this looks pretty neat, but you never know
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DHHOZBI/?tag=fabo03-20
Lot of bad reviews
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DHHOZBI/?tag=fabo03-20
Lot of bad reviews
Help - FM radio reception in steel shop building?
- Thread starter JeffisOld
- Start date
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pishta
I know I'm right....
If all the stations are the same general direction, get an old TV antenna. If is uses the 75ohm twin lead, get 2 75-300ohm convertors and run it with RG-6 coax with the convertors on both ends. Aim the antenna with the small elements toward the antennas. mount it so it is grounded at the base, the antenna elements are isolated on the frame. If you see a cable TV guy out in town, ask him for a coax ground block, it further protects the drop from zapping your stereo in case of a lightning strike. if your serious about AM reception, look into a shielded loop antenna that is directional. put it on the end of a long pole from your stereo shelf and you can turn it at the base to hone in to your station. Belar LP-1 and LP-1A AM Shielded Loop Antennas
Johnny Dart
Well-Known Member
FM radio...Huh ? Bunch of blabbing,commercials,and static.
Get into the 21st century. Pandora or I heart radio on your phone.
Get an adapter for your stereo, and plug it in.
Cheers !
Get into the 21st century. Pandora or I heart radio on your phone.
Get an adapter for your stereo, and plug it in.
Cheers !
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
I heart radio, and pandora both have issues getting a signal inside a metal building. The OP stated he was working with a metal building. I have pandora and i cannot get a signal from that or get even get internet inside my metal building on my phone, additionally if i am talking on it, i better not go too far into my building, or the call drops. Dealing with a metal building is quite a bit different as it shields signals badly. It was spotty with the fiberglass skylites in the roof, however once i closed them in because of hail in my area of the country, i get absolutely no signal, and a marginal one at best with the door open.
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Johnny Dart
Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear that.
Do you have service on the outside of your building ?
Do you have service on the outside of your building ?
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
I have wifi in my house. As soon as i step outside the building it connects with a strong signal.
Take about ten turns of 22awg wire around your receivers a.c. cord, near where it enters the case. Connect one end of the wire to an ant terminal. Try reception. Then try the other ant terminal. See if one is better than the other.
You can also try this with your fm booster.
Let me know how it works for you.
You can also try this with your fm booster.
Let me know how it works for you.
Ddaddy
Just doing what I do
Read the OP’s post carefully and you will see that he gets FM radio reception fine when the garage doors are open, but not when they are closed.
This means that he lives in an area where FM radio reception is accessible, but with the garage doors closed the enclosed metal structure is preventing the reception.
This means his metal building with the doors closed is acting as a “Faraday Cage” which blocks radio transmissions.
Therefore, the only possible answer is to attach the receiver to an external antenna using properly shielded cable so the the available FM signals outside the “Faraday Cage” can reach the receiver.
Problem solved.
This means that he lives in an area where FM radio reception is accessible, but with the garage doors closed the enclosed metal structure is preventing the reception.
This means his metal building with the doors closed is acting as a “Faraday Cage” which blocks radio transmissions.
Therefore, the only possible answer is to attach the receiver to an external antenna using properly shielded cable so the the available FM signals outside the “Faraday Cage” can reach the receiver.
Problem solved.
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Johnny Dart
Well-Known Member
Your problem sounds more like you are out of WiFi range. Had the same issue,with a detached garage.
Try one of these in your garage. WiFi extender. They work good, and are inexpensive.
My present job is in a steelbuilding and im using Peltor earprotection with built in radio, a system that works very well but steelbuildings are what they are and its a mather of finding the spots where the building is not blocking out the signal,sometimes its just a mather of taking one step in a random direction, other places in the building is impossible to find FM signals. try to move your antenna around you might just find a location where the antenna is happy atlest with a few chanels.
Same oddity can occur in heavily reinforced concretebuildings,great signal in some spots and no signal at all just a fot away.
Same oddity can occur in heavily reinforced concretebuildings,great signal in some spots and no signal at all just a fot away.
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Not sure that will work. If its inside the building, the building blocks the signal, if its outside the building, the building blocks the signal. My shop is 15 feet away from my house. As soon as i walk outside i get a super hot wifi signal, and radio signal. The only way a wifi booster would work in an all metal building with the doors closed would be to run a wire to pipe it inside the shop. Something i am not going to do. Now the FM antenna i am willing to do. Add that to my list of 8,000 things to fo.
There is something aesthetically pleasing and personally rewarding about putting a well-designed piece of metal into the air and receiving communication from your fellow man. Long live broadcast signals.
pishta
I know I'm right....
read post #27...I wouldnt mention lightning strike if the antenna was inside.
