"butlercellars" wrote in message
...
Our local cable company, Comcast, doesn't carry FM radio signals;
therefore,
I'm trying to improve my FM reception on my home receiver. I've had
separate
VHF and UHF antennas up for HDTV several years. They work wonders for HD
and
even analog TV, but the FM element on the VHF yagi surprisingly doesn't
pick
up much. Part of my problem is that I'm on an east facing hillside in the
foothills directly north of one major metro market area and directly west
of
another. Despite that, I don't understand why I can get decent TV
reception
but no FM.

After limited success with a homebrew folded dipole, I picked up a high
gain
three element FM yagi. No matter where I seem to point it, I'm not getting
any more signal strength than with the dipole on the back of the receiver.
You'd think that aiming it east, southeast, or south towards all those
transmitters would pull in something, but gain is very weak. However, if I
point it northwest, at about 45 degrees up the hill behind me, I can
actually pull in a few decent stations. Aiming the antenna in the opposite
direction of the stations just seems contrary to logic. I understand that
ground waves travel parallel to the earth, but could the signals be
bouncing
off the hillside too, acting like a huge reflector?

The thing that really gets me is that I can get excellent reception on all
stations in my car sitting in the driveway, and driving around. Therefore,
I'm thinking of dumping the yagi and trying to find or build a vertically
polarized omni antenna. My car antenna does happen to be mounted at about
45
degrees. Any ideas on what might be going on, and how I might improve my
reception? Any antenna designs and dimensions would be helpful. I guess
worst case scenario is I can go down to the auto parts store, by a car
antenna, and put it on my roof.

Please help. Many thanks!

-Bob

I have had some experience with rooftop antennas when I lived in Troy, NY.
During the early 1970's there were not too many local FM broadcast stations
in the area. When I put up the antenna, I was receiving signals on a regular
basis up to 125 miles, and sporadically up to 200 miles. As the number of
local stations increased, my ability to receive distant signals decreased.
This was both from the fewer number of channels unoccupied by local
stations, and the tendency of strong signals to desensitize my receiver. I
used a rather lengthy Channel Master Yagi FM antenna, which I don't think is
still on the market.

Perhaps you are in an area with strong local FM signals. You should try to
drive around and see where you can pick up distant signals from your car. As
an example, the Poughkeepsie / Kingston, NY metropolitarian area has only
one or two UHF TV stations, but many local FM radio stations. Most residents
rely on cable TV for stations from New York City or Albany, NY.