Fm Receiver + Antenna for village

[music4mhell]

Hello Guys,

I want to buy a good FM receiver for my parents who are based in village.
Our village is around 100 Kms away from the city FM stations.

Please suggest which FM receiver and Antenna i should go for.
Budget is not the constraint.

Thanks in advance.

 

[greenhorn]

If internet is there, I would suggest you go for an internet radio based solution - thats what I did for my parents.

 

[raghupb]

FM reception is hit or miss based on distance and station signal strength.
Internet radio is a viable option or a simple media player with a HDD attached and random play. You can keep refreshing the HDD content every time you visit.

Cheers,
Raghu

 

[music4mhell]

FM reception is hit or miss based on distance and station signal strength.
Internet radio is a viable option or a simple media player with a HDD attached and random play. You can keep refreshing the HDD content every time you visit.

Cheers,
Raghu

Guys its a rural village... we don;t have internet.
We get hardly 2g internet on mobile
And my parents can't operate a smartphone also.

Plz guys, give some suggestions, which type of antenna i should go for ?

Omnidirectional or simple T type old TV antenna will work ?

 

[venkatcr]

I am not sure about private radio stations, but AIR has certainly covered the whole country.

What I would suggest is this. Get a simple antenna, mount it on the roof, and bring the cable down to the radio. This is what we used to do in the old days. This will not cost much. Maybe a few hundred Rupees. The cable should be a thin two core one. Antenna and antenna cables are available in electronic shops.

If doing that is difficult, simply mount the antenna that comes with the radio on a wall just outside your parents bedroom window.

If that is difficult, just string a long electrical cable mesh or a simple aluminium mesh, and use that as an antenna. Google gives you these designs - https://www.google.co.in/search?q=s...=o16oVpKAJNCPuATy5azABw#imgrc=l9fgrj8R9eK8iM:

Another easy option is to buy a car antenna and mount it on the outside wall.

I am very curious. Let us know what you did.

Cheers

 

[arindamcc]

Old TV antenna will work but you have to cut dipole according to wave length.

FM Dipole Antenna | Aerial Design | Electronics & Radio

 

[greenhorn]

how about music via DTH?

 

[music4mhell]

how about music via DTH?

We have videocon HD d2H at village.

Doez it have FM radio stations ?

I just checked, it doz nt have much FM stations, also i dont want to use D2h fr radio.

I want to have a good stereo setup for FM Radio

 

[music4mhell]

I am not sure about private radio stations, but AIR has certainly covered the whole country.

What I would suggest is this. Get a simple antenna, mount it on the roof, and bring the cable down to the radio. This is what we used to do in the old days. This will not cost much. Maybe a few hundred Rupees. The cable should be a thin two core one. Antenna and antenna cables are available in electronic shops.

If doing that is difficult, simply mount the antenna that comes with the radio on a wall just outside your parents bedroom window.

If that is difficult, just string a long electrical cable mesh or a simple aluminium mesh, and use that as an antenna. Google gives you these designs - https://www.google.co.in/search?q=s...=o16oVpKAJNCPuATy5azABw#imgrc=l9fgrj8R9eK8iM:

Another easy option is to buy a car antenna and mount it on the outside wall.

I am very curious. Let us know what you did.

Cheers

AIr i can get on any radio.

What's in my mind,

i will buy a norge FM tuner worth around 5K + a pair swans active speakers(10K).

So am trying to build a gud system here.
I just need to know, how to get FM signal as my village is 100 Kms away from city.
I can spend any amount of money for my parents obvi

 

[venkatcr]

So am trying to build a gud system here.
I just need to know, how to get FM signal as my village is 100 Kms away from city. I can spend any amount of money for my parents obvi

FM signals have a range of about 50-100 KM. The strong ones do. I have heard Chennai FM signals all the way to Pondicherry. I suppose you just have to try. Use an external antenna. That is you best bet. I am not sure if a pointed Yagi antenna will work. Yagi's are good for UHF and HF.

Cheers

 

[greenhorn]

Which village are we talking about?

 

[jls001]

Use Yagi-Uda TV antenna, mounted as high as possible and pointed towards the direction of FM signal.

 

[venkatcr]

Use Yagi-Uda TV antenna, mounted as high as possible and pointed towards the direction of FM signal.

I think Yagi antennas are available for radio reception. Are they not smaller and focussed on the frequencies for radio reception?

Cheers

 

[music4mhell]

Which village are we talking about?

