Cheapskate FM antenna

[noisy]

Having purchased an old radio tuner on ebay for a quid I am loathe to actually spend any money on a decent antenna. I have taken a length of old twin core mains cable, about 8 feet of it, and made one large loop of it. The ends I have affixed to the antenna post and tightened up the screw.

The tuner has a crude form of VU meter that indicates the signal strength and the signal is quite good at the bottom end of the FM band say 88-92 FM and a bit weaker at the high end of the band.Making a large circle of the wire reduces the signal strength to almost nothing, while stretching the wire out improves the signal strength.

Should I shorten the wire or use a longer length? Should the wire hang vertically or horizontally?

I think that the wire coathanger technique is not quite de rigeur and could lead to incredulity if I entertain young ladies

Yours miserly,

N

[bish-bash]

You can never have enough length my dear!!!!!!!!!

[noisy]

Ah, but if I had too much length the impedance might make it not worthwhile...

or am I being wooly headed?

[terryJones]

Try here:- http://www.northcountryradio.com/Articles/fmdip.htm

Personally I would mount it vertically, as it is omnidirectional in this plane.
TJ

[noisy]

Thanks Terry,

I've tried this without the balun, but it hasn't made a great deal of difference, although it has almost obliterated heart FM (Joy!)

I spose that it is genuinely necessary to have a proper antenna on the roof, but I will continue to experiment.

Cheers,

N