Amplified or Passive Indoor AM/FM Antenna?

[John Chi-town]

Fellow members;

I am looking to improve my current AM and FM reception. My listening area is in the lower level, finished basement of my house. I live a good 30-45 miles from most of the broadcast stations in my area. I have been using just a 2 wire FM loop antenna with less than favorable results.

I am looking for an "indoor" solution and found several diffirent models from "Terk" on ebay with gamma loop technology in both passive and amplified form. Is anyone familiar with this brand, or can you recommend a solution that may work?

Thanks in advance.

John

[Quiet_Hollow]

John,

Got a TV antenna or cable box already? You could try running a coaxial leg over to your reciever and tap into that.

-QH

[John Chi-town]

QH;

I have DirecTV. However the satalite box from them sends all sorts of amplified static durring lousy weather, at times even when not local. Ie; when picture freezes, etc. Afraid I could blow a fuse on the rail bus of the amp at times. It is very shrill when it occurs through the TV, just never know when to expect.

[Mighty Favog]

I'm using a non-amplified Magnum Dynalab ST-2 mast antenna mounted inside my attic. I wanted to put it on the roof but weather (i.e. - lighting) is so unpredictaple around here I just couldn't chance it. I've got it witih a single (no-splits or joints) run of RG-6 Quad Shield coax about 35ft. and it does just fine. Furthest station is about 55 miles away but the average is about 20-25 mi. Nothing less than an 7 (from 0 to 9) on the strength meter.

[Daddy Dee]

It's been twenty years since i tried a terk indoor amplified antenna. can't remember the model but it was not expensive. didn't work as well we the old passive.

[tube fanatic]

I'm using a non-amplified Magnum Dynalab ST-2 mast antenna mounted inside my attic. I wanted to put it on the roof but weather (i.e. - lighting) is so unpredictaple around here I just couldn't chance it.

Keep in mind that placing an antenna in the attic does not offer any protection whatsoever against a lightning strike (unless your house has lightning rods which create a fairly protective Faraday shield over the attic areas.) You need to take the same precautions as if the antenna were mounted outdoors. Industrial Communications Engineers and Polyphaser offer suitable products for this application.

http://www.iceradioproducts.com/

http://www.protectiongroup.com/PolyPhaser

[skriefal]

Don't bother with the small, table-top amplified antennas. They're useless probably 99.9% of the time. A $2 wire dipole will usually work better.

But being in the basement, your options are very limited for an indoor antenna. Especially at 30+ miles from the transmitters. You really need to get something outside. Even if it's a simple dipole mounted to the outer window moldings, with a lead wire through the window.

[Fish]

Is pc iradio an option, maybe in the future? I listen to stations all over the country, some sound pretty nice xmr and wdjo are great. Some have no ads , no static etc... Of course many sound bad, but some quite nice, you have to sample . If old school is the only way then the net has some pretty cheap and good options.

[Marvel]

Hijack... I just killed off my Comcast TV, keeping only the internet. I got a $10 pair of rabbit ears for the Vizeo, and the ten stations I get look far better than the cable did. We just weren't watching enough to justify the expense. Should be about a $40 a month savings. I have a spare pc with hdmi out, that I am going to put in the living roomso we can stream stuff, as we already have a netflix streaming account (only been used on the tablet.

I have one of the cheap wire dipoles for the HK430 that I use for FM and even being 20-30 miles south of the city of Chattanooga. it works ok.

Bruce

[TheEvan]

We also jettisoned our cable TV service a few years back. I bought an outdoor antenna from Crutchfield (I think it is the Channel Master 3016) and put it in the attic. Our TV broadcast is notably sharper than cable and with a splitter to my tuner, I get fine radio reception.