[TriLUG] OT - AM reception

[ALFRED JOHNSON]

Well, first things first.  You would be wise to purchase a decent 
communications receiver which will cost you about $80-100.  A 
communications grade receiver will have components such as an RF 
amplifier a better IF stage and lots of circuits which can pull out 
weak radio signals while using a very modest antenna. You can only find 
these radios primarily in ham radio catalogues (although sometimes they 
can be found at more expensive local distributors).  But having said 
this in radio antennas are the best way to get great  signals at the 
lowest cost, but you shouldn't just throw a random piece of wire or 
metal up in the air.  There are do it yourself antenna books which have 
antenna designs suitable for any need or location.  Again you can find 
lots of antenna books only at one of our local hamfests, which Tri-lug 
usually attends to advertise Linux. Our local hamfests start up in 
April and May and July, which are usually announced at all Tri-lug 
meetings. Remember building great antennas is a extremely demanding 
thing to do.  You can build them out of junk, but you must know what 
you're doing.  73, KQ4FP  -- Al Johnson.
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On Feb 21, 2005, at 10:20 AM, Rick DeNatale wrote:

> Since there's already an OT thread about reusing ethernet coax, I3
> thought one of our esteemed members might have some insight on another
> non-computer problem.
>
> This morning, my wife was upset because instead of running Imus, MSNBC
> was showing Bush's speech in Brussels, and she wanted to listen to
> Imus on 850 on our family room receiver.
>
> The problem is I haven't worked out how to get any kind of decent AM
> reception on our AM receiver. I mostly get a buzz instead of The Buzz.
>   I think that the buzz we are getting is coming from other units in
> our "A/V stack, like the DirectTV receiver etc.
>
> When we built our house a few years ago, I ran two RG6 cables and a
> 300 ohm twinlead from the cabinet where the AV equipment is housed up
> to the attic. The RG6 cables are used for OTA TV and OTA FM, and the
> twinlead was intended for AM.  The FM feed works well, even though we
> are less than a mile from the WCPE transmitter. The OTA TV works
> sporadically for digital TV, and the AM reception is useless.
>
> Any suggestions on how to get better AM reception for the rare times 
> we want it?
> -- 
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