|
Radio Road Which tuner to get and getting the most from it. Thank God, for the radio! |
|
|
|
Radio Road Which tuner to get and getting the most from it. Thank God, for the radio! |
|
In Reply to: Anyone use a TERC Q antenna? posted by csericks on October 20, 2006 at 18:19:50:
You may be surprised?FM, especially the stereo aspect is a line-of sight dependent system that hates reflections (causes ghosting on TV?) which can severely damage the stereo siound quality, even if noise doesn't rise.
This is why the use of a directional external (or loft mounted) 'FM antenna' is the standard recommendation. Perhaps with a rotor to turn it, if the transmitters aren't on one big high building or tower.
IME&O amplified indoor antennas are prone to RFI and to noise - of their own making. The TERK Q does at least use variable gain, and a bandwidth just sufficient for one station at a time, important features for any 'Radio Frequency' (RF) amp.
Yes, they CAN work, but they are problematic. And they cost a lot more than a basic J pole mast, a tandy 6 element FM only Yagi and enough down lead.
All indoor antenans un/amplified tend to be small, and little or no gain*, there IS one big one with lots of gain and also directional that you can make of wire in a rhombic shape.
Hide it under a rug or on your ceiling, you will need to know where your stations are from you before we could know if it is an option.
*Most indoor antennas (other than a solid or ribbon dipole) are not large enough to pick up FM frequencies whose wavelength is +/_ a metre.
The result is that they are unlikely to perform well in one position for more than a few stations.
the best passive antenna for the money is a pair of rabbit ears with a coaxial cable lead out. because you can tune its elemenst for each station. Set one shorter than the other and in line with a station's direction and extend the other element behind it to act as a reflector.
yes you would still have to retune it for each staion, even move it around. there it is though. And, the TERK may well have the same issues.
Another issue is that far too many modern FM tuners have a quite poor ability to reject strong out of band signals / they can sound very poor when strong out of band signals get into them. Small indoor antennas can make this worse.
Because our homes are now full of sources of 'strong-enough local' wide band RFInterference. CD players being one culprit, PC's, VCR's, and TV's and refrigerators.
The field strengths from these sources up above your house are a LOT lower, another good case for an external antenna. Such an item - if designed to have gain in the FM band only - can also reject this crap, giving your tuner an easier time.
My advice?
is to find out for certain if you can or cannot have a directional FM antenna outside, as it is the best option.
find out where your stations are in relation to your house/rooms.
If you do buy the TERK Q, do make sure you have an agreement about returning it.
One other case for the external dieectional antenna is that many strata title developments/ units/ condos/ blocks of flats are themselves 'shields' for RF containing reinforcement for the concrete.
WarmestTimbo in Oz
The Skyptical Mensurer and Audio Scrounger'Still not saluting.'
Read about and view system at:
http://www.theanalogdept.com/tim_bailey.htm
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Follow Ups
- an external directional antenna is out of the question? - Timbo in Oz 00:10:45 10/21/06 (1)
- Read these reviews, too, as should others here-abouts - Timbo in Oz 00:15:09 10/21/06 (0)
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
