Help! Poor radio reception

[anuragn]

Any suggestions guys?

If possible, take the radio out to some place in the open, like terrace and see whether reception improves.
You may also try and open the set and check whether the connections of internal AM antenna (i.e. copper wire wound over ferrite core) are intact.
Otherwise, it could be a case of AM section of tuner gone bad.

 

[andy78]

If possible, take the radio out to some place in the open, like terrace and see whether reception improves.
You may also try and open the set and check whether the connections of internal AM antenna (i.e. copper wire wound over ferrite core) are intact.
Otherwise, it could be a case of AM section of tuner gone bad.

The text I bolded I think are the possible causes.

 

[omishra]

If possible, take the radio out to some place in the open, like terrace and see whether reception improves.
You may also try and open the set and check whether the connections of internal AM antenna (i.e. copper wire wound over ferrite core) are intact.
Otherwise, it could be a case of AM section of tuner gone bad.

There are lot of waves in the air now. These were not there in my childhood days. No mobile, no modem WiFi, no Micro Wave, no CFL etc.. [and no electricity, we used battery cells of D size ]

Before looking inside it try to check what is near to AM Radio. Below items are strictly no-no.

• Power Lines
• Modems
• Micro Wave
• In direction face/back of radio (in direction perpendicular to radio antenna rod) CFL and Electronics choke tube light.
• Outside the house if any roadside light on the pole which comes as above direction.

Now most of above things are normal in our life and can not be avoided. Hence I use external antenna as well as static shield made of kitchen aluminum foil around those antenna elements.

Minimum you can do is - move away from those noise sources and null points in the house where you don't get any signal reception. Also rotate the radio (in fact antenna) horizontally to make away from direction of interference/noise source and come inline to direction of transmitting station. Or use battery as power source to get rid of noise coming from mains lines. Good mains PS will cost more than radio IMO.

Believe me, I can receive MW Jodhpur (531KHz) , Bangalore (612KHz) from Pune.
[My childhood radio supposed to be gone bad. But when I opened and cleaned I found it is technically correct only atmosphere gone worst. Poor Guy!]

 

[anuragn]

Good explanation omishra.
These are the reasons why AM reception has almost become non existent in big cities.

 

[reubensm]

yea, whenever i turn on the AM (medium wave) band on my NAD 402 tuner, all I can hear (apart from the local Trivandrum AM station) is noise. Gone are the days when I used to listen to the National Service of All India Radio on MW, in the nights. I use an old Loop antenna (wire mounted in a ring) salvaged from an old sony combo hi-fi system. For FM, I use a small piece of wire which is good enough considering where I stay. The NAD 402 is a beauty.

 

[reubensm]

Here are the pics. Third pic shows the full height of the antenna (sorry its not very clear).
I followed the instruction from this site:
J POLE ANTENNA DESIGN CALCULATOR by K4ABT
The multiple loop of the coax cable is a choke as recommended in the article.

Your effort has re-ignited my interest in good radio reception. Once my house is complete, I'm going to install one on the terrace. My house is being constructed on top of a hill and that should help.

 

[reubensm]

Any suggestions guys?

Looks like the problem may be with your 2-in-one itself. Maybe physical breakage of the internal MW loop antenna, damage to the band-switch, the gang capacitor, the MW antenna or oscillator coils, etc. If you have a local MW station in your area, receiving it should not pose too much of a problem if your radio is functional. I've come across a few radios that pick MW and nothing else or pick MW and FM with a dead SW. Not an uncommon phenomenon. The radio sections in Philips 2-in-1s are perhaps the best around (and most sensitive), so if its functional, reception would be a cake walk. However I must add that repairing a Philips radio or a Philips 2-in-1's radio section may be a little more challenging as Philips usually uses a bit more complex, if not un-common circuitry.

 

[andy78]

Looks like the problem may be with your 2-in-one itself. Maybe physical breakage of the internal MW loop antenna, damage to the band-switch, the gang capacitor, the MW antenna or oscillator coils, etc. If you have a local MW station in your area, receiving it should not pose too much of a problem if your radio is functional. I've come across a few radios that pick MW and nothing else or pick MW and FM with a dead SW. Not an uncommon phenomenon. The radio sections in Philips 2-in-1s are perhaps the best around (and most sensitive), so if its functional, reception would be a cake walk. However I must add that repairing a Philips radio or a Philips 2-in-1's radio section may be a little more challenging as Philips usually uses a bit more complex, if not un-common circuitry.

Thanks for you inputs.Actually I don't use much of radio. The Philips 2-in-1 which I had gifted it to my uncle since he likes to listen to radio often. However he had different units for different stations. Mine had all the four
SW1,SW2,MW and FM. So I thought it's better for him to use this single unit instead of using multiple radios. However when I gave it to him he said only FM was working and the other stations are not working. In the same room where I have the Philips unit his other radio is getting reception for both SW and MW. So I guess the problem is with my Philips 2-in-1. I had given this to have a look to my cousin who said it's working ok but maybe problem with antennae. Now even FM doesn't work.

 

[anuragn]

Your effort has re-ignited my interest in good radio reception. Once my house is complete, I'm going to install one on the terrace. My house is being constructed on top of a hill and that should help.

Fantastic location for your house!
I have mounted the antenna inside the room. I am sure if it is mounted on the terrace, it should work even better.

 

[Rabepobemababe]

A good (looking) indoor / outdoor antenna for FM reception would be this:

 

[SaurabhK]

a Dynalab antenna would be the way to go..

http://www.magnumdynalab.com/fmantenna-st2.htm

 

[audio_passionate]

:clapping: Now pictures please!

Hi All
I just read the post by anurgn regarding the J- Pole antenna. Can you please explain with more detail regarding this type of anteenna. I m a big fan of FM radio listening especially far away stations in stereo.
Thanks
Ashutosh Kumar

 

[shankar bhandarkar]

Dear Sir
Finally did you get to hear the AM AIR signals.....?
Bhandarkar