CMYK

R AADDI OI O

ANTENNAE FOR GOOD FM

RECEPTION AND FM DX LISTENING
Read on to know which antenna is good for FM reception, how you can improve FM DX
reception, how you can make a good, low-cost antenna yourself, and much more
D. PRABAKARAN

ignals on the FM broadcast band (88

to 108 MHz) are greatly affected by
altitude and terrain. How high the
receiver is placed and the landforms
around it determine the strength of the
signal you receive. For example, it may
be difficult for someone located in a valley or on the side of a hill to hear FM
stations from a particular direction, even
if the stations are relatively closeby. On
the other hand, someone living on the top
of a high hill can reliably receive FM stations over 160 km away. Atmospheric conditions also cause the signals to fade. This
is especially the case if the station is located far away and/or is transmitting at a
low power.

Choosing an antenna for FM

Before purchasing an FM antenna, consider your location and the problems you
need to overcome. The key to good FM
reception is the maximum direct signal
from the transmitter with minimal signal
reflection.
If you live in a metropolitan area
close to an FM transmitter, youll need
an antenna with high directivity rather
than a high-gain antenna. A good
antenna rejects unwanted signals coming
from different directions or bouncing off
obstructions. Good rejection depends
on the antennas front-to-back ratio and
beam width. Front-to-back ratio is the
antennas sensitivity to signals coming at
its rear. The higher the ratio, the greater
the rejection of unwanted signals coming
from behind. The beamwidth indicates
the angle at the front of the antenna
within which it can best receive the FM
signal. A narrow beamwidth is recommended as it minimises unwanted signals
from the sides.
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DECEMBER 2003

Fig. 1: A typical FM antenna

The prime FM reception area extends

from 3.2 to 40.2 km from the transmitting
station. Here, multipath distortion is less
of a problem, and a medium-gain antenna
with a moderate beamwidth suffices. However, for receiving FM stations from different directions, you need a directional
antenna with rotator. In the normal reception area from 32 to 64 km out, you
need an antenna with good gain. If you
are located more than 64 km out, you are
in the fringe area. Here, you need an
antenna with a high gain. If stations come
in at the same or adjacent channels, the
antenna must be directional. If the antenna alone doesnt provide enough gain,
use a booster amplifier.
FM radio sets require an antenna to
receive stations other than local stations.
For connection to FM antenna, the radio
set incorporates two screw terminals on
the rear of the set.
An outdoor FM antenna having many
elements is highly directional. That is, it
is more sensitive to FM signals received
perpendicular to its active elements than
to signals arriving from other angles or
even in the opposite direction. Highly di-

rectional antennae
usually have a higher
gain, which provides
increased strength of
FM reception.
When referring to
an FM antenna, gain
is most often referenced to a standard
half-wave dipole, such
as a flat, twin-lead antenna. For example,
an FM antenna with
an advertised gain of
3 dB will deliver to
your FM reference approximately twice the
power delivered by a
standard half-wave dipole.
A directional antenna receives only
those stations which lie within the defined antenna beamwidth. Antenna
beamwidth is a measure of directionality
and is defined by half power points (3
dB) of the angle of the front radiation
hemisphere. If the angle is very large (wide
antenna beamwidth), the antenna will receive the desired FM broadcast as well as
signals reflected from different horizontal
directions, which may interfere with FM
broadcast. However, it may be difficult to
precisely position an antenna with a very
narrow beamwidth for proper reception
of the desired FM broadcast.
An omnidirectional antenna, although
much lower in gain and lacking significant directionality, works satisfactorily if
you live in an area that is free of multipath
reception and receives strong signals from
many directions.
Check whether your radio set already
has a power cord antenna, short wire antenna, TV antenna, FM antenna, indoor
FM/TV antenna, outdoor FM non-directional antenna, or outdoor directional FM
antenna attached to it.

