Why does my radio get better reception when I hold the antenna?

Why does my radio get better reception when I hold onto the antenna (one of those skinny flexible copper-colored FM ones that came with my sterio)? It’s a pretty significant difference. Is my body acting as a bigger antenna somehow? The effect seems to work through clothing, since the antenna’s now on my leg so that I can type and still get good reception.

Yep, the human body makes a good antenna.

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You are a potato.:stuck_out_tongue:

This phenonmenon has been known for at least 80 years. From the 1922 Radio Boys Trailing a Voice: