Hi everyone,

I am new here, so please excuse my ignorance about antennas, or if I am in
the wrong ng. I could not find any help getting the answer to my question
by googling.

I have a cheap boom box radio that I recently bought at Walmart and it plays
great music, and cd's, and cassettes. Unfortunately it will not play my
favorite FM oldies station (97.5 MHz) either in my workshop, or my house (it
plays several other stations fine). My other boom box will play the station
(and its 20 years old), and they are both of relatively equal value (the
older one is a brand name - Panasonic). If anything, I would think the new
one should have 20 year newer technology in it, and it should play at least
as good - dunno.

They both have a telescopic whip antenna (I hope that is the right
terminology), and the new one will not play the station I want by either
rotating the antenna, or moving the radio to different positions. I have
tried everything. The only way it will play the station I want, is to put
my hand on the antenna (or even around the antenna - ie I don't even have to
touch it - interesting - I guess my body makes a real good antenna - I have
always wondered about this phenomena). I tried touching it with other
metallic devices (eg, wire, coat hanger etc), and it has no effect. The
only way it will play the station is by getting near the antenna with my
hand.

I see no way of mounting an FM antenna to the receiver (ie the antenna is
factory mounted to the back of the radio.

I have a couple of questions if you will allow me :

- Is there anything I can do to the existing telescopic whip antenna (such
as wrap it in aluminum foil or something else weird like that) that will
enable the radio to pick up the station I want. And also, please explain
why it plays the station I want when I put my hand on or around the antenna.

- I thought AM and FM antennas were different technologies (so to speak - eg
amplitude modulation versus frequency modulation). How come portable AM/FM
radios only have a single telescopic whip antenna (please excuse me if that
is the wrong terminology). Is the whip for FM, and the AM is inside the
radio, or it uses the cord (just a guess).

Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks...Pete

take it back to wallmart its a bummer nmb
I have a cheap boom box radio that I recently bought at Walmart and it
plays great music, and cd's, and cassettes. Unfortunately it will not
play my favorite FM oldies station (97.5 MHz) either in my workshop, or my
house (it plays several other stations fine). My other boom box will play
the station (and its 20 years old), and they are both of relatively equal
value (the older one is a brand name - Panasonic). If anything, I would
think the new one should have 20 year newer technology in it, and it
should play at least as good - dunno.

They both have a telescopic whip antenna (I hope that is the right
terminology), and the new one will not play the station I want by either
rotating the antenna, or moving the radio to different positions. I have
tried everything. The only way it will play the station I want, is to put
my hand on the antenna (or even around the antenna - ie I don't even have
to touch it - interesting - I guess my body makes a real good antenna - I
have always wondered about this phenomena). I tried touching it with
other metallic devices (eg, wire, coat hanger etc), and it has no effect.
The only way it will play the station is by getting near the antenna with
my hand.

I see no way of mounting an FM antenna to the receiver (ie the antenna is
factory mounted to the back of the radio.

I have a couple of questions if you will allow me :

- Is there anything I can do to the existing telescopic whip antenna
(such as wrap it in aluminum foil or something else weird like that) that
will enable the radio to pick up the station I want. And also, please
explain why it plays the station I want when I put my hand on or around
the antenna.

- I thought AM and FM antennas were different technologies (so to speak -
eg amplitude modulation versus frequency modulation). How come portable
AM/FM radios only have a single telescopic whip antenna (please excuse me
if that is the wrong terminology). Is the whip for FM, and the AM is
inside the radio, or it uses the cord (just a guess).

Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks...Pete

On Tue, 3 Apr 2007 19:07:47 -0400, "Pete" wrote:

- Is there anything I can do to the existing telescopic whip antenna (such
as wrap it in aluminum foil or something else weird like that) that will
enable the radio to pick up the station I want. And also, please explain
why it plays the station I want when I put my hand on or around the antenna.

Hi Pete,

Neil's terse comment of taking back may ulitmately prove beneficial.