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The dipole antenna should be approximately 1.5m long and is constructed by
connecting the ribbon cable to the radio
receiver. It can be erected by attaching
the cable to a wall, with the 1.5m section
of the cable positioned horizontally where
the best signal is found. Rotate the antenna to optimise reception. For best results, mount it high in the clear (9 metres
away from anything else) and orient towards the desired direction of reception.
Fig. 2: Multipath reception

Power cord antenna. Most radio sets

come equipped with an antenna consisting of a clamp that is clamped internally
or externally to the AC power cord, then
connected to the antenna terminal of the
FM receiver. The AC power cord acts as
an antenna. For best reception, extend the
power cord to its full length and place in
different positions until reception is clear.
Short wire. Some receivers come with
a short wire attached to one of the antenna terminals. If your receiver does not
have either this or the power cord antenna, try about 75cm (30-inch) length of
flat TV wire on one of the terminals of
your set and orient the wire for best reception. Take the radio with its antenna
to different locations in your home to see
whether reception improves.
TV antenna. Since FM signals are in
the same frequency band as VHF television signals (channels 2-13), most VHF
TV antennae can be used effectively on
an FM receiver. So if you have a television antenna, hook it up to your FM
receiver. If the transmitting stations are
located in different directions, you need
an antenna rotor for good reception of
both TV and FM signals.
A UHF/VHF/FM splitter allows the antenna to be connected to both the TV and
FM sets at the same time. The splitters
are inexpensive and can be found in the
electronics accessory rack of most department stores.
Broadband TV/FM antennae are basically a compromise for FM but can be
sufficient for local FM reception; broadband means more than one band of frequencies. A broadband antenna offers only
about one-half the gain of a simple FM
antenna. This difference would not be
important in a prime reception area, but
is highly significant when receiving FM
signals from distant stations.
FM antenna. Antennae custom-made
for FM reception work considerably better

Car aerials
than the average TV antenna on your FM
radio. Easy to set up for indoor use, these
improve reception of nearby FM stations
for apartment dwellers.
Indoor TV/FM antenna. These antennae are available in several models priced
at Rs 100 to 200. Higher-priced models
are usually intended for long-range reception.
Outdoor FM non-directional antenna.
Mounted on the rooftop of your house or
a tower, these can receive signal from up
to 160 km.
Outdoor directional FM antenna. Outdoor directional FM antennae, mounted
on the rooftop of your house or a tower,
can receive signals from up to 160 km in
the direction these are pointed. FM signals drop out in the city because of tall
buildings, obstructions, etc. The signal is
reflected or absorbed by buildings. Outdoor directional FM antennae are effective in pulling FM signals into apartment
buildings.

Car radio aerials are always located externally. Telescopic rods are the most common types of car radio aerials. Other types
include heated rear-window aerials and
stubby helical-wound antennae. To extract
the best from your car radio, the telescopic
aerial should be:
1. Mounted as high as possible, preferably on the rooftop, and away from the
engine
2. Fully extended
3. Kept well clear of the bodywork,
not folded back onto the roof
4. Around 80cm long. Aerials shorter
or longer than this may provide inferior
results

Common radio reception

problems
Weak signal-hiss. If your radio hisses on
stereo but not on mono, it might be re-

FM dipole antenna
FM dipole antennae considerably improve
reception quality. Economical and relatively simple to install, these are built from
TV ribbon cable, which is often supplied
with hi-fi tuners.
A dipole is customarily an electrical
half wavelength of wire at the frequency
of interest, since the 72-ohm resistive impedance under this condition is a good
match to a 50-75-ohm source or load presented by the interfacing receiver or transmitter designed to work into this range of
impedance. The length of a half-wave dipole is:

Car antenna

468
feet
frequency (MHz)
Or,
5606
inches
frequency (MHz)
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ceiving a very weak signal. Hiss is produced because radio receivers need a stronger signal to successfully decode the stereo component of the signal. To eliminate
radio hiss, you need a good aerial correctly positioned to pick up the best possible signal. Ideally, it should be mounted
outdoors, like a TV aerial. You may add
an amplifier to the aerial in order to boost
weak signals.
If your radio receiver is portable with
no provision for plugging in an external
aerial, adjust the position of the radios
own aerial by tilting and swivelling it to
get the best signal (see Fig. 4). If this
fails, try moving the radio to somewhere
else in the room for good reception. FM
reception varies a great deal over very
short distances, and is better near windows or upstairs than downstairs.
Distorted s sounds. Multipath distortion is characterised by sibilance, which

