Good outdoor FM radio antenna

Status
Not open for further replies.

JoshuaHufford

Member
Feed Provider
Joined
May 27, 2018
Messages
694
Location
Jefferson City, Mo
My Father-In-Law mentioned that he would like to have the ability to listen to FM radio inside his shop and office, the office is located inside his shop. The shop is a metal building so obviously without an antenna outside the building reception suffers, he has tried.

He has allowed me to install 3 antennas and several radios on this shop since it is at a great receive site for the area, so I would like to put up an FM antenna for him. I did some searching and the selections are vast, curious if anyone has any experience with them and/or has a good suggestion. I know most of us are trying to avoid the FM band but I figure someone here probably has put up an antenna for FM.

Also, should I run 50 ohm or 75 ohm coax?
 

mmckenna

I ♥ Ø
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
23,617
Location
Hiding in a coffee shop.
Depends a lot on what he wants to listen to.
Is it one specific station? Then a directional antenna would be a good choice if he's on the fringes of coverage.
Is it the entire FM broadcast band? Then an omnidirectional is your best shot.

I have a stereo in my garage and the antenna is mounted up in the rafters. Since there's little danger of damage to the antenna and weather isn't an issue, I ordered a cheap omnidirectional FM antenna off Amazon and mounted it on a piece of 3/4" PVC pipe.
For outdoors, you might want something a bit better, but you don't need to go overboard. Even an omnidirectional vertical whip cut for something near the FM broadcast band is going to work.

As for coax, RG-6 should do just fine. The FM broadcast antennas will usually have an F connector on them, so that makes it easy. The receiver will have an F connector or screw terminals.
 

JoshuaHufford

Member
Feed Provider
Joined
May 27, 2018
Messages
694
Location
Jefferson City, Mo
Thanks, should have posted that yes I want it to be omni.

Since it will be outdoors I'm planning on using a polyphaser in the coax, so I'll just make custom lengths that I need, just wanted to make sure I got what would work best. I know signal loss at 88-108MHz isn't a big problem.

I already have a grounding buss bar that 3 polyphasers mount to, then that is connected to a ground rod with #6 copper wire.
 

mmckenna

I ♥ Ø
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
23,617
Location
Hiding in a coffee shop.
Should be pretty easy, then.
You can get the protectors with F connectors to make life easier.

Mine was in the rafters, so I didn't need anything fancy. I went with this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DHHOZBI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
$17.00 and it did what I needed. Even though it's an "omni-directional", it does have a bit of a null on the side where the coax connected. Not a big deal, though. Works "good enough" for what I needed. Not sure how it would do exposed to the elements, but seems decent enough.

I'll add…. I did specifically buy that one because it was inexpensive. I know there are better ones out there, and I know I could have built my own, but for a quick/easy install, it did the trick.
 

JoshuaHufford

Member
Feed Provider
Joined
May 27, 2018
Messages
694
Location
Jefferson City, Mo
Thanks, I did see that one.

I just happened to notice, the extra Polyphaser protectors I have only work down to 125MHz, so I'll need a good bulkhead surge protector if anyone has a suggestion for that.
 

i386

GMRS WRFB260
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jul 19, 2019
Messages
29
Location
Georgia
It is hard to find a good directional Antenna. Maybe check out Stellar Labs FM Antenna. I purchased one but it arrived damaged I got a refund and was told to keep it. I am not gonna use it probably gonna trash it because it's bent a little. It does seem a little on the cheap side. But if wind will not be a problem it may work for you. There is a very good older model Channel Master directional FM on eBay but seller wants almost $500.00. Good Luck
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top