Help - FM radio reception in steel shop building?

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JeffisOld

JeffisOld

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Guys, I am using an Onkyo 5.1 receiver in my shop and cannot get decent reception with an FM booster plugged in and at least 50 feet of wire run inside or outside the shoshop. Did not make any real difference inside or out.

Funny though, reception is many times better with the garage doors open.

It's frickin winter though!

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I'm kinda pissed because I would really like good reception for music.

I am admittedly a talk radio junkie too!

I'm sure those who know me knew I was an NPR guy! :icon_fU:

Like my buddy Leadfoot!
 
That's what my dad uses
He'll be listening to some bluegrass radio station out of kentucky...some 5000 miles away
 
I am not the most literate re: internet music.

What's the best app to use?
 
metal roof? i stripped a piece of cable, attached it to the antenna, ran it up to the roof, loosened a screw, attached the other end and made the whole roof my antenna.
 
joel d. snyder said:
metal roof? i stripped a piece of cable, attached it to the antenna, ran it up to the roof, loosened a screw, attached the other end and made the whole roof my antenna.
Click to expand...

I had considered that joel.

Was it successful?
 
JeffisOld said:
I am not the most literate re: internet music.

What's the best app to use?
Click to expand...
I guess you could use your phone and listen to your favorite station online, but I was thinking a stand alone unit
I bought my mother in law one a few years ago for 80 bucks, I believe, and it's still going strong
 
Almost forgot, you do need internet for these radios (in case thst wasn't clear)
 
Car antenna mounted outside up high. Should work.
I have a spare satellite reciever,music stations give me the background noise i need to work.
Bad satellite days, i have 6 gigs of music in my phone.
 
Search the internet for a J-poleFM radio antenna. One made out of copper tubing. My shop blocked any radio signal except for some rare occasions. I built one of the J-poles and routed it to my stereo. I get to rock out every day now.
 
Download "pandora" app, and don't look back. Any type of music you could ever want. I have multiple bluetooth speakers around, even one in my LED shop light.
 
70dustah said:
Download "pandora" app, and don't look back. Any type of music you could ever want. I have multiple bluetooth speakers around, even one in my LED shop light.
Click to expand...
It has been years since I listened to Pandora, but back then they would go off track easy

You d start off listening to iron maidens run to the hills and the next song would be kate Bush's running up that hill

I don't know if they still group em the same, but that was annoying
 
I put a cheep tv antenna in a window here,( 6" by 6" and a 1/4 inch thick) Before hooking it up I could not pick up nothing , well a local station and some near by stations, now I am all over the place on stations to listen to, I even pick up a tv station for news at 6pm .. I think I paid 14 bucks for it on a clearance rack

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I'll second the Pandora for your smartfone. I liked it so much I subscribed for a whole $3.99 a month. I created different stations so I can listen to different stuff depending on whether I want something more mellow or more rock or whatever. On the occasions I want to listen to someone giving a talk about something, I have plenty of videos qued up in my "watch later" on youtube, which I can then listen to while I work.

I connected my phone to the receiver in my shop using a 1/8" stereo jack to RCA connector cable. And obviously you'll need a good signal in there. You can use Pandora for free, but you'll get short commercials. If you like it, you can eliminate them 100% by subscribing.

As far as your particular building goes, I noticed yours is a steel frame, where mine is the typical steel cladding over wooden posts. I don't have any problems with radio or cell reception. I'm guessing the frame work is grounded on your place which will create a faraday cage effect. A quick confirmation would be to measure voltage between a frame rail and the hot terminal (the smaller of the two rectangular ones) on a receptacle. A reading of around 120V means the frame is at earth potential.
 
FIRST thing VERY FIRST THING you need to do is FIND OUT where the FM stations are...miles and terrain. alternatively, or in addition, can you receive these from your car while pulled away from the shop? How about the house? Does a system in the house work well?

