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Car radio FM aerials



 
 
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  #1 (permalink)  
Old February 11th 18, 07:18 PM posted to uk.rec.audio
Andrew[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 28
Default Car radio FM aerials

How do these work if only a 6 inch stub sticks out of the roof ?

To get a decent FM signal indoors I need a dipole of some sort
that is about 59 inches long, plus reflector and director.

I ask this because I am getting interference on 88.50 Mhz
from Rowridge, but not all the time. Earlier today it
was bad, but the other BBC FM stations were not affected.

When I drove into town, FM R2 on my car radio was fine,
but I don't know what transmitter it is picking up. No
interference at all. Strange.

I am midway between IOW and Wrotham.
  #2 (permalink)  
Old February 11th 18, 07:59 PM posted to uk.rec.audio
Don Pearce[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,358
Default Car radio FM aerials

On Sun, 11 Feb 2018 20:18:56 +0000, Andrew
wrote:

How do these work if only a 6 inch stub sticks out of the roof ?

To get a decent FM signal indoors I need a dipole of some sort
that is about 59 inches long, plus reflector and director.

I ask this because I am getting interference on 88.50 Mhz
from Rowridge, but not all the time. Earlier today it
was bad, but the other BBC FM stations were not affected.

When I drove into town, FM R2 on my car radio was fine,
but I don't know what transmitter it is picking up. No
interference at all. Strange.

I am midway between IOW and Wrotham.


Poorly is how they perform. Much better to have a telescopic antenna
that rises to about a quarter wave (75 cm). If you live in a poor
signal area with interfering transmitters coming in, a directional
antenna is the only answer, and you can't have that on a car.

How about DAB? That works 100% better than FM in a car.

d

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

  #3 (permalink)  
Old February 11th 18, 11:28 PM posted to uk.rec.audio
Dave Plowman (News)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,872
Default Car radio FM aerials

In article ,
Don Pearce wrote:
Poorly is how they perform. Much better to have a telescopic antenna
that rises to about a quarter wave (75 cm). If you live in a poor
signal area with interfering transmitters coming in, a directional
antenna is the only answer, and you can't have that on a car.


Not my experience. I replaced a wing mounted telescopic with a 'bee sting'
active type mounted on the rear of the roof - so longer feeders too. On
the same radio, it works slightly better than the telescopic. My guess
because the roof one has a decent ground plane.

How about DAB? That works 100% better than FM in a car.


That is my experience - but with a decent aerial too. Those windscreen
mount ones aftermarket ones being rubbish.

DAB round London is simply miles better reception wise than FM.

--
*Indian Driver - Smoke signals only*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.
  #4 (permalink)  
Old February 12th 18, 08:42 AM posted to uk.rec.audio
Brian Gaff
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 637
Default Car radio FM aerials

Really? Um in good signal areas it does but near to big buildings and hills
I notice that they tend to descend into boiling mud mode then switch to
another station.
With fm its the his and multipath distortion and weird whistles and
burbles that go up and down, often going back to mono gradually or abruptly
depending one supposes on the receiver design.

I ride in a lot of private hire cars and notice such things.
Very few have traditional aerials, many have the rubber duck and some
still use window heater aerials.
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 11 Feb 2018 20:18:56 +0000, Andrew
wrote:

How do these work if only a 6 inch stub sticks out of the roof ?

To get a decent FM signal indoors I need a dipole of some sort
that is about 59 inches long, plus reflector and director.

I ask this because I am getting interference on 88.50 Mhz
from Rowridge, but not all the time. Earlier today it
was bad, but the other BBC FM stations were not affected.

When I drove into town, FM R2 on my car radio was fine,
but I don't know what transmitter it is picking up. No
interference at all. Strange.

I am midway between IOW and Wrotham.


Poorly is how they perform. Much better to have a telescopic antenna
that rises to about a quarter wave (75 cm). If you live in a poor
signal area with interfering transmitters coming in, a directional
antenna is the only answer, and you can't have that on a car.

How about DAB? That works 100% better than FM in a car.

d

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus



  #5 (permalink)  
Old February 12th 18, 12:19 PM posted to uk.rec.audio
Dave Plowman (News)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,872
Default Car radio FM aerials

In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
Really? Um in good signal areas it does but near to big buildings and
hills I notice that they tend to descend into boiling mud mode then
switch to another station.


If you drive round a town with large high buildings deeply packed
together, and the FM transmitter some way off, you first get it switching
to mono then the signal fading. Centre of London ideal for this. DAB is
for some reason rock solid. On the stations I've listened to while trying
this.

