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Hi all:
I live in New York City, and have always found BIC Beam boxes to be very useful. I have one in each of my two systems: an FM-10 in my main, and FM-8 in my secondary. I got both of them secondhand, so of course the original 300 ohm cable that came with the Beam Box was long gone.
I've gotten decent results with dipole antenna wire, stripping one end to bare wire to fit into the antenna terminals on whatever amp or receiver I was using. But lately I've been switching out tuners and I'm frustrated by how thin and fragile the wires inside dipole antennas are. I've tried attaching spades, but half the time I wind up breaking the little flimsy wires.
(Just to be clear, my FM-10 came to me missing the 75 ohm connector at the back, and my receiver doesn't have a 75 ohm antenna connection anyway. The FM8 only had twin screws for 300 ohm wire)
I know the Beam Box manual specifies "300 ohm wire". But I was thinking about taking some beefier, insulated 20 gauge copper wire I have, and using that instead. Is there any reason I shouldn't do that?
THanks
Roy
maybe get a chunk and make some proper jumpers with the wire insulation glued into the connector to make it stronger.
Roypercy, got a BIC FM-8 Beam Box about a decade ago when KVMR moved their studio location up in Nevada City. Used in conjunction with a Fisher RS-9115 receiver, as over-the-air monitor. Signal came from Banner Mountain, which was a few miles north-east. Reception was relatively clear in auld studio via Kenwood KR-2400-n-dipole. In new studio, prep room was next to station's electrical hub, which presented all kinds of RFI problems & over-whelmed KR-2400. So RS-9115-n-FM-8 helped a little bit. FM-8 has 4 aluminum plates, connected to 300 ohm wiring. Reception pattern can be changed via front panel according to need. As such, don't think increasing external wire gauge will help reception, unless you replace interior wiring as well. Nowadays RS-9115, FM-8, & modded Realistic MC-1000 speakers are on display in KVMR community room; where reception is much clearer. ... 73s para Sactown
Edits: 04/29/24
...reasonably strong signals. My bedroom set-up just uses a single wire (draped over the curtain rod) attached to one of the Sherwood S-7100A's 300Ω terminals. I get all of the FM stations that I want to listen to. Give it a try, nothing will be lost.
Later Gator,
Dave
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Cool, will do.
Thanks
Roy
Later Gator,
Dave
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