Fm radio reception

[Green_not_greed]

I was wondering if any well informed orgers could help me out regarding FM radio reception at my house on the outskirts of Reay ?

At the house the FM reception is very poor. I've tried all sorts of different aerials but can get a hissy mono signal at best - stereo is there but so bad you can't listen to it.

However the car in the drive gets reception no bother.

I bought an indoor FM aerial with a booster last week and that's made a difference although stereo is still very hissy.

This is annoying me rather a lot. If I could get FM radio via Freeview that would help in the house, however its switched off most of the time so that we can all be blessed with BBC Alba.

Grateful for any advice, thanks. I think my FM signal is routed via Ben Dorrery.

[Shaggy]

If your car radio receives the signal fine whilst outside the house then its obviously an issue with your radio. Have you tried other radios in your house?
You have internet so why not just listen to it online?

[sids]

Connect the aerial socket to a wire leading outside and up to the eaves.

[Kodiak]

I bought a Fantastic DAB Radio from Tesco Wick for only £25. I now get far better reception from it than I do my SONY CD/Radio. One of the best things I have bought in quite some time.

[Green_not_greed]

Some great advice here thanks :)

Shaggy - the radio is fine. Being a bit of an old sod I have 3 separate FM radios in the house, in everything from stereos to alarms. They are all poor and I've tried over several years to improve reception with no success.

Sid - I was always of the impression that an FM aerial required a balanced 75 ohm circuit and not a piece of wire, which is why I never tried this ! Tried tonight with a long piece of unscreened cable upstairs through the upstairs rooms and it certainly sounds good. As good as the FM boosted aerial, but stereo reception still sucks. Best of what I've tried so far, so thanks. May improve if I can run cable through the loft. The main issue is getting the cable back to the radio, which is on the ground floor of a very well insulated modern house. Cables can't simply be run behind plasterboard, but then again that's my issue !

Kodiak - thanks I have DAB in the car too ! A great suggestion but I want to use the little kitchen stereo I have (CD player, radio, IPod input and amplifier) rather than buy a new unit.

Will chase up Sids's idea re loft cable in the next week or so.

Thanks again. Anything further welcome.

[sids]

I had good results using an outside TV aerial on the chimney, for FM radio.

I know nothing about the balanced ohms and all that, so if your roof explodes I'm sorry.

[dx100uk]

theres not a lot you can do if you cant run or use a coax cable via a connector on the radio[s] concerned sadly

a 4ft by 4ft 3or4 element beam in the loft would work, but then you'd have to split/distribute it much like a tv aerial

do your radio have external aerial sockets.

have you tried a split wire horizontal dipole?

they are very easy to make?

dx

[sids]

have you tried a split wire horizontal dipole?


Never meddle with the unknown!

[Kenn]

Surely a beam aerial for FM frequencies would have problems with the hills that surround Reay to three sides unless I've forgotten all that I learned, and that's quite possible !
Think you are the same end of the village as me Green_not_ Greed and my reception is dire too.

[Rheghead]

Can you listen not through their the station's webpage?? :confused

[windymiller]

Do Caithness FM have a Web page?

[davem]

There is a website but no webcasting apparently the bandwidth needed would cost a fortune.
The signal should improve a little eventually due to work on the mast.

[CFM]

There is nothing wrong with your radio, the problem is with the broadcasting equipment at Ben Dorrery. MFR own the equipment and it has been working on about half strength for the last couple of years. They had organised for the equipment to be replaced however, unfortunately the guy who was doing the work unexpectedly passed away. This is a very specialist job and very few people are suitably qualified to do the work and even fewer are authorised by the mast owners it has therefore taken MFR some time to find a replacement contractor. They now have another contractor in place but he wants to do all his own surveys etc to ensure that what he does is correct. MFR tell me that they hope to have the works done in the near future which should solve your problem.

As reguards getting the signal in your car - car radios have a stronger receiver because they are continually moving and need to keep "roaming" for want of a better word - you will always get a better signal in your car than in your house.

Sorry for the disruption but until MFR get their equipment fixed Caithness FM can't help. We are in continued discussions with them.

[gerry4]

CFM. As you seem to know a lot about what is going on on the radio transmissions, do you know if DAB is going to be improved? Without the commercial broadcasters building their multiplex to transmit their DAB stations, we can't get BBC Radio Scotland in DAB. Also it means we have only half a DAB radio system

[Even Chance]

Make a Horizontal Di-pole out of co-ax as has been suggested. Best by far.

[Green_not_greed]

There is nothing wrong with your radio, the problem is with the broadcasting equipment at Ben Dorrery. MFR own the equipment and it has been working on about half strength for the last couple of years. They had organised for the equipment to be replaced however, unfortunately the guy who was doing the work unexpectedly passed away. This is a very specialist job and very few people are suitably qualified to do the work and even fewer are authorised by the mast owners it has therefore taken MFR some time to find a replacement contractor. They now have another contractor in place but he wants to do all his own surveys etc to ensure that what he does is correct. MFR tell me that they hope to have the works done in the near future which should solve your problem.



Many thanks for a great and clear response. :)

[CFM]

Sorry don't know much about the DAB reception in Caithness - we only broadcast on FM but I will try to find out for you

[CFM]

as far as we have been able to find out there are no immediate plans to upgrade the multiplex at Rumster. So listeners will not be able to get Radio Scotland, or indeed MFR on DAB in the near future. As usual with these things, it’s based on population. If we hear more we will let you know

[Mr P Cannop]

i have a DAB radio and i can get MFR & Radio Scotland on it

[cullpacket]

Went on Alba.org and you can listen to it online if that's any help

[gerry4]

Listening to it on the net is fine, its in the house that I mainly want it for. Also for all the other stations that comes on the commercial multiplex.

The commercial multiplex starts to die around the Ord. Fades in & out and dies around Latheron. From there north never been able to get it.