Watch out for the Snake Oil Antennas
I did some research awhile back and discovered that the good old "Jesus" T type antenna works better than most all other antennas indoors. Total cost: about a $1.00. If you really want good reception then you need to mount the antenna outside, attic is ok, but a nice roof antenna would probably work best. I just stick with the T-antenna and it works ok for me.
You're gonna need a real antenna, not a tiny one with an amp.
A tiny piece of metal can only pick up so much clean signal to begin with and all those tiny amplified antennas do is amplify the noise along with the signal. A big amp cannot compensate for a tiny antenna.
My experience echos Poneal's in that I find those cheapo "T" antennas worked better than all the tiny amplified antennas I've tried and believe me, I've tried 'em.
Can you put up an outdoor antenna? They don't have to be huge and massive, just up high enough to pick up clean signals.
Here's a tool to see what's available where you are. I suggest the "advanced search", where you put in your zip code and state. Knowing a little bit of your local geography helps here. ...and a map.
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?page=Y
If you've got a lot of fairly local stations in all directions, then this is a good bet. I use one of these and have a full dial.
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_disp...MSS&xzoom=zoom
If there's a lot of stations in one direction and they are farther away, then a directional antenna like this is a good place to start.
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=FM6
Many conflicting reports on this one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnMichael
Check out the Magnum Dynalab FM Antenna at
www.audiadvisor.com. It has received some good reviews and is easy to install and place. Priced at $99.95
Yes, it's the current darling of the monied set but, ultimately, if you were to mount a $4.00 "T" bar antenna as you mount this one, you would have similar performance.
That little FMSS, mounted properly, will outperform this one by a wide margin. But, it's not put out by a known* name.
For this kind of money you can get virtually any of the previously mentioned antennas, which will without a doubt outperform this by miles, and all cable an hardware needed to properly mount it and have quite a bit left over for some music or movies.
*I say this facetiously since antenna craft has been designing antennas for much longer than dynalab has been around.