FM radio signal booster.

[pre65]

hi-i have recently had a new FM aerial fitted to feed my Troughline and stereo decoder (hi-fi world Tim de P ) but still do not get a strong enough signal to activate stereo.what i hear in mono is still good but i need some sort of booster.
can anyone recommend a device.

DIY ???

regards Philip

[John Caswell]

Hi Philip,
This can be fraught with problems.
First you need to check that the aerial has been fitted correctly and is pointing in the correct direction.
Do you know where your local FM transmitter is in relation to you?
Has the aerial been fitted with low loss down lead (approx 7-8mm dia)?
Can you borrow another tuner to see if that switches to stereo?
If the answer to all these is OK then you need to check whether the tuner is still OK.
If so then the ideal place for the aerial amp is right up at the mast head with power fed via the cable, but if you have a noisy signal the all the amp does is amplify the noise as well.
A Band II aerial amp is not for the home consructor so I suggest trying these makes.
Triax, Televes, Wolseley, Antiference and make sure that you get a Band II version only with limited bandwidth of 88-108 MHz.
Try having a chat with the people at "Aerial Techniques" in Bournemouth 01202 423555. Helpful guy!

Regards

John aka Dr John

[Greg.]

The BBC website has loads of info on getting a good signal and where your transmitter is including a map reference. Now I might be a bit anal, but when I set mine up, I took a compass bearing for the transmitter using the map and then climbed on the roof and set the aerial accordingly.

Best wishes,

Greg

[John Caswell]

Hi Greg,
That's not being anal that's the correct way to do it.
Doesn't always work because of buildings trees etc but an excellent start.

John aka Dr John

[andrew ivimey]

In my own slow and simple way I have found that a proper aerial really is essential.

For years I messed about with all sorts of 'quick' supposedly cheap solutions.

And a few months ago, with the horror of DAB becoming an ever greater threat, I have had a man go up on the roof and fit me a proper FM aerial pointing in the right direction.

Like this, FM sounds superb. What a fool I have been for years over this very obvious solution.

[pre65]

i have gone through my leads to check connections etc and all seems ok.

i have dug out my Troughline 2 to replace the Troughline 3 (had to buy the 3 to get the decoder ) and installed it-now i have stereo !

these really are amazing bits of kit when working ok.

Philip

[John Caswell]

Hi Philip,
Well done.
The Leak tuners require a pretty strong signal for good quiet stereo.
Sounds as though you may have a sick Troughline III, so possibly requires some new valves and/or realignment.

Regards

John aka Dr John