Quote:
Originally Posted by Old1625
I've done just that--install the clip without the cardboard liner. If the cord is not manhandled too much it should be OK.
But wouldn't you be happier with a dipole....?
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You have a point; I
am happier with the results I get from an external antenna than I ever was with the line cord antenna, as I will explain. I have not tried to reconnect the line cord antenna since reading your reply to my post, as I get better reception using an external antenna (my MJ1035 gets stations from 50+ miles away on FM with just a 6' length of wire on the FM antenna terminal). No worries/concerns about shock hazards or damage to the FM front end in case of line cord insulation failure, either. These radios work with the line cord antenna, but in 35 years as an amateur radio operator I've learned that the better the antenna on a receiver, the better the reception will be (this rule of thumb applies to any type of radio, not just shortwave sets, but especially to FM since FM signals, especially FM stereo signals, are weaker and more difficult to receive well than AM). It doesn't matter how sensitive the receiver is; if it doesn't get enough signal, it won't work well or, in extreme cases, at all, so it pays to use the best antenna one can find. These older Zeniths (and other makes of FM radios) were designed with external antenna terminals for a reason; however, most of the time, in good signal areas (read urban to near suburban), non-technical people just use the line cord antenna and accept whatever results they get. Much of the time they never realize the full potential of their radios as far as distance reception is concerned, except during temperature inversions and other unusual weather conditions that cause FM signals to skip hundreds of miles beyond their normal service area (I once heard a station from West Palm Beach, Florida at my former home in suburban Cleveland after a summer lightning storm knocked a local FM station off the air, but I knew that was a fluke; I was right--it never happened again).