Always thought the reason car radios did so well is that they were able
to use the car itself as some sort of antanna. Likely won't be rolling
a jalopy into the office to listen... ;^)

That said, I have seen your recommendation around a bit, you just
(apparently) have to add an antenna.

This sorta brings me back to one of my initial questions -- Would an AM
antanna make most any radio, from car radio to $5 cheapie to Model One
to whatever make a good set-up?

And I haven't heard much about FM... Is the Model One as good as I
read about getting rid of FM interference?

Thanks for all the answers. Looks like a more complicated field than
I'd hoped.

Some of those older model car radios are very good long distance AM
radios.Just add an adapter to use them on regular house current and they
work ok.It sort of helps to make a little wooden box to mount them in
for looks.
cuhulin

Frightening the yaks, just had to say:

Always thought the reason car radios did so well is that they were able
to use the car itself as some sort of antanna. Likely won't be rolling
a jalopy into the office to listen... ;^)

Well, not so much the antenna, but the sheet metal works as a
ground plane.

Way back in the day, there'd be any number of articles and
associated charts showing power lobes for CB antennas regarding
the different places you could mount them on your car.
Generally, the more sheet steel the antenna sees in a certain
direction, the bigger the lobe in that direction.

Car radios have to be robustly designed to withstand heat
variation, humidity variation, voltage variation and a dusty,
vibrating environment. So, generally, a bit better than
something you'd pick up at K-Mart for $8.99.

Back when I was in college, my main entertainment center was a
Pioneer Supertuner with casette player, a 10 amp, 12 volt power
supply and some Jensen 6x9 speakers. That was in 80 or so when I
set that up. I still use it in my garage now. Radio is still
great, the casette player is worn out and I'm not interested
enough to fix it.



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To reply, DO NOT remove spam from the return address!

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= = = Lars Janqqvist wrote in message
= = = . ..
Frightening the yaks, just had to say:

Always thought the reason car radios did so well is that they were able
to use the car itself as some sort of antanna. Likely won't be rolling
a jalopy into the office to listen... ;^)

Well, not so much the antenna, but the sheet metal works as a
ground plane.


LJ,

IMHO: The 'common' Auto-Trunk Radio is a $200-$300 Radio with a
$10-$20 Antenna and a $15,000-$60,000 Mobile Ground Plan System )

~ RHF
..
..
Way back in the day, there'd be any number of articles and
associated charts showing power lobes for CB antennas regarding
the different places you could mount them on your car.
Generally, the more sheet steel the antenna sees in a certain
direction, the bigger the lobe in that direction.

Car radios have to be robustly designed to withstand heat
variation, humidity variation, voltage variation and a dusty,
vibrating environment. So, generally, a bit better than
something you'd pick up at K-Mart for $8.99.

Back when I was in college, my main entertainment center was a
Pioneer Supertuner with casette player, a 10 amp, 12 volt power
supply and some Jensen 6x9 speakers. That was in 80 or so when I
set that up. I still use it in my garage now. Radio is still
great, the casette player is worn out and I'm not interested
enough to fix it.
..

In article .com,
wrote:
Always thought the reason car radios did so well is that they were able
to use the car itself as some sort of antanna. Likely won't be rolling
a jalopy into the office to listen... ;^)

Got a metal filing cabinet?

That said, I have seen your recommendation around a bit, you just
(apparently) have to add an antenna.

Basically, the radio has a built in active antenna circuit designed for
a high impedance short rod. Something similar to the car antenna would
be best. A length of the right coax to a 3-4 foot rod mounted verticaly
outside on a gutter? I think older radios used a special low capacitance
coax, not the 50 or 75 ohm stuff.

Mark Zenier Washington State resident

The co-ax must be very high impedance. AM car radio co-ax has a very
thin inner conductor. It is nothing like RG58 or 59.

The aforementioned MFJ-1024 is a car radio antenna with an impedance
convertor that can easily drive 100' of RG-58.

On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 18:08:35 GMT, (Mark Zenier)
wrote:

In article .com,
wrote:
Always thought the reason car radios did so well is that they were able
to use the car itself as some sort of antanna. Likely won't be rolling
a jalopy into the office to listen... ;^)

Got a metal filing cabinet?

That said, I have seen your recommendation around a bit, you just
(apparently) have to add an antenna.

Basically, the radio has a built in active antenna circuit designed for
a high impedance short rod. Something similar to the car antenna would
be best. A length of the right coax to a 3-4 foot rod mounted verticaly
outside on a gutter? I think older radios used a special low capacitance
coax, not the 50 or 75 ohm stuff.

Mark Zenier Washington State resident