daytime

This is only the case generally for frequencies under about 8mhz. This is due to the lower levels of the ionosphere being more active during the evening hours whereas during the day the upper F1 and F2 levels of the ionosphere are more active permitting more communication above frequencies of 8mhz and generally allowing for an MUF(Maximum Usable Frequency)generally around the 14-18mhz range. This,however,changes wildly due to the SFI index,changes in the geomagnetic fields and other things.

quote:

Originally posted by DecentMan4you:
I would ,,, uh ,, Pull out the Antenna to it;s fullest extension ,,, this would normally get the best reception but would be poking me somewhere ...

but to improve the reception hmmm just listen to the radio as night when all the stations for some reason or other get's better recepion at night and play your cassette's during the daytime

this pulling out is something i dont normally do

as i normally leave it in, ( the antenna ) to prevent damage to it.

and since i normally only listen to the radio only to see if the bbx works

and then I play my cassette's


... I dont worry too much about the reception of the radio ....

quote:

Originally posted by Reli:
If you had a bunch of boxes indoors, and none of them picked up stations very well, what would you do?

- Hook up an outdoor antenna?
- Hook up an indoor "powered" antenna (are any of them actually any good?)

But then, what if you didn't want to drag a wire from your new antenna to every single one of your boxes? What would you do then?

Should I just skip the whole idea and subscribe to satellite radio instead?

yes subscribe to that subscription radio stuff and then you would have to get another bbx made specifically for the reception of that kind of programming .... and also you would have to have more adapter's and such, to plug the new radio into your old boombox to have that really good sound again that you cherish through your oldtime boombox

read up about radio propigation and antenna topics james,the response of simply pulling up the telescopic antenna,is just plain and simple wrong and stupid.

I wouldn't go so far as calling that stupid. Go easy on the chap. Even so James read up on antenna resonance,the ionosphere and how to read reports regarding the geomagnetic fields,sun spots,RF energy emitted by the sun and you'll get a much thorough picture of why reception and propagation varies so much.

928gts relax
the comment was stupid,it's a fact! i would not say so otherwise,!~

Some people know more than others,everyone starts from square one. Give him a break,sheesh.

quote:

Originally posted by 928GTS:
Are you trying to improve FM,AM or SW reception?

FM only.

I'm not talking about a big gonzo antenna, just one of those $30 gizmos you can get at Best Buy. Probably just an indoor one. Do any of them work?

Oh! Well yeah these boomboxes are generally *okay* for external FM antennas as dynamic range is not *quite* as important than with AM and SW. Give an outdoor antenna a try and report back. I'm big on AM and SW antennas but never really got into the whole FM DX'ing deal...yet.

quote:

Originally posted by 928GTS:
Some people know more than others,everyone starts from square one. Give him a break,sheesh.

quote:

Originally posted by 928GTS:
Oh! Well yeah these boomboxes are generally *okay* for external FM antennas as dynamic range is not *quite* as important than with AM and SW. Give an outdoor antenna a try and report back. I'm big on AM and SW antennas but never really got into the whole FM DX'ing deal...yet.

What is DX'ing? I'm just talking about picking up local stations, not long distance. The apt complex I live in seems to interfere with reception.

quote:

Originally posted by Jaredscottfla:

quote:

Originally posted by 928GTS:
Some people know more than others,everyone starts from square one. Give him a break,sheesh.

quote:

Originally posted by Reli:

quote:

Originally posted by 928GTS:
Are you trying to improve FM,AM or SW reception?

FM only.

I'm not talking about a big gonzo antenna, just one of those $30 gizmos you can get at Best Buy. Probably just an indoor one. Do any of them work?

i personally don't like the fm antennas,i agree try a longwire,i think that will work better.
If it was am reception the terk am advantage and the select a tenna both are excellent,but the fm antennas are pedestrian at best.

quote:

Originally posted by Reli:

quote:

Originally posted by 928GTS:
Oh! Well yeah these boomboxes are generally *okay* for external FM antennas as dynamic range is not *quite* as important than with AM and SW. Give an outdoor antenna a try and report back. I'm big on AM and SW antennas but never really got into the whole FM DX'ing deal...yet.

What is DX'ing? I'm just talking about picking up local stations, not long distance. The apt complex I live in seems to interfere with reception.

dx'ing is trying to rec long distance stations,comes from morse dx for distance.
if u live in an apt a longwire may not be allowed,u might want to ck with your management co, the fm indoor antennas might be your only solution reli,if u are prohibited from using an outdoor antenna,a number of electronics in close proximity will affect your reception,u can try the fm antennas,most are less then $25,terk makes a tower type indoor fm antenna on sale at target recently for 19.99 my exp is their not great,but let us know what happens.

try this

it's hi fi
the electro kitty

^ tight as a mofo

quote:

Originally posted by Jaredscottfla:
if u live in an apt a longwire may not be allowed,.

What is a longwire?

a longwire antenna

Can you guys provide a picture of this? Because I really don't know any of these terms.

a longwire antenna,just is an antenna with copper wire or door bell wire,running from an exterior position,such as a fence pole or tree,to your recr.The reason i said you would need the mgmt co's approval in ur case in an apt complex,u don't own the apt,or in the case of a condo u own ur condo but not the building,other's may not like the idea of any radio accesory be it antenna or otherwise in a common area dwelling. That's why i suggested even though i'm not enthusiastic about them,an indoor fm antenna. I have been a little crafty with my antenna hookup,i have a tree,where my antenna is camoflouged,and the length of the wire runs thru and around my patio. Been that way for three years and no one has said anything. (i live in a Condo complex)And this in a place that basically bans everything,larger radio antennas satt dishes are banned and more! I hope this clarifies it a little better reli,there is a good book called indoor antenna solutions by Jim carr,i'm sure it's on amazon,or at your local barnes and nobles or borders that could give u some real good solutions,good luck with it!

And you are hooking up this wire to......where? The tip of the whip antenna, or the screws on the back of the box?

the end of the wire i attached an alligator clip,i attach it to both,but mainly the tip of the telescopic antenna

I can see doing that for one boombox that stays in the same place, but not for your whole collection of boomboxes.

I think the best thing to improve reception
is to switch the radio on

thats just in Holland

quote:

Originally posted by Reli:
I can see doing that for one boombox that stays in the same place, but not for your whole collection of boomboxes.

Do you have any trees near your window? Take a roll of speaker wire and measure it out from your nearest window to where you will be keeping most of your boomboxes. Find some way to anchor down the wire when it reaches the window and then take the rest of the roll and chuck it into the tree furthest from your window. Make sure the roll falls from the tree to the ground so you can actually cut off the end and save the rest of the roll for something else.

quote:

Originally posted by 928GTS:

quote:

Originally posted by Reli:
I can see doing that for one boombox that stays in the same place, but not for your whole collection of boomboxes.

Do you have any trees near your window? Take a roll of speaker wire and measure it out from your nearest window to where you will be keeping most of your boomboxes. Find some way to anchor down the wire when it reaches the window and then take the rest of the roll and chuck it into the tree furthest from your window. Make sure the roll falls from the tree to the ground so you can actually cut off the end and save the rest of the roll for something else.

What about lightning? Should I hook up another wire to the "ground" screw on the back of the box, and ground it to the earth?

read my first post in this thread.
in case of an electrical storm disconnect your antenna from the bbx. even a surge protector is no guarntee,better to be safe then sorry. just disconnect the antenna during a storm. SIMPLE!