Please help me fix my S350 antenna situation (FM + SW).

Hello!

Proud owner of a Grunding S350. I do FM/SW/AM mainly.It's been a good friend but now the telescopic dipole antenna has broken. Tried to order some on ebay and even locally in ships but they never turn out to be the right size.

Is there a specific dimension I should be looking for?

Alternatively, would anyone please explain how the back coax socket and the red/ black pins can help me get back the same experience with just the telescopic antenna?

I am confused as my telescopic antenna provided both FM and SW reception I believe.
In the back of the radio, FM is labeled as the one with the Coax and SW/iAM s with the red/black pins.

Can I have just one DIY antenna that would provide both FM and SW? Would a loop work for both?
I believe the AM has an internal antenna which seems to provide me with enough reception.

Thanks so much!!

yul - you can emulate the whip by using a "dab" telescopic antenna replacement for FM. They have "F" connector to attach to the coax jack of the S350, and conveniently a knuckle, so you can bend it upright.

If that is not available, one can use a right-angle F-BNC adapter, and you can use a telescopic whip with bnc mount too. Length is usually about 20 to 30 inches or so. With this setup, you can ruggedize it a bit with a shorter flexible whip, like the Diamond RH-77CA. Make sure you get the sex of the connector adapters right before ordering.

Shortwave? Just attach a slim wire to the RED terminal, and hang it up with a little loop at the end perhaps, or attach it to some sort of nearby support. Length isn't critical for what I'm assuming is quick by the bedstand kind of usage.

For even better SW reception, attach about 8 feet or so of wire to the BLACK clip, and throw that on the floor. Even if the original telescopic wasn't broken, thrown about 8 feet or more of wire on the floor attached to the black ground clip can do wonders.

You'll be back in business pronto!

Thanks for your reply! I made a typo earlier it is just a telescopic antenna...not dipole...

Now I will look into the dab options as it seems quite affordable on ebay as well as the external wire for SW.

Can you please tell me how the previous whip antenna would provide support for both FM and SW where now I would need two separate ones?

Thanks a lot!.

The built in antenna on most shortwave radios is included to make the unit 'portable'. It is not tuned for any particular frequency and is 'in circuit' all the time. Any conductor can be used to help receive, however, once a person is serious enough to start using external antennas, they are usually interested in an antenna that is designed for the band or bands of interest. As the FM band is way different in frequency form the shortwave bands, separate connections are supplied so they can both be 'hooked up'. For the most part the 'little' telescoping antenna is not a good antenna for shortwave but will work for strong stations.

If you are interested, there is a lot of information about antennas both here on RR and on the 'net.

Hi Yul - I forgot something - you'll need a "male pal to F" adapter before you use the dab antenna since the dab antenna is an F connector, and the S350 uses PAL.

I'd have to dig into the circuitry, but generally the reason for two separate jacks on the back are because they are more specialized, and usually much more efficient than using the single telescopic for both purposes.

Another option:
Instead of the DAB antenna replacement, you might be able to use the longer shortwave RED antenna jack to do both: Attach and hang long free wire to red jack for sw. Add a small jumper wire from red jack to the center conductor of the PAL jack for fm. Since the PAL jack is female, you might be able to safely slip the small jumper inside that snugly.

But you would have to experiment, since I'm not sure how well that would work.

Thanks so much this is very interesting I will experiment and report back!!

Much appreciated. Cheers