Fig. 3: Basic Yagi antenna consisting of four

is the distortion of s and z sounds to

shhhhh. It is caused by the transmitted
signal travelling to the listeners radio receiver via more than one path (see Fig.
2). This happens when the signal reflects
off hills or tall buildings. The reflected
signal arrives at the aerial a moment later
than the direct signal because it has travelled further. The reflected and direct signals then interfere with each other to cause
distortion.
The best way to minimise multipath
reception is to use a directional rooftop
antenna, which will pick up only direct
signals from the transmitter and reject signals that arrive at the back or side of the
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DECEMBER 2003

antenna. Try to mount the aerial such that

the house screens it from the reflections
but not from the wanted signal.
Tittering. Overloading causes uneven
and discordant reception, resulting in background twittering sounds. Overloading occurs when a radio antenna receives a very
strong signal. So if you live close to the
transmitter, it will only create a problem.
The distortion will be present in both stereo and mono receptions. To resolve overloading, plug an attenuator in between the
aerial and the aerial socket.
Adjacent channel interference. Adjacent channel interference is caused by a
channel that is close in frequency to the
station being listened to. It sounds like a
twittering noise in the background, hence
called birdies. This problem is usually
apparent on FM stereo. But if the interfering channel is very close in frequency,
i.e. only 50 kHz or 100 kHz away, the
noise might also be
heard in mono.
A directional,
rooftop-mounted
aerial solves the problem, provided the interfering transmission
is not coming from
the direction of the
desired station. Some
stereo tuners incorporate filters to block
adjacent channels.
A b n o r m a l
weather conditions.
Abnormal weather
causes sizzling noise
in the background.
This problem is usually apparent when
atmospheric pressure
is extremely high,
elements
when temperature increases dramatically to produce a much
warmer, drier atmosphere. Reception is
poor due to interference from UHF and
VHF (FM radio and TV) signals, which
travel much farther than the planned coverage area during a high atmospheric pressure. This is due to the changing properties of the tropospherethe lower layer
of the earths atmosphere.

Build a Yagi Uda antenna

For good efficacity and directivity for DX
reception on radio spectrum, you need a
Yagi-Uda antenna. This antenna was invented in the early 20th century by two

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Fig. 4: FM DX set-up

Japanese engineers named Uda and Yagi.

The Yagi antenna is a narrow-band antenna designed to work only on FM channel. It has the best gain for its size, and a
correspondingly narrow main lobe (beam).
For the highest gain or discriminating
against an interfering signal 20-40 azimuth off the desired signal, use a Yagi
antenna. Figure out the centre frequency
and bandwidth you wish to receive. The
antennas gain rises slowly up to the de-

500-watt, 5.1dB yagi FM antenna

sign frequency and falls off sharply thereafter. FM is usually transmitted over 87.5108 MHz, so the centre frequency is about
100 MHz.
Basically, the antenna consists of one
reflector (in the rear), one driven element,
and one or more directors (in the direction of transmission/reception).
Fig. 3 shows a Yagi antenna consisting of four elements. The middle element
is the simple half-wave, folded dipole. It
is termed the driven element because it
is the only element that is directly connected to the FM radio, driving the entire
antenna. The other three outer elements
are called parasitic elements. One is called
the reflector and the other two are called

the director elements. The

reflector reflects RF energy
and the director directs RF
energy. Typically, the reflector element is 5 per
cent longer than the driven
element and the director
is 5 per cent shorter than
the driven element.
The antenna parameters (element lengths and
spacings) are given in
terms of wavelength, so an
antenna for a given frequency can be easily designed. The lengths of various antenna elements are
related to the frequency (f) as follows:
Reflector length=

150
f (MHz)

Driven element length=

143
f (MHz)

First director length=

138
f (MHz)

Second director length=

134
f (MHz)

Use a folded-dipole as driven element and feed it with twin-lead line.

