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Get new FM receiver or better antenna?

For FM radio I am using the tuner in my Onkyo 805 avr with a $30 Radio Shack powered antenna. Most of the time the reception is awful, even from nearby stations.

I suspect I need an outdoor antenna, but can't do that 'cause I live in a rented house and can't put any holes through the wall.

Would a better antenna, like the Terk Q or Terk Pro, do the trick or do I need a seperate FM tuner?
mmarvin19

Showing 2 responses by larryi

larryi
3,715 posts
 
Even if you upgrade to a better tuner, you will need a decent antenna, so I would start there first. Check out the following website for guidance on indoor antenna selection:

http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/antenna.html

There is a link on that page to Magnum Dynalab, the Canadian company that specializes in FM tuners. They make pretty good indoor antennae. I have the cheaper ribbon one myself, but the long whip one is better. I get poor results myself from cheap, amplifying antennae which just increase both the signal and noise level and do a poor job of noise rejection.
larryi
3,715 posts
 
Kotta,

Your suggestion for the C. Crane antenna looks interesting. It appears to be a fancy and more versatile version of a simple dipole antenna at a not unreasonable price. They give good advice on alternative configurations of the dipole legs.

Dipoles can work reasonably well, but, they do have to be oriented toward the preferred stations to work well. That can be a problem when signals are coming from all directions. The vertically oriented whip antenna might be better when signals are coming from all directions.

The Magnum Dynalab ribbon antenna which I use (sort of like a rabbit ear antenna) can be oriented in different directions and "tuned" to different frequencies by changing the relative lengths of the dipole legs vs. the vertically oriented leg. Still, there is just so much any of these kinds of antenna can do.
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