House Radio

[lakngulf]

Why is it that an auto radio will pick up and play all kinds of stations crystal clear but the typical in home radio is nothing but static. I enjoy some early morning jokesters, music and sports talk on the radio while working at home, in the greenhouse, garden etc. But I do not have a radio that brings in a signal nearly as good as a car radio.

Anyone have a good alternative? What type radio do construction workers use on site? Those seem to work very well.

 

[davesl708]

My house radio picks up more than. my vehicle. You might have interference in your house blocking the signal.

 

[/pine]

Home | C. Crane

 

[teejk]

I had to extend wire out from my new house to get a decent FM reception (plain old cheap speaker wire). AM...forget it...every radio seems to have a different connection and I haven't figured out how to get a proper antenna AM wire yet. My metal shop makes things difficult but I do have a Milwaukee shop radio that will give a decent AM signal from a station about 75 miles away (on a good day). Your vehicle radio on the other hand is designed to handle weak signals and has a "loaded" antenna...might not be a bad idea to build a box with one of those and buy a cheap 120/12 converter...got me thinking now...

 

[teejk]

Home | C. Crane

book marked that for further reading...thanks!

 

[Wagtail]

It's because your entire vehicle acts as an antenna whereas your house, varying locations due to building materials, tends to block the wavelengths. Sort of like having to adjust the old rabbit ears of a TV to 'bring in' a particular station.

My house interior is nearly a 'cold spot' for mobile phone reception... except for one spot. So my mobile isn't so mobile inside.

My inside beside-the-bed clock-radio is a BOSE and to get the full, rich sound I have to have its antenna attached.

 

[Soundguy]

Agreed. Indoor radio, limited antenna size, RF blocked by building materials, and an em cage. ( house wiring all the walls )

Vs

Your car with external antenna.

Also.. Look at car radio cost vs portable radio cost. Car radio usually more watts and cost more.

I dont expect a 15$ desktop radio to perform lil a 300$ car radio.

 

[Alien]

I spent $130 recently on a radio for my wife that I hoped would have better reception than a $30 one. Nope, dudded again. The receivers in these things are second rate.

Bit like my Samsung phone. My HTC phone leaves it for dead with reception.

 

[lennyzx11]

book marked that for further reading...thanks!

I have one of Cranes. It won't stay on station. I've had it with me in the Rv out in different states so it's not my location. You set it and it will drift away causing you to go back and retune.
Kinda disappointed in it for the price.

 

[k0ua]

My Icom 756 PROiii with my OCFD outside wire antenna works very well on the AM broadcast band, (and many other bands)

But seriously you cannot compare most simple AM tabletop radio's with a 3 inch ferrite loopstick antenna to the much more expensive and much better engineered mobile radios with tuned RF stages and an external antenna. Just like you cannot compare a car radio to my Icom 756 PROiii .

If you are serious about AM band long distance reception, you could get one of the many old fine Shortwave radios produced in the last 50 years and put up a good outside wire antenna. I am speaking about old Hammarlund, Hallicrafters and National receivers.

 

[k0ua]

Here is an example of one such of these old tube type recievers. There are many more

 

[Qapla]

BTW - a simple answer to part of your question, on most job sites I have worked on, the guys use a Milwaukee, DeWalt or Rigid job radio, most of these also double as a cordless battery charger.

Most home radios will get FM decently but many need some sort of external antenna to receive AM. Often, they will need a di-pole antenna.

 

[newbury]

I'm seriously thinking of getting a portable satellite radio like a stratus 7 with docks for my tractors, truck, cars, workshops, homes. Thus one subscription covers all the places. And I've about 8 dock kits I'll need

My understanding is that it should then be a simple procedure to carry the radio around. And SWMBO wants the sat radio capability to remain in our Jetta for our 14 hour trips.

 

[rjok]

We have a c crane cc radio. It has a digital tuner. It was given to me to use while driving. It now resides in the garage for my listening pleasure. All tho it's about 15 years old it still works great. I was listening to AM while driving between Columbus and northern Ohio and listening to stations in Pittsburgh and Boston. Rick

 

[Al 2]

I finally went with Satellite radio . It's $17.00 a month here. I have a fixed antenna on the side if my shop and another one for the car/truck as needed. Don't use it in the house. I suggest getting an extended warranty if buying a new radio as the small antenna wires are easily broken and will be replaced at no charge on warranty. If you have another old broken antenna or know someone that does it may be possible to get another one by returning that one for warranty and use as I did in a fixed location or just buy a second one. Also a number of years ago Satellite radio was available for a lifetime for a one time fee. If you happened to know someone who had this plan and is not really using it often it might be another option.
Al

 

[Xfaxman]

If you have a good AM radio get or build a loop antenna and set it close to the radio. You will have to find the best orientation for it to work.

AM Loop Pictures

This is the one that I use, it is 9 inches in diameter:

 

[EarPlug]

I have all but given up on radios in the house due to poor reception. I now use http://www.iheart.com/ Check out the Live Radio tab

 

[k0ua]

As noise pollution continues to rise, and it is rising at an ever increasing rate with the inception of the switching power supply and the decline of FCC oversight on the importation of these devices, we can expect to have less and less good reception on all frequencies. Almost all "wall warts" for all of our electronic devices are switching power supplies now instead of the older transformer-linear based power supplies of the past.

Not that switching power supplies cannot be made "clean" because they can be cleaned up with the addition of suppression devices and techniques. But we demand cheap not good, and definitely not clean. And most people do not care about RF noise pollution. They cannot see it, and since so many get their entertainment is from internet or microwave satellite feeds it does not effect them. Listening to the medium wave AM broadcast band or Short Wave bands is not very popular any more.

 

[flyerdan]

If you have a phone jack near where the radio is, try running a phone line under the radio, whether you have service or not. You can use the telephone network as an external antenna that the ferrite bar will pick up from the coiled cord.
I have one of those FM rebroadcasters that plug into the headphone jack on the computer speakers and sends it to any vacant frequency that you choose (87.7 for me). Since most radio stations now offer streaming, that's a good way to get it without fading, or other interference. Plus you can also send any audio the computer can access, like albums or podcasts.

 

[joefromga]

Who listens to terrestrial radio anymore? You must love commercials because that's all they play. Do you keep it next to your Telegraph transmitter?

The Internet with something like Pandora radio is the way to go. . Also, most satellite boxes have the Pandora app or some other on them.

Use it anywhere from phone, in car, garage, house.

Bluetooth or wireless speakers all over and no commercials!

Why do people put up with commercials?