A folded dipole has an impedance of
277 ohms, which is a good match to
300-ohm twin-lead line. Of course, the
presence of other elements slightly reduces the input impedance, but there
is still a good match. No balun is required, as twin-lead is a balanced
transmission line.
Being narrowband, the Yagi antenna can work well only at or near
one frequency, unless you are willing
to make a few compromises to broaden
signal response. Its pretty simple to

Suggestions for improving

FM DX reception
1. FM radio is much like television, so treat
FM reception as you would treat TV reception.
2. At home, put up a good, directional,
rooftop FM antenna.
3. Use a fully shielded coaxial cable, not
ribbon cable, from your antenna to the
set and connect it to the antenna and
the set using appropriate adaptors.
4. Consider a rotor to aim the antenna at
the desired radio station.
5. Buy the largest FM antenna you can afford. The bigger the antenna, the better the reception!
6. Avoid indoor antennae as these are subject to drifting performance as you
move about the room and pick up interference from PCs, TV sets, radio sets,
and other appliances.
7. The T type ribbon antenna packed with
most hi-fi sets is grossly inadequate as
it receives only the strongest local signals.
8. Clock radios, portables, or boom boxes
without terminals for external antennae
dont perform well at home unless you
are quite close to the radio station or
have an unusually clear path to it.
9. Most cables are manufactured with little
attention to FM reception. If so, dont
connect your FM radio to the cable system and instead use the rooftop FM antenna for good reception.
10. Look for car radios that have mono/stereo switches. The best reception is in
monaural mode.
11. Some car stereos have diverse antenna
reception. The diversity system uses two
antennae on the car and constantly compares reception on both, switching the
better one to the radio. This eliminates
80-90 per cent of the multipath picket
fence distortion in a moving vehicle.

make yourself a Yagi out of old antenna

elements or aluminium tubing if you want
to cut it for a particular frequency.
For a 50-ohm feed, this Yagi antenna
provides a gain of about 7.6 dBi.
The F/B ratio is 18.6 dB. To clear
your doubts, refer to your TV antenna before fabricating and installing the antenna.

Booster amplifier

Fig. 5: T-shaped dipole antenna

An amplifier boosts the signal

strength to overcome noise in the
first amplifier built into your receiver. This helps if the coax leadin is very long resulting in signal
loss, or if you must split the signal to various taps around the
building. However, the booster
amplifier adds its own noise and
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VHF Slim Jim Antenna for 2m Band