It's a small village in Orissa, cuttack district.
Near Mahanadi river .. around 100 kms away from cuttack city or Bhubaneswar city.

The good thing is that , we get 1 fm station on mobile also .. so i think i just need to boost the signal for FM receiver ..

 

[music4mhell]

Use Yagi-Uda TV antenna, mounted as high as possible and pointed towards the direction of FM signal.

Yes i am thinking of same thing..

but should i go for a bit expensive, omnidirectional antenna ?

 

[jls001]

but should i go for a bit expensive, omnidirectional antenna ?

100 kms is aerial distance. I assume. If yes, theoretically that's a fair bit beyond even the most powerful FM transmission in India. You need as much gain as you can get to amplify the already weak signal. So use directional antenna.

 

[jls001]

I think Yagi antennas are available for radio reception. Are they not smaller and focussed on the frequencies for radio reception?

Cheers

Yagi is TV antenna but the FM band falls just above terrestrial FM frequency. So Yagi can be used successfully for receiving FM frequencies. If FM freqs were lower than TV freqs, it wouldn't have been possible to use the Yagi for receiving FM band.

Check this freq distribution chart from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_high_frequency#/media/File:VHF_Usage.svg

 

[omishra]

Use Low VHF Yagi antenna for band I (48-70MHz), it is more approximate to FM. You can buy it at local store or hunt for older ones. Manufacturing tolerance make it shorter due to cost saving. And push frequency response to near FM.
For tuner i would suggest old analog tuner with simple operation and tuning knob.

 

[philipreji]

About 20 years back I had done exactly the same thing successfully in my village, where the nearest FM station (Cochin) was about 100 km away. At that time I used a home-made uni-directional Quad antenna which was tuned to the FM station frequency.

Making the Quad antenna: buy a long aluminium pipe of the type used in YAGI-Uda antennas, and cut it to a length equal to half of the FM station wavelength (perhaps it is quarter wavelength - I forgot - Please google to confirm). Bend this pipe into a square shape. Flatten the ends using a hammer, drill one hole each at each end, and fix SS nuts and bolts. This is your dipole. Make one more identical square pipe, flatten the ends, drill holes, and tie the ends TOGETHER using a single nut and bolt. This is your reflector (rather than tying up the ends you can add a "stub" on the reflector to improve efficiency). Now mount the dipole and reflector on a frame made by PVC pipes. The distance between the dipole and reflector has an exact value which depends on the station wavelength (forgot again..pl google to find out!).

Impedance matching: Unlike the YAGI, the Quad antenna has an impedance of 75 Ohms. Therefore connect a long 75 Ohm BNC cable to the dipole (the flat cable typically used with TV antennas has an impedance of 300 Ohms) and connect the other end to the antenna input of your FM radio. Now raise the Quad antenna to a good height and point it towards the station. Move it around until you get signal in the radio. A radio with analog tuner is better for this purpose.

Signal amplification: If necessary you can amplify the signal but you will need an amplifier for the FM band with 75 Ohm input and output impedances (The usual "TV antenna boosters" have 300 Ohm impedances).

The above method is the best for catching terrestrial FM transmission. If you are lucky you will get the signal, otherwise not.

Method 2:

Use the VHF Yagi antenna available in the market, flat cable, and TV antenna booster. Even though the frequency won't be an exact match, you may still get signal because of the booster.

Method 3: (My preference)

Go the DTH way. Insat 4B is freely beaming all government radio and TV stations to the Indian subcontinent from a geostationary orbit. Get a local technician and install dish+LNB+cable+FTA satellite receiver for Doordarshan (I think the DTH service of Doordarshan is called DD Plus). Connect the output of the FTA satellite receiver (I recommend receivers from the company "SOLID") to a good quality desktop stereo amplifier (I suggest the 2.1 stereo model F&D A110). You will get some FM stations, all Akashvani AM stations, and all Doordarshan channels in digital quality, without any noise, under a total cost of Rs. 5000 (moreover DD Plus is free, there are no monthly charges). In digital transmission AM sounds as good as FM. Believe me, in the long run your parents will certainly like this radio, because AM radio stations have a great nostalgic value for the older generation. I have this digital radio set up for my wife in our apartment kitchen and she absolutely loves it!

Cheers,

Reji

 

[gopib]

Thanks Philipreji. I have been looking at the DTH option for radio and your analysis reinforces mine also. I am keen on AM and especially if you can get AM from across states it is a really boon. Will try to figure out the localally available ones. If any FM has details on where SOLID is available in bangalore, it will help,

thanks!