AM Reception

If it was me I would probably add a jack and bypass the ferrite antenna.

Obviously, the usual disclaimers about avoiding getting shocked apply.

A long wire outside would do wonders. It should be vertical as possible,

As in "antenna" = "lightning rod"?

Can be both. Generally, I just pull my antenna connector off my radio when it storms. I have seen, first hand, what lightning does to the front end of radios. ;-)

I ran a service shop for two-way radios many years back and got to see a lot of this kind of thing. It was kind of fun to see just how far back up the chain the damage can be.

When I was a little kid, we had an AM radio antenna consisting of a wire about 50 feet long strung from the rooftop to a tree. It was nearly horizontal, but was perpendicular to incoming signals from transmission towers on a nearby ridge.

Later on, I made a directional FM antenna (λ/2 dipole with reflector λ/4 behind) that got a good signal from 100 miles away, with hills between. It was for a better station than we had locally. On AM, my favorite station was KGO San Francisco (listening from Yakima, WA).

I haven't fooled around with any of this in years, but I like your idea for the OP.

Canada has a neat feature: As you approach various towns, highway signs tell you the the local frequencies, so you know where to tune.

[Just a few random thoughts.]

The external antenna is designed for LW/MW/SW. MW is what you are referring to as AM.

That external antenna jack is what you are supposed to use for AM/MW listening if the internal one is not working for you.

As suggested by other posters, you can extend the longwire antenna without much fear of additional loading. The ANT-60 which is supplied with the radio is 23 feet. You could easily add another 25 feet or just attach a 50 foot antenna (longline). Experiment with different shapes for directivity and sensitivity.

Hi All

Thanks for the comments so far. However, the problem is that there is no facility to connect an AM antenna. Connecting an external wire to the FM jack doesn't make any difference to the AM reception.

I have looked into various AM antenna setups, but as mentioned, can't connect anything to the radio.

Ah...I found a review which states that the external antenna jack only works for the SW and FM modes, not for standard AM broadcasts. The review also said the narrow bandwidth in the AM mode made for poor audio. That just sucks.

http://www.monitoringtimes.com/mtfirstlook-ka1102-va-ats505p.pdf

As I said originally, you need to open up the radio and perform surgery, but that requires at least basic knowledge of radio principles and a schematic would be helpful.

The other option is to buy a AM radio with an external antenna provision already in place.

Even older antique radios would make a good candidate for this as many were expected to use external antennas. Shop around on eBay or even antique shops and thrift stores. Could be fun.

You are right, but its hardly surgery.....I look for the tuning cap (if it has one and is not digital, I don't know the radio personally) and touch a long length of wire to each of the solder tabs, usually one of them when touched will increase signal level dramatically.

Attach the antenna socket there via a small value capacitor.....150 pF is a good place to start if I remember correctly. Try more and also less to get an optimum value.

Put the wire outside, lower than the house to reduce the possibility of a lightning strike.....or add special electronics to "short" a lightning strike to ground......

I just unplug the lead.

....and when nobody is at home?

If I am going out and there is a risk of lightning, just unplug it.

I am a bit lazy, but the best thing is to just plug it in when you are using and when you turn off the radio, unplug it.

That has been my method for all my Ham gear since day one. I don't trust lightning arrestors and nothing works better than not having the gear's antenna connected short of having no antenna (but that is what the wind is for, no? :-) ).

If you never forget it, thats a good method.

I am too forgetful......

I do, too!

However, it is a game of statistics and so far has been played in my favor.

As I have said three times now, this solution I am giving requires no connections or modifications to your radio at all, It is as simple as placing a book next to your radio. It is that complicated. but it works amazingly, watch the video!

I should I guess have explained what that link below is about.

It is for something called Select - A - Tenna. I am not ure if they are still being bade or not, but you can find them on E-Bay and other sites all the time.

This thing is amazing, you do not need to do any modifying of your radio at all in any way. You simply place this small wheel looking thing next to the radio and stations will explode from that receiver! Watch that video it is amazing. like i said i listen to AM radio all the time and I would not even try without it,

I've been using this for 30+ years,get yourself one of these,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAXPfnuCwTg

Joe

http://sg.sangean.com.tw/company/contact_info.asp

You could email them & ask them - & ask that they put an AM jack on future products. They might tell you how to do the surgery.