Here is a back-fed, vertical, folded-dipole antenna for the 2m band (144-146MHz) that is inexpensive and easy to build compared to ground-plane vertical antennae and Yagi antennae. In India,
the frequency band allotted for amateur radio operation in VHF is 144-146 MHz.
Generally, antennae work well only when placed over a good ground system. The success or
failure of an antenna system depends on RF ground. Poor grounds cause antennae to operate at less
than the best efficiency. In fact, it is possible to lose between 50 and 90 per cent of the RF power by
heating the space under the radiation lobe
instead of transmitting into the air.
The antenna is a vertically-polarised,
omnidirectional, free-space antenna offering a gain of about 1.8 dB. It is unobtrusive
and has 50 per cent higher radiation efficiency than a ground-plane antenna due
to a low radiation angle. As the antenna
has no ground planes, it is very easy to
place.
The name Slim Jim comes from the
slender construction. The Slim Jim vertical
angle of radiation is almost parallel to
ground, so the maximum radiation is where
it is needed: straight out and all round. With
all ground planes, including those with radials an entire wavelength long, the vertical angle radiation is tilted upwards at an
angle of 30 degrees or more. This gives the
Slim Jim a gain over 5/8th wave of 6 dB when
measured parallel to the ground!
The antenna is fed on the base, which
causes no problem with the connection between the feeder and the antenna. The
feeder impedance is 50 ohms.
Slim Jim can be made of 10mm/12mm
dia. aluminium pipes or a 300-ohm cable.
The distance between the two parallel elements is not critical and neither is the length
if it is made of 10mm pipes.
Isolate the two halves, i.e. the half-wave
and the quarter-wave halves, using pertinax
or teflon. Use of a J type matching stub (J
integrated matching, or JIM) that facilitates
feeding the antenna at the base overcomes
the problem of interaction between the
feeder and the antenna. The feed impedance is 50 ohms
With a correct feed, the standing wave
ratio (SWR) is less than 1.5 all over the band.
The antenna can be constructed for perma- Fig. 6: Slim-jim antenna
nent use or portable use. Basically, it is an
end-fed folded dipole operated vertically. The matching stub provides a low-impedance (50-ohm)
feed point at the base and couples to the antenna section at high impedance at one end. As with
all folded dipoles, the currents in all legs are in phase, whereas in the matching stub the currents
are in opposite phase, so little or no radiation occurs from the antenna. For a correct match, the
voltage SWR is much less than 1.5, and remains so across the band.
A slip sleave made from copper can be added to the element above the gap for tuning
purposes, although the average length of the gap and spacing between the elements is 7.6 cm at
72 MHz and 2.5 cm at 220 MHz. No part of the antenna should be grounded to the tower or mast.
For mounting, use a PVC pipe. Make sure the space between the tower and the antenna is one
freespace quarter wavelength.
The antenna should stand upright on a railing or something else, clear of metal water tanks,
drainpipes, etc. Fit the coaxial cable to the antenna with crocodile clips. Attach about 5 cm up from
the bottom and check the VSWR. Adjust the clips up or down to get the best match (mine managed 1.2:1), mark where they are to go, remove the clips, and solder the coax directly. Use the
copper sleeve, if added, for tuning.
Feed line coax cable consists of two concentric wires, as shown in Fig. 6. The coax cable is an
unbalanced transmission line. No current flows on the outside shield of the cable. Always use
good-quality, low-loss type coaxial cables for feeding RF energy from the transmitter to the antenna. RG-8/U and RG-11/U foam type cables are preferable.
Bad connections cause loss. If you are going to solder connectors on the ends of your coax, be
sure to do it right. You must have the right tools. You cant solder on connectors to coax with a
25W pencil tip soldering iron. You need a high-wattage iron, preferably over 100 watts. It heats up
the connector quickly, so you dont damage the coax and connector.
For antennae mounted outside, ensure protection from lightning-induced damage. The minimum is to never use them in weather likely to produce lightning, and disconnect and ground them
when they are not in use.

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distorts the signals. So use outdoor amplifiers with very low noise to overcome loss
in the coax lead-in.
Boost the signal at the antenna where
the weak signal better overcomes amplifier noise. Use outdoor amplifiers where
all signals are weak within the band over
which the amplifier works. For outdoor
antenna mounted amplifiers, look for noise
figure below 3 dB.
If nearby signals (two-way radio, TV,
or other FM signals) are stronger, get an
amplifier with filters that limit the
amplifiers activity to a frequency range
free of the strong signals. When you hit the
distortion limit of an amplifier, you will
observe signals that were not there to begin with. These new signals are mixtures of
two or more real signalsyou hear two
stations at the same time. If your amplifier
has a gain control, these things come up
rapidly as you get into distortion.

Dipole antenna
A dipole antenna considerably improves
the FM reception. To make this antenna,
you need about 2.5 metres of a two-conductor cable and some strong tape. An
ordinary lamp or speaker cable works well,
but ideally you should use a twin-lead
cablethe kind used to connect your TV
to a rooftop antenna.
First, strip one end of the cable to
expose about 1.3 cm of each wire. This is
the end you attach to your stereo receiver.
Next, measure out 1.5 metres of cable from
this end and tightly wrap the tape
electricians or duct tape will work well
around the cable at this point. Measure
exactly 89 cm from this tape and cut the
cable. Now use a knife or scissors to separate the two wires back to the point where
the tape is wrapped around the cable. Do
not remove any of the plastic insulation!
You now have a T shaped set of wires as
shown in Fig. 5. This is technically called a
dipole antenna which is tuned to resonate
at the middle of FM band.
To set it up, simply attach the two
stripped wires at the base of the T to the
antenna terminals on the back of your
tuner and receiver, and tack or tape the
arms on the wallmake sure you maintain the T configuration.
This antenna is the most sensitive to
signals coming at it face-on. Experiment
with different positions on the wall for
the strongest reception. You can lengthen
the neck of the T if necessary, but 1.5
metres is usually sufficient.