Best DIY FM Radio Antenna? - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums

Threeshot · 2010-01-11, 10:13 PM

I'm wondering if anyone has advice on what would be the best DIY FM only antenna for radio? I have a hacked CM4228HD that occasionally drops CIVT-DT so may be building a GH or M4/M8 soon...but in the meantime would like to try to improve FM radio reception...living between Maple Ridge and Mission in BC... I would assume all the radio stations I'd be interested in are within a 90 degree window (Vancouver to the west, Bellingham and Seattle to the South).

I'm not sure if radio is broadcast from the same tower locations as TV...so not sure if Mt Seymour is where Vancouver stations come from... but according to TV Fool, Mt Seymour is 28 miles at 277 degrees and Seattle is 108 miles at 161 degrees.

Looking forward to hearing the ideas...

hkaye · 2010-01-11, 10:42 PM

This is the best site for FM antennas that I came across while researching the FM antenna I built for a specific purpose

http://www.ham-radio.com/k6sti/index.html

Lots of commercial antennas have been modeled, so you can look at how they perform. As well here is a simple wide band yagi for FM

http://www.ham-radio.com/k6sti/small.htm

stampeder · 2010-01-11, 11:09 PM

Mt. Seymour is indeed where most of the Vancouver stations are.

For a retail antenna as a comparison to DIY models, the Winegard 6055 with preamp is about as good as it gets for a directional FM radio antenna: http://www.winegard.com/kbase/upload/HD6055P.pdf so hopefully that gives a benchmark.

2010-01-11, 10:13 PM	#1
Threeshot Rookie Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Mission BC Canada Posts: 11	Best DIY FM Radio Antenna? I'm wondering if anyone has advice on what would be the best DIY FM only antenna for radio? I have a hacked CM4228HD that occasionally drops CIVT-DT so may be building a GH or M4/M8 soon...but in the meantime would like to try to improve FM radio reception...living between Maple Ridge and Mission in BC... I would assume all the radio stations I'd be interested in are within a 90 degree window (Vancouver to the west, Bellingham and Seattle to the South). I'm not sure if radio is broadcast from the same tower locations as TV...so not sure if Mt Seymour is where Vancouver stations come from... but according to TV Fool, Mt Seymour is 28 miles at 277 degrees and Seattle is 108 miles at 161 degrees. Looking forward to hearing the ideas...

2010-01-11, 10:42 PM	#2
hkaye Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Kitchener, Ontario Posts: 597	This is the best site for FM antennas that I came across while researching the FM antenna I built for a specific purpose http://www.ham-radio.com/k6sti/index.html Lots of commercial antennas have been modeled, so you can look at how they perform. As well here is a simple wide band yagi for FM http://www.ham-radio.com/k6sti/small.htm __________________ Best DYI TV antenna plans - I use the Bi-Quad Indoor TV Antenna

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2010-01-11, 11:09 PM	#3
stampeder OTA Forum Moderator Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: North Delta, BC (96Av x 116St) Posts: 23,338	Mt. Seymour is indeed where most of the Vancouver stations are. For a retail antenna as a comparison to DIY models, the Winegard 6055 with preamp is about as good as it gets for a directional FM radio antenna: http://www.winegard.com/kbase/upload/HD6055P.pdf so hopefully that gives a benchmark.