Just moved into my new (to me) house and set up my stereo. I am behind a hill (Mt Tabor for you PDX folks) and as I expected, the FM reception is poor. I have to set the “mono” switch on to avoid static and reception drifting in and out. I am using a passive, plastic loop antenna that I had. I had similar problems in my old house (also behind a hill) and tried one of those Terk powered indoor antennas. That didn’t help much.
I am considering putting an external antenna on my chimney, but am not sure if it will help. I do notice that if I hold the antenna, or even get closer to it, reception gets better.
So, any advice on what sort of (hopefully inexpensive) antenna I should get? Can I get one that will allow me to receive digital radio in the future as well?
An external antenna can work better because it can be higher, because fewer conductive and partially conductive materials absorb or reflect radio waves coming at it, and perhaps because you can aim it carefully rather than having to let your walls or the footballs your kids throw in the livingroom decide its aim.
The FM broadcast band covers a narrow enough range of frequencies that it can be somewhat resonant, especially if it’s designed well. I think there are short Yagi or else logperiodic designs that work great for FM. An FM-only antenna can work much better than a TV antenna, which is compromised to work for a wider range of frequencies. If you are trying to get weak signals, you want an antenna that has a central horizontal tube or pipe (it’s just for support) and a bunch of horizontal tubes that all cross it, so it looks kind of like two combs back to back with very coarse teeth. You don’t want the kind with two long flat ovals at right angles, or one single long oval then bent into an S shape. These are for getting fairly strong FM signals from all different directions. Also, if you live in one direction from all the transmitters, you can just aim the antenna at it (the central tube should point at it, with the shorter crosspieces at the transmitter end). If there are weak signals available in different directions, you should get a rotator too.