On the other hand you can just string up a lot of wire (higher is
always better) and simply wrap one end around the telescoping antenna.
Insulated wire or not shouldn't matter.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Richard Clark wrote:
On Tue, 3 Apr 2007 19:07:47 -0400, "Pete" wrote:

- Is there anything I can do to the existing telescopic whip
antenna (such as wrap it in aluminum foil or something else weird
like that) that will enable the radio to pick up the station I want.
And also, please explain why it plays the station I want when I put
my hand on or around the antenna.

Hi Pete,

Neil's terse comment of taking back may ulitmately prove beneficial.

On the other hand you can just string up a lot of wire (higher is
always better) and simply wrap one end around the telescoping antenna.
Insulated wire or not shouldn't matter.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Thank you Richard...that is the kind of comment I was looking for (I took
Neil's with a grain of salt-there is absolutely nothing wrong with the
radio). I was trying to be polite in my post, but I am way smarter than
that.

I will try wrapping the wire around the antenna tomorrow and let you know
what happens (is it okay to use phone wire which has several individually
insulated wires in it). BTW could you please tell me why the reception
comes in when I put my hand around the antenna (ie what is my body doing to
the signal), and also answer my second question about one antenna for both
AM and FM. Thanks again...Pete

On Tue, 3 Apr 2007 23:06:19 -0400, "Pete" wrote:

Thank you Richard...that is the kind of comment I was looking for (I took
Neil's with a grain of salt-there is absolutely nothing wrong with the
radio). I was trying to be polite in my post, but I am way smarter than
that.

Hi Pete,

No, it is still advice to consider. Your new radio does have the
performance of a lemon in comparison to your old set.

I will try wrapping the wire around the antenna tomorrow and let you know
what happens (is it okay to use phone wire which has several individually
insulated wires in it). BTW could you please tell me why the reception
comes in when I put my hand around the antenna (ie what is my body doing to
the signal), and also answer my second question about one antenna for both
AM and FM. Thanks again...Pete

Yes, it is a mystery still....

Your body is a conductor, admittedly a very poor one, but the power
levels we are talking about, and the currents involved don't ask very
much. The wavelengths involved for FM are about your height. If we
shift to AM, you would have to be the Jolly Green Giant (hence hand
waving usually doesn't do much good). That you don't even have to
touch the antenna is also an indication in the small power necessary,
it is more about your height and proximity.

Multi wire, such as you have, will make little difference. However,
this is not to say that things won't remain marginal. You do have the
experience with another radio that works in the identical environment,
so that suggests some hope. There are "magic" lengths of wire, but
you can escape that discussion by crafting various different lengths
by bending, trimming, but still keeping things high (all of this is
predicated on putting the antenna into the sight of the transmitter).

The same antenna is NOT for both bands. The AM antenna is undoubtedly
the old stand by we call the loopstick. This is a long rod of ferrite
material with a coil or wrapping of wire - you've probably seen these
before. A car antenna certainly does double duty, but this is not
generally found in portable radios. This is because the car radio
sits inside a metal cage that demands an external sky hook.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Richard Clark wrote:
On Tue, 3 Apr 2007 23:06:19 -0400, "Pete" wrote:

Thank you Richard...that is the kind of comment I was looking for (I
took Neil's with a grain of salt-there is absolutely nothing wrong
with the radio). I was trying to be polite in my post, but I am way
smarter than that.

Hi Pete,

No, it is still advice to consider. Your new radio does have the
performance of a lemon in comparison to your old set.

Hi Richard...Make sure to read Michael Black's interesting info in this
thread. I definitely believe the radio (cheap as it may be) is doing
exactly what it is designed to do. I do not believe it is a lemon, and
there is no doubt in my mind the older Panasonic has better circuitry in it
(it is a better set and has a graphic equalizer also - the newer one doesn't
even have bass/treble controls but it sounds good), but they are roughly
comparable.

Actually, the old one probably costs quite a bit more (on a relative basis)
considering how cheap you can buy this stuff these days compared to the
price twenty years ago. Just for your info, I have an old Electrovoice
stereo receiver downstairs (with dials/knobs) and it still works fine after
36 years.

