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External FM signal strength meter?

91.196.220.99
Posted on July 15, 2023 at 19:22:08
ltman
 Is there such a thing that does not cost > $100 ?

I have an oscilloscope but I believe the signal strength for FM frequencies direct from an antenna would be way too low to be measurable with a scope.

Correct?

 

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Correct, posted on July 17, 2023 at 10:37:21
stellavox
Audiophile

Posts: 421
Joined: June 23, 2004
 You are down in the microvolt level - plus you have to be able to "tune" to a single frequency of interest (rejecting everything else) and covers the relative bandwidth of the (150Khz or so) signal whose strength you want to measure.

Many companies made portable, tunable Field Strength Meters. Most covered the TV and maybe cable TV bandwith(s). Used ones are pretty cheap on the market now. And the commercial FM band is within a lot of these units' capability.

Charles

 

RE: Correct, posted on July 17, 2023 at 14:42:10
ltman

Thanks, I am giving this one a try.

 

Is there anyway to tune that thing to the frequency that you want? )MT(, posted on July 17, 2023 at 16:42:04
J. S. Bach
Audiophile

Posts: 9612
Location: Chester, SC
Joined: November 28, 2001
Contributor
  Since: June 29, 2004

Later Gator,
Dave
Find more about Weather in Chester, SC

 

RE: Is there anyway to tune that thing to the frequency that you want? )MT(, posted on July 17, 2023 at 18:37:20
ltman
 I don't think it can be tuned. I can try to sell it to some other idiot if it doesn't work for FM band (lower end of which is where my NPR stations are).

I did find a map showing Potosi Mountain where the transmitter is located for KCNV. And I have eyeballed with good result the 4 element Yagi I am now using (flimsy thing but it is providing much better reception than the Crane dipole). Easy to see the mountain from my location although I am considered on the fringe of their reception.

However I have two other tuners in the house I am working on restoring, so it would be nice to have a reliable way to aim an antenna while working on those.

 

RE: Is there anyway to tune that thing to the frequency that you want? )MT(, posted on July 18, 2023 at 04:11:10
stellavox
Audiophile

Posts: 421
Joined: June 23, 2004
 Does/does'nt one of your tuners have a signal strength meter? If so use that to aim the antenna. If you can see the mountain / antenna location, the tuners are probably "limiting" i.e "fully" getting the station with maximum Signal/Noise ratio

 

RE: Is there anyway to tune that thing to the frequency that you want? )MT(, posted on July 18, 2023 at 12:00:58
ltman
Unfortunately both the Sony and Pioneer only have led "steps", no analog meters.

The led steps seem very crude, even with top level led lit, the Sony has some issue sometimes with reception using the omnis.

And since I have multiple antennas and even the dipole and omni have some directionality, I would like to have some way to guide the orientation and gauge the gains.

 

RE: Is there anyway to tune that thing to the frequency that you want? )MT(, posted on July 18, 2023 at 21:22:43
6bq5
Audiophile

Posts: 4559
Location: SF Bay
Joined: August 16, 2001
 FM is in between channel 6 & 7 on the TV dial- so yes in the thick of it as it were-
You should also try FM Fool- you can put in your zip code and height of antenna and it will map polars for available stations-
This may well help as most antennas are directional - except the ST-2 from MD and analogues...
but all others are directional...

for signal strength to be meaningful you also need to look at center tune (and whether they are broadcasting accurately) and multipath - it can get complicated -
is your MR-77 still extant?
the tuning section is pretty good and it has a multipath detector - assuming that the tube is not tiered...
I gave mine away also - but I have two MR-74s...

Happy Listening

 

RE: Is there anyway to tune that thing to the frequency that you want? )MT(, posted on July 20, 2023 at 20:47:21
ltman
 that sounds (pun intended) interesting, will give it a try!

 

RE: Is there anyway to tune that thing to the frequency that you want? )MT(, posted on July 20, 2023 at 20:49:12
ltman
 MR 77 is gone, sold, but then destroyed in shipping. I did get a partial reimbursement.

I paid UPS to double box it, but they did only a cursory job, hence the damage.

 

using a 'scope, posted on July 21, 2023 at 09:43:24
Bill Way
Audiophile

Posts: 1884
Location: Toms River NJ
Joined: May 28, 2012
Contributor
  Since: December 14, 2012
 If you have one of the McIntosh tuners with the "TP1" and "TP2" RCA sockets, connect them to your dual-trace scope to see all sorts of info on your signal, including relative signal strength, multipath, etc.

WW
"Put on your high heeled sneakers. Baby, we''re goin'' out tonight.

 

RE: using a 'scope, posted on July 22, 2023 at 19:57:39
ltman
 Sold my MR77 last year. It never really did for me what I had hoped. Perhaps because I never used a good directional FM antenna with it.

Now I have a yagi that is providing much better signal to my tuners than the omni ever did. The yagi is on the 2nd floor porch sitting on boxes. I can get away with that now since I gave the wifey the heave-ho :)

And I use manual antenna direction rotation when neccessary.


 

RE: using a 'scope, posted on January 18, 2024 at 11:04:45
openmind
Audiophile

Posts: 184
Location: Phoenix
Joined: November 8, 2008
 The Hitachi FT-007 has an excellent digital signal-strength meter, displaying the strength on the tuned frequency in dB. Every tuner should have that feature! I have one station that is noisy on most tuners because the HD radio broadcast causes IBOC noise. The Hitachi is very quiet on my HD problem station.

 

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