Quote:
Originally Posted by jr_tech
Have you connected it to any sort of antenna? Even a 5 to 20 foot length of wire should help considerably. If you are hearing the religious station at the dial position shown in the photo (20%) it would be near the high frequency end of the dial... possibly WFIC 1530 kHz in Collinsville. jr
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Yes, I have tried a 8 ft length of wire, a UHF "bowtie", and from an old Zenith Transoceanic 500 radio I robbed the Wave-Magnet as well as the telescopic antenna. None of these had any effect unless my body was in contact except the Zenith antennas. The Wave-Magnet only had some response, but the same sets large telescopic gave me an acceptable result. The result being a surprise to me as telescopic antennas are more suitable for lower bandwidth/higher frequency applications like F.M. transmission. A coil of wire is normally more suited to A.M. reception in theory at least.
You hit the nail on the head with length. An Atwater-Kent service bulletin I have recommends quite a bit of wire and use of an earth ground, If training memory serves me right, an AM antenna is supposed to be arranged in loops or coils, but no mention of anything like that in the bulletin. I have a 30s Silvertone cathedral in which someone ran a bunch of turns of copper around a cardboard form as a homemade antenna. Maybe I will try that one out.
As it stands I only pick up the one station out of Eden, NC or perhaps Reidsville. These would be in closer proximity to my home in Ridgeway, VA than WFIC at around 25 miles distance.