With fm its the his and multipath distortion and weird whistles and
burbles that go up and down, often going back to mono gradually or abruptly
depending one supposes on the receiver design.


I ride in a lot of private hire cars and notice such things.
Very few have traditional aerials, many have the rubber duck and some
still use window heater aerials.


Given how much my aftermarket DAB aerial cost, I'm not sure a car maker
would pay that much. Aerials built into the screen are more a design thing
than the best performing.

--
*A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.
  #6 (permalink)  
Old February 12th 18, 03:52 PM posted to uk.rec.audio
Andrew[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 28
Default Car radio FM aerials

On 11/02/2018 20:59, Don Pearce wrote:
On Sun, 11 Feb 2018 20:18:56 +0000, Andrew
wrote:

How do these work if only a 6 inch stub sticks out of the roof ?

To get a decent FM signal indoors I need a dipole of some sort
that is about 59 inches long, plus reflector and director.

I ask this because I am getting interference on 88.50 Mhz
from Rowridge, but not all the time. Earlier today it
was bad, but the other BBC FM stations were not affected.

When I drove into town, FM R2 on my car radio was fine,
but I don't know what transmitter it is picking up. No
interference at all. Strange.

I am midway between IOW and Wrotham.


Poorly is how they perform. Much better to have a telescopic antenna
that rises to about a quarter wave (75 cm). If you live in a poor
signal area with interfering transmitters coming in, a directional
antenna is the only answer, and you can't have that on a car.

How about DAB? That works 100% better than FM in a car.

d

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus


DAB is rubbish where I live, and I only want to find out why
88.50 (R2) from the IOW is regularly plagued with much more
hissing than usual, plus a buzzing and faint crackling too.
(But R1,3 and 4 were not afflicted the same way). It's
indoors FM reception that am interested in. I have a 3-element
fm aerial in the loft pointing at the IOW.

Awful yesterday, but today it is fine. It was only when I
went out at 2PM to check out Currys instant sale that I
noticed that my car radio picked up R2 FM without any
interference at all.


  #7 (permalink)  
Old February 12th 18, 04:56 PM posted to uk.rec.audio
Graeme Wall
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 151
Default Car radio FM aerials

On 12/02/2018 16:52, Andrew wrote:
On 11/02/2018 20:59, Don Pearce wrote:
On Sun, 11 Feb 2018 20:18:56 +0000, Andrew
wrote:

How do these work if only a 6 inch stub sticks out of the roof ?

To get a decent FM signal indoors I need a dipole of some sort
that is about 59 inches long, plus reflector and director.

I ask this because I am getting interference on 88.50 Mhz
from Rowridge, but not all the time. Earlier today it
was bad, but the other BBC FM stations were not affected.

When I drove into town, FM R2 on my car radio was fine,
but I don't know what transmitter it is picking up. No
interference at all. Strange.

I am midway between IOW and Wrotham.


Poorly is how they perform. Much better to have a telescopic antenna
that rises to about a quarter wave (75 cm). If you live in a poor
signal area with interfering transmitters coming in, a directional
antenna is the only answer, and you can't have that on a car.

How about DAB? That works 100% better than FM in a car.

d

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus


DAB is rubbish where I live, and I only want to find out why
88.50 (R2) from the IOW is regularly plagued with much more
hissing than usual, plus a buzzing and faint crackling too.
(But R1,3 and 4 were not afflicted the same way). It's
indoors FM reception that am interested in. I have a 3-element
fm aerial in the loft pointing at the IOW.

Awful yesterday, but today it is fine. It was only when I
went out at 2PM to check out Currys instant sale that I
noticed that my car radio picked up R2 FM without any
interference at all.



Somebody local with a badly suppressed piece of equipment?

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read.

  #8 (permalink)  
Old February 12th 18, 06:12 PM posted to uk.rec.audio
Andrew[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 28
Default Car radio FM aerials

On 12/02/2018 17:56, Graeme Wall wrote:
On 12/02/2018 16:52, Andrew wrote:
On 11/02/2018 20:59, Don Pearce wrote:
On Sun, 11 Feb 2018 20:18:56 +0000, Andrew
wrote:

How do these work if only a 6 inch stub sticks out of the roof ?

To get a decent FM signal indoors I need a dipole of some sort
that is about 59 inches long, plus reflector and director.

I ask this because I am getting interference on 88.50 Mhz
from Rowridge, but not all the time. Earlier today it
was bad, but the other BBC FM stations were not affected.

When I drove into town, FM R2 on my car radio was fine,
but I don't know what transmitter it is picking up. No
interference at all. Strange.

