Nifty Trick - AM Antenna Booster
 

I know next to nothing about radio, but I wanted to share something (you
guys probably already know about, but I was amazed).

I have a small Pogo pocket radio that will record AM and FM to MP3 files,
and the problem is that the AM antenna is weak. I started looking on the
internet for antenna boosters and enjoyed the antenna technology enough to
try and make my own booster that operates on the principle of a resonating
oscillator placed close to the Pogo ferrite antenna. This is just a tuning
circuit with an adjustable capacitor and induction coil. Well I tried to be
careful making the home-made coil and capacitor but I just did not get it
right. Nonetheless it started me thinking that I had the same circuit in an
old transistor radio. So I took the old radio (ferrite antenna) and tuned
it to the station I wanted and placed it head-to head against the Pogo
radio. The Pogo reception was boosted dramatically. So I do not need to
buy a $50 antenna booster - a cheap $10 second radio will do the same thing
quite well, and the second radio does not even have to be on.

Well, maybe this will give a few second hand radios a second life.

-DAC