Jump to content

TV aerial as suitable Radio antenna??


Recommended Posts

Hi all. On a previous post a few months ago you kindly contributed to the thread asking for help re. my radio and a very poor signal reception (Aveyron river level East Tarn & Garonne). The solution offered was to link my radio to an FM antenna. I have still not been back to carry out the work so the mind goes on at night and i have a couple of questions:

- Would the redundant TV antenna do the job?

- If yes, can i position it up in height inside the barn? (same question applies for FM antenna )

 

Many thanks and a lovely Sunday to you all. North East coast is beautiful this weekend and the long walk on the beach yesterday with my better half was memorable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not really - no.

It's quite possible that if you do hook up your radio to the old TV aerial, it will give improved reception, but it won't be as good as a properly designed radio aerial.

This is because of the large difference in the freqencies used, hence the different length of the elements (the sticks of metal) used.

The TV antenna has short elements because of the higherr frequency an FM antenna has much longer ones.

Maybe worth a try though.

 

Regards - Tim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Tim.....it's not for the cost of an FM antenna which is about £20 in the UK but why spend if you don't have to......Do you think I can position the FM atenna up in height inside the barn that is adjacent to the wall where the radio is positioned???
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well Eric. This is not exact science. I don't know where you live as far as surrounding/environment etc.

But there are some general rules. These are that V.H.F antennas usually work at their best when they are high and out in the open.

With V.H.F antennas there is also the issue of what you are trying to receive.

Alot of antennas available are omni-directional - i.e. they are designed to receive signals from any direction. In a lot of cases these are sufficient.

But if there is a station you are hoping to get that is a marginal signal where you are, then a beam antenna would be required and this would need to be pointing in the correct direction to get the best reception.

Finally, as far as locating the aerial in a barn is concerned, well as I said, it will work better if it's outside and in the clear, but if you try it in the barn, and the reception is good enough, then that's fine - no problem - you have acheived what you need.

Good luck - regards - Tim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In London I had brilliant results using the almost circular design shown in the lowest link. DIY design is covered in the first two links. I would favour low and outside versus high and in the roof space.

http://www.electronics-radio.com/articles/radio/antennas/dipole/fm-dipole-antenna.php

http://www.transmissionzero.co.uk/radio/marts-fm-radio-antenna/

http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/page11e.htm#list

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...