Also FYI, I have a new Sherwood stereo receiver upstairs (with the fm
antenna that came with it installed), and it also picks up the station I am
talking about weaker than the other stations, but I was able to tweak the
antenna and it comes in acceptable. It is interesting that the old
Panasonic boombox has no trouble. Sorry if I am going off on a tangent. I
have more comments below :-) ....Pete



I will try wrapping the wire around the antenna tomorrow and let you
know what happens (is it okay to use phone wire which has several
individually insulated wires in it). BTW could you please tell me
why the reception comes in when I put my hand around the antenna (ie
what is my body doing to the signal), and also answer my second
question about one antenna for both AM and FM. Thanks again...Pete

Yes, it is a mystery still....

Your body is a conductor, admittedly a very poor one, but the power
levels we are talking about, and the currents involved don't ask very
much. The wavelengths involved for FM are about your height. If we
shift to AM, you would have to be the Jolly Green Giant (hence hand
waving usually doesn't do much good). That you don't even have to
touch the antenna is also an indication in the small power necessary,
it is more about your height and proximity.

Multi wire, such as you have, will make little difference. However,
this is not to say that things won't remain marginal. You do have the
experience with another radio that works in the identical environment,
so that suggests some hope. There are "magic" lengths of wire, but
you can escape that discussion by crafting various different lengths
by bending, trimming, but still keeping things high (all of this is
predicated on putting the antenna into the sight of the transmitter).

The same antenna is NOT for both bands. The AM antenna is undoubtedly
the old stand by we call the loopstick. This is a long rod of ferrite
material with a coil or wrapping of wire - you've probably seen these
before. A car antenna certainly does double duty, but this is not
generally found in portable radios. This is because the car radio
sits inside a metal cage that demands an external sky hook.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Thanks again Richard for all the good info. I kind of knew about the
loopstick stuff but just wanted to make sure. You guys have been
great...Pete

Pete,

The real difference between antennas and receiving FM stations versus AM
stations has nothing to do with the modulation, but with the frequency on
which these signals are transmitted. For optimal reception, you need an
antenna that corresponds to the wavelength of the transmitted station. For
AM radios, that is usually a real long length of wire wrapped around a
magnetic rod within the radio. For FM, it is usually a telescoping whip
antenna.

If you find yourself with two radios that are similarly-equipped in terms of
antennas, but one gets your favorite stations while the other does not, then
the one that does not is either broken or has designed-in lousy sensitivity.

How can you compensate for lousy sensitivity? If the low-sensitivity radio
is _close_ to working (evidenced by its being able to hear your favorite
station by putting your hand near the antenna) then you may be able to
substitute a slighter better, directional antenna for the telescopic whip
and get the stations you want. A cheap-and-dirty experiment would be to
purchase a Radio Shack "Dipole FM Antenna [$3.00] and connect one lead to
the whip (fully collapsed) and the other lead to a nearby ground connection
in your workshop (center pin of a 3-prong electric outlet). Elevate the
antenna as high as possible, and stretch the "T" sections horizontally. The
best signal reception will be from the sides of the "T" -- so if you know
the location of your favorite station's transmitter, you can rotate the ends
of the T for best signal capture.

THEN AGAIN... you may just want to take it back to Wal-Mart for an exchange.
Experiment with the available radios by collapsing the whip antennas and
seeing which one gets the most stations and has the least "buzz" from the
store's fluorescent lights.

-larry
K8UT
"Pete" wrote in message
...
Hi everyone,

I am new here, so please excuse my ignorance about antennas, or if I am in
the wrong ng. I could not find any help getting the answer to my question
by googling.

I have a cheap boom box radio that I recently bought at Walmart and it
plays great music, and cd's, and cassettes. Unfortunately it will not
play my favorite FM oldies station (97.5 MHz) either in my workshop, or my
house (it plays several other stations fine). My other boom box will play
the station (and its 20 years old), and they are both of relatively equal
value (the older one is a brand name - Panasonic). If anything, I would
think the new one should have 20 year newer technology in it, and it
should play at least as good - dunno.

They both have a telescopic whip antenna (I hope that is the right
terminology), and the new one will not play the station I want by either
rotating the antenna, or moving the radio to different positions. I have
tried everything. The only way it will play the station I want, is to put
my hand on the antenna (or even around the antenna - ie I don't even have
to touch it - interesting - I guess my body makes a real good antenna - I
have always wondered about this phenomena). I tried touching it with
other metallic devices (eg, wire, coat hanger etc), and it has no effect.
The only way it will play the station is by getting near the antenna with
my hand.

