Trying to pick up BBC 5 LW clearly

manalishi

Hi all,
Does anyone now how i can get decent reception for BBC 5 Live 909-693 on the LW frequency.

I have a standard bedside locker radio but the signal is atrocious. The signal keeps sweeping in and out with huge distortion. You can barely hear the conversations going on. I know it's possible to get a good signal as the AM in the car picks it up much better. So does anyone know a way to pick BBC 5 up.

will i have to get a digital radio?

and this product seems a popular one but it's very expensive... and how do in know it will work. The aerial looks very small.

Can anyone help please?

mike65

You'll never find it on LW, 909/693 are MW frequencies.

Get yourself an internet radio (you will also need a wifi router to link it with de internet)
FM clarity and about 10000 stations from everywhere.

Mike.

Greenman

Hello manalishi,

Do you have cable TV?

A wifi radio would do the trick.

A digital radio would only be good if you could receive the digital BBC signal.

You can get it on satellite too.

Tell me more and I will do my best for you.

That radio you linked would not be much better than your bedside radio.

manalishi

Do you have cable TV?
I have NTL digital. I don't want to use the TV as i need to have the radio in the my own room not the living room.

A wifi radio would do the trick.
Whats a wifi radio?

A digital radio would only be good if you could receive the digital BBC signal.
I've since researched that you can only receive DAB stations set up for your region.

You can get it on satellite too.
How do i get radio from satellite.

That radio you linked would not be much better than your bedside radio.
I figured that this radio wouldn't be much better than an ordinary one. I was just enticed in by the name "Worldband"

So what do i do? isn't there a way you can get an extendable wire with a loop at the end that i can prop up on a good vantage point to receive signal.

Greenman

Whats a wifi radio?
http://www.acoustic-energy.co.uk/Product_range/WiFi_radio/WiFi.asp will give you some ideas. Look here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055133697&highlight=wifi+radio

How do i get radio from satellite?
You need a dish a receiver and a hifi if you do not want to use a TV.

Where do you live?

This is what I've been doing for years here in Belgium, I feed a little FM transmitter low power on 88.7mhz with my sat receiver and that means I get all my sat stations where ever I am in the house or garden.

From what I'm hearing I think the WIFI internet radio is your best option, one thing though some/most of the soccer is not on the net but is on sat.

Anymore questions?

manalishi

thanks greenman.

wifi looks like a good option. stream in radio and set up a wifi radio in my room to change between stations. the only problem is bbc 5 only host a couple of their shows on the bbc site and you generally don't get it streamed live. (not in ROI anyway)

I need to pick up the MW signal coming from the UK somehow, but conventional radios just don't cut it.

An alternative could be to get the signal that comes in through the NTL and connect that to my radio. On the my ntl digital there's a perfect BBC5 reception... but it's a tv channel. how can i tap into this on a radio?

Alternatively does anyone know a good piece of equipment that can boost my signal? maybe a really good MW aerial of some sort?... shot in the dark.

mike65

You can split the NTL cable, NTL analogue carries a full range of stations all the nationals in Ireland and all the BBCs, Classic FM, Capital and Virgin.

You'll have to have a look at your signal box, I presume there are two cables, one for digital and one for analogue.

Mike.

manalishi

Ok.
my ntl box has 2 connections.
one says TV,
one says FM,
there's also a third cable disconnected that hangs beside the other two.

Splitting the cables? will i have to ring ntl to get this done. I know we had the stereo radio connected to the NTL before (what was cablelink at the time) That was a long time ago though.

Greenman

manalishi wrote: »

Ok.
my ntl box has 2 connections.
one says TV,
one says FM,
there's also a third cable disconnected that hangs beside the other two.

Splitting the cables? will i have to ring ntl to get this done. I know we had the stereo radio connected to the NTL before (what was cablelink at the time) That was a long time ago though.

http://myhome.iolfree.ie/~icdg/channels_tuning.htm Will give the cable TV/Radio tuning info.

You still didn't say where you are?

Can you bring some coax cable from the cable box to your bedroom?? If so connect the cable to FM part of the NTL box then wrap the coax in your bedroom around the FM antenna of your radio, better still get a bedside radio that takes a coaxial socket for xmas.
So in short you need a radio or micro hifi that takes an input for an external antenna for 75 Ohm FM, under the ton should have you up and running.

Please post on what you finally do.

manalishi

Thanks Greenman!
75 Ohm FM coaxial cable it will be...

my second option is to connect an itrip to the TV and broadcast BBC 5 to my bedside locker radio.

watch this space.