70chall440
Mopar or No Car...
I agree that you should try and determine where the stations are located in relation to you (which side of the building). A simple antenna is a dipole, take some common speaker wire, split it down the middle, your antenna connection should have 2 posts (unless it is a RG59 connection which is a barrel, in that case you will need a piece of RG59 coxial wire to cut apart to get to the inner core (postive or center connection) and outer sheathing (negative or outer connection), either way, you need one wire to go left and one to go right as far as you want/can and as high as you can get them on the side of the building facing the radio stations. I have 2 40x60 metal buildings and have these in both and they work, plus I spent 2 decades as a Special Forces communications sergeant and have made all sorts of antennas in all sorts of places. All that said, a huge part of this is how far away you are (signal strength), if you are very far away you made need to erect a large exterior antenna high in order to get the signal.
Is there something you don't know about ? It's a serious question. You seem very intelligent about a lot of different things.
pishta
I know I'm right....
You have a window? Here is what can be done. Get a WAP (Wireless access point) Its like an extender but it has an RJ54 (ethernet) jack on it so old computers can get on line. Put the WAP up by your window so it can 'see' your house and get your strong house wifi, then run a ethernet cable to a generic wireless router inside your metal workshop and have a new wireless point of presence inside your Faraday cage. The extender may work just fine on its own but you must get it in line of sight with the house. That will get you inside wifi, but an antenna on the roof should get you plenty of FM. PM me, I got something for you.
I have the same problem as the OP, so I am paying attention here, too. My building is all metal. Cuts off cordless phone signal and has very poor am fm reception. ........and I am NOT going with internet radio. I know. I am stuck in the past, but let me be happy there. LOL Reception is great everywhere outside the shop. In the car, my truck, the house. So it's not location. I am totally electronically stupid......as of yet, I have not seen a clear solution. Del's post, while informative, got over my head in two sentences. LOL Can yall stupid this up a little?
pishta
I know I'm right....
Got a spare AT-271 10 foot folding PRC-25 antenna in your bag?
We had to use those in a clearing to get any comm in the double canopy jungles of Philippines. Not sure the thing is optimized for 88-107Mhz FM though.
70chall440
Mopar or No Car...
Got a spare AT-271 10 foot folding PRC-25 antenna in your bag?
No I don't, in fact I don't have any old commo gear. We used an improvised jungle antenna usually if the canopy was thick and I was pushing FM. Most of our commo was HF though, used a lot of full wave and half wave antennas, made a 2500 mile shot on SSB using CW.
pishta
I know I'm right....
man, we could barely reach a relay in an 80 foot tower from some of our positions. We weren't SF so we got Vietnam era gear. Heck, the Navy condemned our barracks in Cubi Pt. 30 years before I got there and they were still using them! 
Ok, nevermind. I'll just hit and miss and see what I come up with.
JeffisOld
Old, Ugly and generally Disagreeable!
Steve, how do I connect this thing to my receiver? It would do me no good anyway if I have to xmit through my phone. Those 2 big Bose boxes need to make enough noise to be heard over a grinder!
diymirage
HP@idle > hondaHP@redline
Not too mention that in just about every post apocalyptic move you see, there is a good guy with a shortwave radio sending all sorts of pertinent to survival information into the ether
pishta
I know I'm right....
WIFI device to stereo? Get an old laptop, PC or even a cell phone that has no plan on it (like an old android) and use the 1/8 headphone jack to L/R RCA adapter and run them into your L/R AUX connection. Use the phones wifi and get Pandora or whatever you like and rock on. Old laptops are $10 on www.Shopgoodwill.com and dont need any horsepower to run pandora, although I find the "stations" that you create on Pandora are pretty limited but I got some weird taste in music.
Im running wifi in my shop,with an extender. Im 300 feet from the house. I can use it for music, but my satellite reciever is far better.
I added an extra reciever for $5 a month and reciever i found on a local sale site for $40.
As far as connecting my phone to stereo,earbud jack to rca adapter cord and pick an input on back of a garbage dump house stereo amp.
I did fm for a few years,80 miles from radio station, and metal roof only,there are sweet spots to get reception.
All i can say is its trial and error.
I was getting wifi with a usb wifi dongle and a satellite dish,and it was ok most of the time...until i got a range extender
I added an extra reciever for $5 a month and reciever i found on a local sale site for $40.
As far as connecting my phone to stereo,earbud jack to rca adapter cord and pick an input on back of a garbage dump house stereo amp.
I did fm for a few years,80 miles from radio station, and metal roof only,there are sweet spots to get reception.
All i can say is its trial and error.
I was getting wifi with a usb wifi dongle and a satellite dish,and it was ok most of the time...until i got a range extender
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