need radio antenna

[Rick Moyer]

I have a cheap radio in the shop that gets crappy reception. How much is this likely a product of the internal tuner and how much the lousy external antenna? I could put my old Yamaha receiver out there as I'm not using it anywhere else. Either way I need a better antenna than what is there now. The crappy radio has a CD player so I'd prefer to use IT, but now have bad audio from the radio. Will a decent external FM antenna help me with it, and if so, what antenna and how much will it cost me?
(not looking for state of the art audio, normal fm reception will be fine)
Also, I could get a home pkg for the XM unit in the car but I don't want to spend much. Sometimes I don't even turn the thing on when I'm in the shop working.

[David G Baker]

When I lived in Northern California I used a TV antenna mounted in the attic of my shop. I mounted the antenna so I could rotate it by hand if I needed to tune it. Worked great. Haven't tried it since moving to Michigan but I did buy a very good TV antenna when the prices dropped into the toilet after digital TV was started.
If you are located near a lot of FM radio stations it should work for you. I am in a rural area and use the wire on the wall antenna and this gives me the stations I want. There are no mountains around me so I have a pretty good shot at receiving.

[Lee Schierer]

Houses with aluminum siding or an aluminized mylar house wrap often have poor radio reception inside. You could also be getting interference from fluorescent lights. I have attached a long bare copper wire to my radio antenna to improve the signal strength. It helps if the wire runs out side and as high as possible. With all the local FM stations deciding that the music from my generation is no longer popular I have resorted to inserting a cassette that plugs into my Sandisk Sansa Clip for music to play through my radio. I get to listen to the music I like commercial free.

[Jim O'Dell]

The Tyvek wrap may have caused the problem I had with reception. I use and old am/fm radio from a car in my shop. I recently got tired of the poor reception and made a metal plate to mount the antenna outside the shop and now the reception is exceptional. I use a powered antenna that creates it's own ground plane. Made for use on boats and motor homes. Not sure you can even still get them. Jim.