FM radio.

andromeda76

Hello everyone,

I just moved to a new house in Howth. Ive had a nice vintage Yamaha receiver from the late 70s in storage for a while now. I set it up the other day and connected a few different sources to it and to be honest it sounds fantastic. Well, to my ears anyway.

It's got me motivated to install an external FM areial on the roof. This is where I could use some advise. What would be the best type to install (horizontal or vertical). I'm looking to pick up local Dublin stations and BBC radio 2 which I can hear not very clearly using a piece of cable attached to the receiver.

I'm hoping a proper roof antenna will vastly improve my signal. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Ger Roe

Howth can sometimes be a tricky location for the Dublin FM stations. If you are on the northern side and low, you could be in a known shadow for coverage since the Dublin stations are operating from sites on Three Rock Mountain. If you have reasonable line of sight to Three Rock however, you should be ok with something like the antenna in the link below. You could try it in the attic first, if that is an easier option.

It should also be good for the BBC 2 signal coming from Belfast but again you might have the opposite problem of being low down on the south side of Howth with bad line of sight north. In that case, the omni directional properties of the antenna might help in receiving an alternative BBC 2 signal from Wales, but I could not swear to that - it's long time since I had to consider where BBC Radio signals were coming from.

Here in Wicklow, I have long since switched to internet options for totally reliable reception of BBC stations and also for the dublin locals that don't come this far south.

https://www.screwfix.ie/p/labgear-omni-directional-fm-radio-aerial-kit/52645?_requestid=202919

Ger Roe

One more option.... if your receiver is part of a stack that has an aux input, you could use an echo dot (or similar streaming device), to patch internet radio through that port. Then you could listen to stations from all over the world on your vintage system.

andromeda76

Thanks for the reply. Im on the northern side of Howth half way up the hill. So facing north. Would the antenna type you linked be good for picking up BBC belfast? Im hearing mixed reports on those Halo type antennas. Do you have one yourself?

reboot

BBC full wave aerial is AFAIK one meter dipole copper or alloy 15mm pipe works,radiator pipe.Horizontal polarisation.No need to spend one on this stuff,good luck.