I see no way of mounting an FM antenna to the receiver (ie the antenna is
factory mounted to the back of the radio.

I have a couple of questions if you will allow me :

- Is there anything I can do to the existing telescopic whip antenna
(such as wrap it in aluminum foil or something else weird like that) that
will enable the radio to pick up the station I want. And also, please
explain why it plays the station I want when I put my hand on or around
the antenna.

- I thought AM and FM antennas were different technologies (so to speak -
eg amplitude modulation versus frequency modulation). How come portable
AM/FM radios only have a single telescopic whip antenna (please excuse me
if that is the wrong terminology). Is the whip for FM, and the AM is
inside the radio, or it uses the cord (just a guess).

Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks...Pete

Thanks Larry...You top posted, so I will to. I really am a technical person
and know a little bit about this stuff, and there is no doubt that the
tuner/antenna circuitry in the older Panasonic is more sensitive (ie
better). I will try Richards comments and let you guys know what happens.
And if that doesn't help than maybe I will try your suggestion. Thanks for
taking the time to comment. Have you ever been to Walmarts. You are lucky
if you are able to plug anything in. Believe it or not I did plug the
display of the one I bought in. Most of them are all a mess and you can't
plug anything in :-) .

Pete

Larry Gauthier (K8UT) wrote:
Pete,

The real difference between antennas and receiving FM stations versus
AM stations has nothing to do with the modulation, but with the
frequency on which these signals are transmitted. For optimal
reception, you need an antenna that corresponds to the wavelength of
the transmitted station. For AM radios, that is usually a real long
length of wire wrapped around a magnetic rod within the radio. For
FM, it is usually a telescoping whip antenna.

If you find yourself with two radios that are similarly-equipped in
terms of antennas, but one gets your favorite stations while the
other does not, then the one that does not is either broken or has
designed-in lousy sensitivity.
How can you compensate for lousy sensitivity? If the low-sensitivity
radio is _close_ to working (evidenced by its being able to hear your
favorite station by putting your hand near the antenna) then you may
be able to substitute a slighter better, directional antenna for the
telescopic whip and get the stations you want. A cheap-and-dirty
experiment would be to purchase a Radio Shack "Dipole FM Antenna
[$3.00] and connect one lead to the whip (fully collapsed) and the
other lead to a nearby ground connection in your workshop (center pin
of a 3-prong electric outlet). Elevate the antenna as high as
possible, and stretch the "T" sections horizontally. The best signal
reception will be from the sides of the "T" -- so if you know the
location of your favorite station's transmitter, you can rotate the
ends of the T for best signal capture.
THEN AGAIN... you may just want to take it back to Wal-Mart for an
exchange. Experiment with the available radios by collapsing the whip
antennas and seeing which one gets the most stations and has the
least "buzz" from the store's fluorescent lights.

-larry
K8UT
"Pete" wrote in message
...
Hi everyone,

I am new here, so please excuse my ignorance about antennas, or if I
am in the wrong ng. I could not find any help getting the answer to
my question by googling.

I have a cheap boom box radio that I recently bought at Walmart and
it plays great music, and cd's, and cassettes. Unfortunately it
will not play my favorite FM oldies station (97.5 MHz) either in my
workshop, or my house (it plays several other stations fine). My
other boom box will play the station (and its 20 years old), and
they are both of relatively equal value (the older one is a brand
name - Panasonic). If anything, I would think the new one should
have 20 year newer technology in it, and it should play at least as
good - dunno. They both have a telescopic whip antenna (I hope that is
the right
terminology), and the new one will not play the station I want by
either rotating the antenna, or moving the radio to different
positions. I have tried everything. The only way it will play the
station I want, is to put my hand on the antenna (or even around the
antenna - ie I don't even have to touch it - interesting - I guess
my body makes a real good antenna - I have always wondered about
this phenomena). I tried touching it with other metallic devices
(eg, wire, coat hanger etc), and it has no effect. The only way it
will play the station is by getting near the antenna with my hand.

