Sheellah wrote:

I'm trying to get the Coast to Coast show, but because I'm in a highrise
surrounded by concrete, I get no AM reception. I just get static and a hum. Can
an antenna be hooked up to the radio that would end outside my window to pick
up the signal? There is also a building on one side, but it is clear for quite
a bit outside my window. Can anyone please help? Please also e-mail, if kind
enough to respond. Thanks!

There's two effects to be overcome.

1. Your radio is not sensitive enough, in which case it can be fixed by a MW loop
(Select-a-tenna or Terk MW loop are the two easily obtainable; get the passive
(cheap) versions, not the active ones; the cheap ones run $40-$60, a huge profit
margin but worth it after you consider doing it yourself having to scrounge
materials and pack it neatly.)

A MW loop impedance matches the radio's internal loop antenna to free space
and raises the sensitivity of most radios enough so that external noise is
louder than internal noise, which is to say no radio will be more sensitive.
All will hear the same noise no matter how much more sensitive they're made,
at that point.

That may be enough to hear your station.

2. Which brings up the second effect, you're surrounded by noise-making devices
like dimmers, in which case you'll only hear them more clearly rather than the
station you want. Other than aiming the radio (and MW loop if you got one) so
as to minimize that noise, and aiming matters a great deal so try it, there's
nothing you can do short of moving the radio or its antenna, if the radio allows
you to attach an external antenna, or if you arrange an external antenna anyway,
which is possible but not described here.

A final alternative is a local FM transmitter: put AM radio and FM transmitter
near a window, and play the AM radio into the FM transmitter. Listen to the FM
transmitter inside the building. CCrane sells them, probably among others.
--
Ron Hardin


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.