Can I use my standard TV aerial on the roof as an aerial for FM radio on my Hi-Fi? Or do they use totally different freq. ranges?
If so, I could possibly install a Y-splitter in the loft and feed one way to the TV and the other to the Hi-Fi?
Thanks Bruce
They're TOTALLY different frequencies. FM radio is around 88-108 MHz, whereas TV is a band somewhere between 470 and 860 MHz.
If the FM signal is strong you may get some sort of a signal, but it'll be nowhere near that you'd get with a proper Band II aerial.
You'd lose even more signal in even a "low-loss" splitter.
What you could do is fit an FM aerial on the roof and combine it into the TV aerial cable (using a waterproof splitter/combiner!) then resplitting down below, preferably using proper diplexers to reduce the losses. However, your best bet would be to have a quite separate FM aerial and cable.
But my Sony palm-sized radio receives FM really well without the need for a large antenna. Does a Hi-Fi require a more powerful signal?
Bruce
More trouble than it's worth. If it were an old 425 line TV aerial then it might be usable, but modern TV aerials are from too different a frequency. There's also the question of direction - a TV aerial is by definition pointing at a large interference source.
Unless you live out in the wilds, an FM radio signal just isn't hard to find. I'm using a random length of wet string tacked up under the stairs Get an indoor "tape" antenna and pin it up on the picture rail, it'll probably be perfect.
In article , bruce snipped-for-privacy@my-deja.com writes
Do it properly!, FM is excellent when its fed with a good signal. A correct aerial aimed at the nearest FM TX is a very worthwhile investment. Yes it may work off the TV aerial , damp string, rabbits paw soaked in snake oil etc, but its very worthwhile doing this correctly as the cost really isn't that much and the benefits are very good!.
As to does hi-fi require more signal?, its that what can pass muster on your palm sized set will be more noticeable when its shown up on a much better replay system. This is why some people reckon DAB is good, as they hear it on a small speaker usually in mono, and when some of these new services are shown up on a better system, their shortcomings are very easily heard;!..
Frank Erskine's advice is very well founded:)
The frequency range is very different. If you have a reasonably strong FM signal you could get away with a circular folded dipole similar to
As others have intimated, if you are considering an aerial at all then you can't be in a particularly strong signal area. TV is on a very different band to FM and while it'd probably be better than nothing at all, it won't really be much good.
The other thing to consider is that there are far more, and far more geographically spread FM transmitters about than TV, and that a TV aerial is designed to be directional (at TV frequencies) so it may even be pointing in completely the wrong direction.
This isn't always a problem; where I live most radio comes from the same place as the TV - the huge mast at Wenvoe - but there are other stations which don't (Red Dragon and Radio Wales share an aerial on the Wenallt for example) and depending on where exactly you live, this could be in a completely different direction to Wenvoe.
So follow advice. Get a proper FM aerial (*NOT* one of those circular things) and set it up properly, preferably with its own downlead. If you are in a relatively good signal aerial than a simple vertical dipole (big stick pointing up and down) is a good bet as it is omnidirectional. If you need more gain than that then you're going to have to choose a transmitter as all higher gain aerials are directional to a greater or lesser degree.
HTH
Hwyl!
M.
Get one of those wire T aerials. The wires go behind bookcases/furniture and can be hidden easily.
Why? If you've got a reasonable signal, a "circular thing" will pick up signals from transmitters in many directions - rather than limiting you to one transmitter as a directional aerial does.
Umm for some values of "really well". If you feed the signal into decent headphones or a good HiFi you'll notice the deficiencies. I tried to make do with a Sony ICF7600SW instead of a tuner a few years ago. It didn't take me long to go out and buy a decent tuner.
Stereo requires a stronger signal than Mono. And HiFi needs a much stronger signal to get noise and distortion down to acceptable levels.
Stop being a tight arse, get a decent aerial.
Not necessarily. My ghetto blaster has some sort of antenna in the box, my hi-fi doesn't have anything. Wet string is enough, but it needs _something_ plugged in.
Those things are very poor. They actually have negative gain compared with a basic dipole. You're far better off using a vertically polarised straight dipole. (The DIY sheds do them for 10-15 quid). Just about all UK FM radio transmitters are either mixed polarization (aerial can be hor or vert) or vertical only. Only a handful [1] out of 400 are horizontal.
Therefore a vertical dipole will respond to any transmitter in any direction.
Read this for some un-kind words about 'halos'
Thanks, Eric. I'd prefer to plug into a coax socket on the wall. But my Hi-Fi uses a flat-wire loop T antenna as you mention, connected via push-down "piano keys" at the rear of the Hi-Fi. Converting from these to coax might be nigh on impossible.
I live 3 miles away and in direct line of sight of Emley Moor transmitter, West Yorks. AFAIK this transmits FM radio also. So I reckon the TV aerial is pointed at a good FM source.
Bruce
No, you need a Balun, 99p from Maplins
Part number FD78K
Emley Moor only transmits Galaxy 105 and Real Radio 106.
BBC National and local radio in your area comes from Holme Moss (near Holmfirth)
Other local stations come from many different locations, it depends what you want to receive, but see my other post about a single vertical diople.
Yu can, but they are effin useless.
Different freqs.
No. what you need is a booster and a proper TV and a proper VHF aerial, combined into one cable that you can split for both at a wall socket.
yes, because at 100W, you can hear the hiss that your 2 uW sony won't ever make auduible.
Err, haven't you noticed they're very different in design?
If you've got a *very* strong signal for both it *may* work after a fashion. But even in a strong signal area a proper aerial will help counteract possible multi-path reception which can sound very nasty on FM.
Not at all - you need a 75 ohm to 300 ohm Balun. Cheap and widely available.
Or in fact just bodge a connection. Won't be ideal, but it will work.
3 miles. Lucky sod.I have to go across 25 odd miles of fairly flat country for my FM. Not brill.
You need a 75 to 300 ohm Balun - Maplin FD 78 at 0.99 quid. But you'll get acceptable results by connecting the centre of the co-ax to one terminal, and the screen to the receiver ground.
That's what we do here and it works very well - both the Freeview box and the FM tuner report a full strength signal on all stations (25 miles from Winter Hill).
I don't know whether I'd call the very cheap plastic splitter "proper", though. Results were initially disappointing until I accidentally connected things the wrong way round and found that that improved matters no end. It seems that the FM output is labelled "UHF" and vice- versa. :-(
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.