Indoor AM Radio Extension
 

My radio is in the middle of a building out in the country and I can't
seem to pick up am radio. To solve this problem I tried using speaker
wire to extend it approximately 25 feet to the window in the office
next door reconnecting it to the loop antenna that came with the radio.
I had no luck. Is speaker wire an effective way to extend an AM
antenna? If so what would be the best way to get better results. I
thought maybe tinning the end of the speaker cable that goes into the
radio , as well as soldering the speaker wire directly to the am
antenna instead of just wrapping it might help. Any suggestions are
appreciated.

ECJ

ECJ:

Wind ~10 turns of ~22 gauge wire on an old ferrite loopstick rod, use mini
coax connected to this loopstick over to a window, if the window frame is
at gnd potential, hook the braid of the coax to it (if not, look for a
close gnd), take the center coax lead out, around, through the window and
to a random length wire. (once I was in the middle of an office floor in
a cubical, popped the coax up to ceiling tile, then across the top of the
tile to the window.

Now it is only necessary to move the ferrite rod and coil (you can wrap it
with electrical tape to make it secure) around the am radio case to find
the internal ferrite loopstick which the one you constructed will now
couple to, just tune in a weak station and move it around, you will know
when you find it and have it orientated in the correct direction, tape it
in place and you are good to go!

.... adapt the above as necessary...

John

On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 18:44:32 -0700, ECJ wrote:

My radio is in the middle of a building out in the country and I can't
seem to pick up am radio. To solve this problem I tried using speaker
wire to extend it approximately 25 feet to the window in the office
next door reconnecting it to the loop antenna that came with the radio.
I had no luck. Is speaker wire an effective way to extend an AM
antenna? If so what would be the best way to get better results. I
thought maybe tinning the end of the speaker cable that goes into the
radio , as well as soldering the speaker wire directly to the am
antenna instead of just wrapping it might help. Any suggestions are
appreciated.

ECJ

ECJ wrote:
My radio is in the middle of a building out in the country and I can't
seem to pick up am radio. To solve this problem I tried using speaker
wire to extend it approximately 25 feet to the window in the office
next door reconnecting it to the loop antenna that came with the radio.
I had no luck. Is speaker wire an effective way to extend an AM
antenna? If so what would be the best way to get better results. I
thought maybe tinning the end of the speaker cable that goes into the
radio , as well as soldering the speaker wire directly to the am
antenna instead of just wrapping it might help. Any suggestions are
appreciated.

This might work for you:

http://www.ccrane.com/antennas/am-an...a-model-m.aspx
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp


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"ECJ" wrote in message
oups.com...
My radio is in the middle of a building out in the country and I can't
seem to pick up am radio. To solve this problem I tried using speaker
wire to extend it approximately 25 feet to the window in the office
next door reconnecting it to the loop antenna that came with the radio.
I had no luck. Is speaker wire an effective way to extend an AM
antenna? If so what would be the best way to get better results. I
thought maybe tinning the end of the speaker cable that goes into the
radio , as well as soldering the speaker wire directly to the am
antenna instead of just wrapping it might help. Any suggestions are
appreciated.

ECJ


ECJ

The 25 feet of speaker wire has become a capacitor across the loop that
you re-located. That detunes the loop and produces a low impedance shunt
across the front end of the receiver.
If you are interested in one particular station, it is practical to
build/buy a tuned loop AM antenna. Google will guide you to a few
practical designs of AM loop antennas.

Jerry