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Old 08-30-2015, 12:35 AM
Titan1a Titan1a is offline
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Vintage radios and antennae.

I noticed that very few consoles from the thirties and forties have RF stages in them. How was it that people were able to receive broadcasts quite some distance from a transmitter? I'm located in Plattsmouth, NE which is about 25 miles from Omaha, 50 miles from Lincoln, NE or Shenandoah, IA. I went with a CCrane Twincoil antenna. The reception is still poor on stations broadcasting at 5KW. Can an "oldie but smartie" enlighten me on how people during the '30's through the '40's installed their radios? Also, how about AM DXing (at night)?
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Old 08-30-2015, 12:00 PM
Bill R Bill R is offline
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There are a couple of things. Radios of that era usually required a long wire (150-200 feet in length), and a good earth ground. The larger the antenna the better. You also have to remember that in 1930 broadcast radio was only 10 years old. There simply were not as many stations competing for spectrum space. So the band was much quieter than today. Later some powerhouse stations were granted clear channel status from the government. Here in my area WSM was a clear channel station on 650 am. There were no other stations on that frequency. You can still pick up WSM hundreds of miles away.
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Old 08-30-2015, 01:38 PM
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jr_tech jr_tech is offline
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I totally echo the above statements and add one more reason for poor reception today... most homes are very noisy environments for AM radio reception, with lamp dimmers, TV sets, CFL lamps, switching power supplies and a myriad of other noise producers that "dirty our own nests" . That CC radio is a fine performer... take it outside, perhaps to a large park, away from man-made interference and you might be amazed.

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Old 08-30-2015, 06:20 PM
Bill R Bill R is offline
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Interference is a major problem at my house. I have a transformer on the pole that renders anything under 1khz am useless.
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Old 09-02-2015, 08:47 AM
sjt1803 sjt1803 is offline
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Vintage radio antenna

I echo the question.
In our modern era, how do we get sufficient signal to 30's radios that do not have a RF stage.
Drilling a hole through the living room wall and running a wire out to a tree 150 feet away is not practical plus it might result in a few divorces.

What is a practical solution to achieve some success in receiving stations on these radios that came with no antenna at all?

Besides AM some of these radios also include shortwave bands.

Can amplified antennas be used? for example.
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Old 09-02-2015, 02:16 PM
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Im hoping somebody knows how to properly connect a smaller, compact coil AM antenna
to the 1930's AM - SW sets that require a 100 foot outdoor antenna based on their antenna circuits. I do not think amplifying would help as noise will also be amplified.

Taking about 20 feet of bare copper antenna wire or lamp cord and burying it under a rug or behind crown molding has worked for me in the past. I have found that an RF amp stage helps slightly on daytime reception.

As for 1939 and later sets with built-in coil and ferrite bar antennas, just moving around within the room can make a difference. It is best to scout the room with a pocket radio.
Another method is to pull the plug on your AC set and if interference stops as clear reception fades away when filter caps discharge, you may benefit from a line filter installed inside your set. Fitting it with a grounded plug can help.

Scouting with a pocket radio is also helpful in pinpointing interference. I found a cordless drill battery charger in my basement was blanking out lower FM band at 90 second intervals of 5 seconds. If you have any motion sensor lights, these will affect night reception. Switch to LED lamps with less noisy driver supply
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Old 09-02-2015, 06:10 PM
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All these wonderful modern "Gee Whiz" devices are NOT supposed to booger up radios, but in actuality, most of them DO. at least that's been my unhappy predicament. I just try to give 'em a good insulated antenna connection, & hope for the best...
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Old 09-02-2015, 08:17 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sjt1803 View Post
Drilling a hole through the living room wall and running a wire out to a tree 150 feet away is not practical plus it might result in a few divorces.
Why drill a hole? Run an insulated wire out a window. Do it in the back yard where neighbors and wife have less to complain about in the curb appeal department....

If the back side pf your roof is below the peak run the wire across the back of your roof below the peak....Better yet tension it between two posts there.

I had a long wire in my back yard in a fancy neighborhood with strict codes, and no body (not even my mom) gave me any guff over it......Well one of my asshole teenage friends did take down the tree end as a prank.

I'd have one now if it were not for a tree half falling in the path I'd chosen. The damn thing is still alive and propped up at a funny angle by the tree I want to run the wire to.

Radio shack used to sell and may still sell a rather AWESOME longwire kit.....That thing would give any receiver (even cell phones in remote woods) a mind blowing improvement in performance. Worth every penny and ounce of effort to erect it to any serious radio user.
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