You have two potential problems.........low signal strength, and HIGH NOISE LEVEL

Lots and lots of "stuff" generates noise, carried over the power system. Microprocessor in your micorwave, stove, washer dryer, computers, modems, you name it, generates noise, even when "off." ONE OF THE worst noise makers in my house is the tiny "switching" charger for my cell phone

A GOOD outdoor antenna is a good idea, fed with coax just like TV, but if the stations are too far away, or mountainous territory, you might not gain enough

WHY your present antenna may not work:

May well be noise generated by "something" in the shop / over power lines, and that antenna is picking up that noise and since your makeshift antenna is "just a wire" it is picking up the noise right from the radio

JUST USING COAX to isolate a makeshift antenna may now work, either. There is a situation do to mismatch between the antenna / coax (swr) that will cause the coax to what is called "radiate." This means that the coax outer shield becomes part of the "radiating" system, and will pick up and conduct noise into the radio. You must have a DESIGNED matched system. On something like a TV antenna (similar) which is 300 ohms, you must have a 300 ohm--to 75 ohm balun transformer.l (Balun means BAlanced to UNbalanced), that is twinlead to coax

IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND that many home made "internet" design antennas do NOT PROPERLY ADDRESS the situation of properly matching coax to the antenna and creating proper shield isolation so that the coax does not pick up noise

If stations are close enough you don't need a "gain" antenna, or if they are from several directions, a turnstile or "S" antenna might be a good choice

FM Antennas

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Very poor AM and FM reception here. Got an HD radio, and that problem is gone. Reception is crystal clear. Bad thing is that only about 1/2 the stations broadcast in HD.
 
I used to do antenna installs for a living. If you want to call low pay and no benefits a living. If the towers are close, say 20 miles and there is nothing between you and the towers, just put a monopole on the roof. If all the station towers are in the same direction at a distance, get a unidirectional yagi FM antenna for the roof. If the towers are scattered, get an antenna like 67dart mentioned, although I've not had much luck with omnidirectionals. If there is an obstruction between you and the towers, say a power line or hill, nothing will work right.
 
I use an old shoulder blaster boombox from the early 80’s in the shop, one of the ones that required a truck load of D batteries (or plug it into the wall), with a CB Whip Antenna from a truck hooked to it.

I pull in stations from 60+ miles away, though some of them do require precise adjustment on the tuning, as a few other stations in its reception range use similar frequencies.
 
Keystone said:
I'll second the Pandora for your smartfone. I liked it so much I subscribed for a whole $3.99 a month. I created different stations so I can listen to different stuff depending on whether I want something more mellow or more rock or whatever. On the occasions I want to listen to someone giving a talk about something, I have plenty of videos qued up in my "watch later" on youtube, which I can then listen to while I work.

I connected my phone to the receiver in my shop using a 1/8" stereo jack to RCA connector cable. And obviously you'll need a good signal in there. You can use Pandora for free, but you'll get short commercials. If you like it, you can eliminate them 100% by subscribing.

As far as your particular building goes, I noticed yours is a steel frame, where mine is the typical steel cladding over wooden posts. I don't have any problems with radio or cell reception. I'm guessing the frame work is grounded on your place which will create a faraday cage effect. A quick confirmation would be to measure voltage between a frame rail and the hot terminal (the smaller of the two rectangular ones) on a receptacle. A reading of around 120V means the frame is at earth potential.
Click to expand...

Thanks Keystone, I hate to sound ignorant, but I am! What will that tell me?

And what would be the suggested course of action if, as I expect, at earth potential?
 
I think that will means you won't get any reception within that building unless you put an antenna outside, or as someone else mentioned, directly up against a window. I know that doesn't help much, but it might explain the situation a little.
 
Got same issues with a metal building. I hooked antenna wire to the conduit. Still nothing. The metal roof and walls blocks my phone signal so pandora is out of the question too. I guess its time to mount an external antenna.
 
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