I am midway between IOW and Wrotham.

Poorly is how they perform. Much better to have a telescopic antenna
that rises to about a quarter wave (75 cm). If you live in a poor
signal area with interfering transmitters coming in, a directional
antenna is the only answer, and you can't have that on a car.

How about DAB? That works 100% better than FM in a car.

d

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus


DAB is rubbish where I live, and I only want to find out why
88.50 (R2) from the IOW is regularly plagued with much more
hissing than usual, plus a buzzing and faint crackling too.
(But R1,3 and 4 were not afflicted the same way). It's
indoors FM reception that am interested in. I have a 3-element
fm aerial in the loft pointing at the IOW.

Awful yesterday, but today it is fine. It was only when I
went out at 2PM to check out Currys instant sale that I
noticed that my car radio picked up R2 FM without any
interference at all.



Somebody local with a badly suppressed piece of equipment?


except that it clobbers 88.50 Mhz, but not the other three
BBC FM channels from the same xmitter.

Aha :-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/engineeringnews/item5

http://www.bbc.co.uk/receptionsearch

However, by entering "reception problems" into the search
box on the BBC homepage, you don't get any link to this
at all !!. had to use Mr Google to find it.
  #9 (permalink)  
Old February 12th 18, 06:14 PM posted to uk.rec.audio
Graeme Wall
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 151
Default Car radio FM aerials

On 12/02/2018 19:12, Andrew wrote:
On 12/02/2018 17:56, Graeme Wall wrote:
On 12/02/2018 16:52, Andrew wrote:
On 11/02/2018 20:59, Don Pearce wrote:
On Sun, 11 Feb 2018 20:18:56 +0000, Andrew
wrote:

How do these work if only a 6 inch stub sticks out of the roof ?

To get a decent FM signal indoors I need a dipole of some sort
that is about 59 inches long, plus reflector and director.

I ask this because I am getting interference on 88.50 Mhz
from Rowridge, but not all the time. Earlier today it
was bad, but the other BBC FM stations were not affected.

When I drove into town, FM R2 on my car radio was fine,
but I don't know what transmitter it is picking up. No
interference at all. Strange.

I am midway between IOW and Wrotham.

Poorly is how they perform. Much better to have a telescopic antenna
that rises to about a quarter wave (75 cm). If you live in a poor
signal area with interfering transmitters coming in, a directional
antenna is the only answer, and you can't have that on a car.

How about DAB? That works 100% better than FM in a car.

d

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus


DAB is rubbish where I live, and I only want to find out why
88.50 (R2) from the IOW is regularly plagued with much more
hissing than usual, plus a buzzing and faint crackling too.
(But R1,3 and 4 were not afflicted the same way). It's
indoors FM reception that am interested in. I have a 3-element
fm aerial in the loft pointing at the IOW.

Awful yesterday, but today it is fine. It was only when I
went out at 2PM to check out Currys instant sale that I
noticed that my car radio picked up R2 FM without any
interference at all.



Somebody local with a badly suppressed piece of equipment?


except that it clobbers 88.50 Mhz, but not the other three
BBC FM channels from the same xmitter.

Aha :-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/engineeringnews/item5

http://www.bbc.co.uk/receptionsearch

However, by entering "reception problems" into the search
box on the BBC homepage, you don't get any link to this
at all !!.Â* had to use Mr Google to find it.


That doesn't surprise me.

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read.

  #10 (permalink)  
Old February 12th 18, 11:37 PM posted to uk.rec.audio
Phil Allison[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 312
Default Car radio FM aerials

Graeme Wall

-----------


DAB is rubbish where I live, and I only want to find out why
88.50 (R2) from the IOW is regularly plagued with much more
hissing than usual, plus a buzzing and faint crackling too.
(But R1,3 and 4 were not afflicted the same way). It's
indoors FM reception that am interested in. I have a 3-element
fm aerial in the loft pointing at the IOW.

Awful yesterday, but today it is fine. It was only when I
went out at 2PM to check out Currys instant sale that I
noticed that my car radio picked up R2 FM without any
interference at all.



Somebody local with a badly suppressed piece of equipment?


** Very handy to have a portable AM/FM radio to use track down such local sources.

Assuming the portable picks up the same noises inside the OP's house, walking away from the house in different directions should indicate the direction of the interference.

The description fits noise typically made by High Voltage power insulators that are suffering corona when the air is humid or misting.

If the portable or car radio does NOT pick up the same noises when tuned to 88.5 MHz, then things get interesting.


..... Phil


 




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