Very poor Aerial on new Stereo

SteelyDanJalapeno

Hi All,

Originally had this in the wrong sub, hopefully a mod can delete the original.

Calling on your expertise on this as I'm lost.

So we got a new fancy stereo at home over the xmas with great digital capabilities, bluetooth, HDMI, CD, etc.

but It's going to be used 80 - 90% of the time by the mother for local radio so the tuner, I tuned in the national stations fine but the smaller local stations are are pretty bad in the area where we want to place the stereo, it does improve in other spots of the house but it's never great.

I think the stock aerial provided looks really thin so it may be rubbish, I'm hoping there's something aftermarket I can improve this with? or any other ideas from you guys to get better reception!

I should note, it's in the same spot where the last surround system was placed that had perfect signal but it had a coax port which allowed me to pop a coax cable in from an aerial in the attic, I have tried mating the new aerial cable with the old coax but it doesn't help much.

Pictures :

https://imgur.com/a/AwJQS




https://imgur.com/a/Y3Xh1

Losty Dublin

Is there a coaxial aerial socket at the back of the radio?

SteelyDanJalapeno

No, just the socket in the 1st pic

SteelyDanJalapeno

https://www.ebay.com/p/Sony-1-754-399-11-175439911-AM-FM-Audio-Loop-Antenna-Hi-Fi-System-OEM/2254496133?iid=311455287655

Could I modify something like this to fit the 2 pin socket I have?

ford fiesta

Newer tuners are terrible and the older the unit the better

purchase an amplified tv/radio aerial and connect it up and ensure that any amplified or non-amplified aerial you use is away from an electrical wire and away from a wall. near a window helps.

Losty Dublin

TiltedBrain wrote: »

https://www.ebay.com/p/Sony-1-754-399-11-175439911-AM-FM-Audio-Loop-Antenna-Hi-Fi-System-OEM/2254496133?iid=311455287655

Could I modify something like this to fit the 2 pin socket I have?

My experience with them was that they were grand, but they are definitely not worth that sort of money. Most of those basic ass antenna pretty much will just earth the signal, which will help improve the reception for a local or national carrier . What you will find is that moving the location of it will make a massive improvement; this means playing with it for a few minutes. Ford's advice below will help as well.

ford fiesta

as i said an amplified aerial will help greatly, you could pick one up 2nd hand or new they are about €20. as well as electrical wires and sources...be sure and keep the aerial well away from the tuner....extend the aerial cable if needed.

i find old analogue tuner displays are better for testing signals than digital displays.... also play around with the stereo/mono FM mode if the hi-fi has one.

dxhound2005

People don't see anything unusual about having TV aerials on roofs and chimneys. That is where a proper FM aerial should live as well.

DJ Chris Murray

What local radio station is it?
It might be worth making contact with them regarding poor coverage in that area.

Antenna

What make/model is your new stereo?

(there might be an adapter available?)

TiltedBrain wrote: »

Could I modify something like this to fit the 2 pin socket I have?

So there are definitely 2 pins in the FM socket on the stereo?

Coax inner would go to one (the one that the supplied wire aerial currently connects to)
Coax outer would connect to the other (currently unconnected)

- if you can improvise a connection, keeping wires as short as possible from the coax to the connector

A common AM loop aerial connector might match that socket (try get a discarded one), if so cut the connector off with just enough of the 2 wires to attach to the inner and outer of the coax as above

SteelyDanJalapeno

Antenna wrote: »

What make/model is your new stereo?

(there might be an adapter available?)



So there are definitely 2 pins in the FM socket on the stereo?

Coax inner would go to one (the one that the supplied wire aerial currently connects to)
Coax outer would connect to the other (currently unconnected)

- if you can improvise a connection, keeping wires as short as possible from the coax to the connector

A common AM loop aerial connector might match that socket (try get a discarded one), if so cut the connector off with just enough of the 2 wires to attach to the inner and outer of the coax as above

Hi thanks for the reply!

Let me double check if there is 2 pins physically there, the model is Sony mhc v50d.

That mine explain why the coax existing is not helping when I connect the coax inner to that cable, so you think another wire connected to the shield of the coax might help?