I see no way of mounting an FM antenna to the receiver (ie the
antenna is factory mounted to the back of the radio.

I have a couple of questions if you will allow me :

- Is there anything I can do to the existing telescopic whip antenna
(such as wrap it in aluminum foil or something else weird like that)
that will enable the radio to pick up the station I want. And also,
please explain why it plays the station I want when I put my hand on
or around the antenna.

- I thought AM and FM antennas were different technologies (so to
speak - eg amplitude modulation versus frequency modulation). How
come portable AM/FM radios only have a single telescopic whip
antenna (please excuse me if that is the wrong terminology). Is the
whip for FM, and the AM is inside the radio, or it uses the cord
(just a guess). Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks...Pete

"Larry Gauthier \" ) writes:

If you find yourself with two radios that are similarly-equipped in terms of
antennas, but one gets your favorite stations while the other does not, then
the one that does not is either broken or has designed-in lousy sensitivity.

Actually, it might be the reverse, depending on what exactly is happening.

I have a all in one stereo I got at a garage sale. It had lousy reception of
a non-local station that is always receivable here on other radios, even lousy
ones. I naturally thought the antenna was the problem. But I did something
and realized I likely was attenuating the signal, and the issue wasn't
"not enough antenna" but too much. I took off the whip antenna, and that
thing gets perfect reception on that non-local station, whereas before it
was noisy.

Clearly, the stereo was being overloaded by local signals, which impacted
on it's ability to receive the strong but comparatively weaker non-local
station. Removing the antenna attenuated the local station(s) enough that
the stereo didn't overload, but the non-local station was still strong
enough to be received fine.

Most consumer broadcast receivers are too sensitive if anything, because
they don't handle strong signals that well, yet the strong signals
overloading them make them useless for receiving distant signals. A
less sensitive receiver wouldn't be as good for distant reception, but
the local signals wouldn't mask those distant signals with overload.

I don't know if this is the case here, but it is worth looking into
since it's the last thing people generally expect. I notice when I
got a Grundig portable sw receiver at a rummage sale in September, the
manual specifically states to keep the whip antenna shorter when on
the FM broadcast band (the antenna being longer for the shortwave
bands), and having been prompted by the manual and experience, I do
notice that not so great reception on the FM band is improved when
I shorten the whip antenna.

Michael VE2BVW

Michael Black wrote:
"Larry Gauthier \" ) writes:

If you find yourself with two radios that are similarly-equipped in
terms of antennas, but one gets your favorite stations while the
other does not, then the one that does not is either broken or has
designed-in lousy sensitivity.

Actually, it might be the reverse, depending on what exactly is
happening.

I have a all in one stereo I got at a garage sale. It had lousy
reception of a non-local station that is always receivable here on
other radios, even lousy ones. I naturally thought the antenna was
the problem. But I did something and realized I likely was
attenuating the signal, and the issue wasn't "not enough antenna" but
too much. I took off the whip antenna, and that thing gets perfect
reception on that non-local station, whereas before it
was noisy.

Clearly, the stereo was being overloaded by local signals, which
impacted
on it's ability to receive the strong but comparatively weaker
non-local station. Removing the antenna attenuated the local
station(s) enough that the stereo didn't overload, but the non-local
station was still strong
enough to be received fine.

Most consumer broadcast receivers are too sensitive if anything,
because
they don't handle strong signals that well, yet the strong signals
overloading them make them useless for receiving distant signals. A
less sensitive receiver wouldn't be as good for distant reception, but
the local signals wouldn't mask those distant signals with overload.

I don't know if this is the case here, but it is worth looking into
since it's the last thing people generally expect. I notice when I
got a Grundig portable sw receiver at a rummage sale in September, the
manual specifically states to keep the whip antenna shorter when on
the FM broadcast band (the antenna being longer for the shortwave
bands), and having been prompted by the manual and experience, I do
notice that not so great reception on the FM band is improved when
I shorten the whip antenna.

Michael VE2BVW

Thanks a lot for the great info Michael...I love technical stuff, and I find
your comments very interesting. You guys have been very helpful. Thanks
again to all of you...Pete