AM Broadcast Band Receive Antenna

[liquidgee]

Is there an omni-directional antenna for the AM Broadcast band to be used in conjunction with a stereo system that gets better gain than the standard loop provided by the manufacturer? I'd like to mount it in the attic if possible.

Any suggestions or info would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Liquidgee

 

[w2xq]

You could try running a wire around the perimeter of the attic, using a staple gun to tack the wire to the rafters. But the near proximity of electrical circuits, computers, routers, control devices and noisy wall may well raise the noise floor. An old rule of thumb that continues to be true today: get the antenna away from the house, at least 5m, and the higher the better. I know that isn't the clean answer you are seeking, but HTH a bit.

 

[Boombox]

A wire in the attic would probably not be very directional at the length you'd be using, so it would be -- for all practical concerns -- 'omnidirectional'.

Wires generally don't get directional until they're actual long wires -- 100-200 ft or more for Shortwave, longer than that for MW frequencies. At true long wire lengths, they begin to get directional, first off the sides (cloverleaf pattern), and then more and more off the ends of the wire.

For your typical attic wire antenna, you wouldn't have to worry about directionality as much as local noise, as Trsundstrom said.