One of the only things that makes getting up at 5:30 am tolerable is listening to NPR while I get dressed. I live way out in the country pretty far from my NPR station and at that hour in my bathroom the signal is weak.
The radio in my bathroom is a combo radio-cd player with a short antenna. I got it at Target or something. When I hold onto the antenna, the station comes in okay, but then I couldn’t very well shower and get dressed, could I?
How can I improve reception of this station? Right next to the NPR station is a very strong religious station that comes in very clear, and sometimes I tune to it for a while, thinking I’m on NPR until I hear some statement that I know is just wrong…
Do I need a new radio? What kind? An antenna?
I know this question is low-tech… but think of it as a quality-of-life issue. Thanks.
Do you have a roof-mounted TV antenna? If so, you can get a splitter that will let you attach you antenna to it.
You can try attaching a wire to the antenna you do have and leave the end of the wire near a window.
often the single wire FM antennas can be poor functioning. orientation in all three directions is important. you might even have to relocate the radio to allow the antenna to extend (hanging, moving, curled may all make it function poorly) the right direction. test slowly moving the antenna in all directions.
strong adjacent stations can cause problems. sometimes stations will operate illegally (too high power) to interfere with adjacent frequencies (even two frequency spaces over).
i have a Sansa mp3 player/radio that sometimes receives better (uses the headphone cord as the antenna) than a table radio. you could maybe run that into amplified speakers used for computers.
Satellite radio is always an option. XM/Sirius carries NPR.
Can you unplug the built-in antenna and use a new antenna instead?
How far away is your NPR station, and how close is the religious station? Cheap radios usually aren’t particularly selective and a strong station will overpower a weak one.
If you can choose between FM stereo and FM mono, try the mono setting.
barbitu8’s wire idea is the quick and dirty solution, and along with setting your radio to the mono setting, the cheapest. I’d try those first.
Do you have broadband Internet access in your house? If so, you could get a Squeezebox Radio for less than $150 and pick any of a zillion Internet stations, including NPR stations.
On the Squeezebox, go to: Internet Radio => Talk => Public/NPR
Then pick from one of the options (Local Stations, Shows, Stations, Explore Public/NPR)
I see 4 local stations (NJ Public Radio, WHYY HD2, WHYY-FM, WWFM)
I also see the different NPR shows categorized (e.g. All Things Considered and Car Talk)
The “all stations” list seems to have dozens of NPR stations.
I have three Squeezeboxes in my house: one for my home office, one by the bed as my alarm clock, and one for my wife, wherever she wants her music.
I usually am tuned to Pandora.
Thanks for the ideas. I’ll try moving the radio, attaching a wire, and the mono setting. No broadband internet access at home. I connect my laptop with an aircard.
I went to Sears yesterday and found the most amazing thing.
It’s a radio that’s just a radio. $24.99. No clock, no cd player, no remote control. You can’t stick your iPod into it. It’s black and small and it just sits there. It has a very long antenna. I put it in my bathroom next to the window, and my local NPR station comes in loud and clear at 5:30 am. My world makes sense again.
It’s the little things… 