Also, go to CCrane, which sells and handles many type of Radios, S/W, and others, and offers external attenae as well--

I've been using this for 30+ years,get yourself one of these,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAXPfnuCwTg

Joe

This answer is might be a bit complicated to realize. It needs some tinkering and experience in radios.

Take an old AM only (no short and long wave) scrap radio with ferrite antenna and mechanical! tuning capacitor.

Mainly the largest bundle of aluminum plates on the capacitor is used for the input stage of the AM frequency rage. Identify the AM coil on the Ferrite antenna. Best you figure that out in the old radio as there are many pakets of aluminium foils on the tunable capacitor in such a radio (AM prestage, AM Oscillator, FM prestage and FM oscillator und more if shortwave is supported too) On the ferrite antenna you can identify the larger tuning & receiving coil as this will normally be connected to two connectors at the tuning capacitor' largest foil package. On the ferrite antenna there is often a second wiinding with a lesser number of turns for the coupling to a transistor or IC. We don't need this one

Remove both parts from the radio and build a tunable resonance circuit able to tune it to the desired station. Normally this is a parallel circuit of the coil and the tunable capacitor. On one side of the AM coil on the Ferrite antenna is directly connected to the tuning capacito. Connect here the 30 feet (or what you can install in length) of antenna wire.

The link between the second end of the ferrite antenna and the tunable capacitor needs to be opened. Connect this end of the ferrite antenna coil to a loop antenna with 20 turns. The mechanical dimension should be that way that the radio you use to listen fits into this loop (or loop a wire 20 times around your radio along the smallest possble circumfence or parallel to the winding on its ferrite antenna).

One end of this loop is connected in series with the antenna coil from the old radio. Solder the second end of the loop to the second connection of the tunng capacitor. Fix a longer wire to this connection of the loop and the capacitor. This wire you use to ground the LC circuit via a waterpipe or other means.

Follwing this proposal you have build an antenna Preselector / antenna coupler for your radio.

Your radio needs to be tuned to the AM station you desire and then use the external mechanical tuning capacitor and tune it for best receiving result. The added signal strength should improve your receiving signal. Furthermore change the direction of the external ferrite antenna to improve the signal further... (and set your radio also into the best receiving direction)

If you can open your radio and wind 20turns of wire around the original ferrite antenna it would be best. (Do that best at the end where there are originally no wire turns. Otherwise you might mistune the original set to strong and affect the reception perfomance)

Last time I used this during AM/FM radio development 1973... when I was a young engineer, to improve the sensitivity of bad radios for the investigations of the reason why they where lousy.. Sorry for the lenghly explaination but as the world has change now I type faster than I can upload a drawing...

I should I guess have explained what that link below is about.

It is for something called Select - A - Tenna. I am not ure if they are still being bade or not, but you can find them on E-Bay and other sites all the time.

This thing is amazing, you do not need to do any modifying of your radio at all in any way. You simply place this small wheel looking thing next to the radio and stations will explode from that receiver! Watch that video it is amazing. like i said i listen to AM radio all the time and I would not even try without it,

I've been using this for 30+ years,get yourself one of these,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAXPfnuCwTg

Joe

I built something similar for AM reception here at my workplace. We are in a metal building, and it's a pretty effective RF shield. I built a "bucket-tenna", but using the bottom 10 inches cut off a 5 gallon bucket, mounted a variable air/aluminum capacitor in the bottom, and hand-wound about 20 turns of magnet wire around the bucket. It works great for peaking out the desired station, and allows me to remove nearly all local interference that would normally degrade the audio. If anyone is interested in the details of such a thing, I can try to dig up what I had used.

Tom D.

They are listed as collectibles--The Terk is still being made--Again--Go to C Crane Radio--THey will be available in November--Also , look under "Antennas"--A great primer from Radio world--

No as good as an antenna but sometimes helps: A simple grounding.-