[Folsom]

My grandfather wants to listen to music through his new stereo (Horns, MiniWatt N3, power conditioner by me, MMF 5.1 blah blah) from the radio as well.

I have no idea what a good tuner is... he will spend whatever he needs to to end up with something decent. He lives at the bottom of a hill on his property as well. At the top of the hill he gets awesome reception so we are thinking if he can do a few hundred foot run with some sort of repeater at the top it would be good. He paid $100 for some antenna that mounts on the wall that he could put up at the shop.

Do better tuners get better reception?

Thanks.

[WGH]

The Sony XDR-F1HD has the best reception of any new tuner and it is cheap at $83.59 from Amazon. This little AM-FM has great sound and it's quiet too, plus if any nearby stations broadcast a digital signal then the sound will have a completely silent background. Many AC members use this tuner, I like it so much I have two.



http://www.amazon.com/Sony-XDRF1HD-HD-Radio-Tuner/dp/B00168Q248/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1276133907&sr=8-1

I don't know about long cable runs but the folks at Solid Signal would know, great antennas at very fair prices.
http://www.solidsignal.com/

Wayne

[Folsom]

That tuner looks fantastic. That is the one! I mean unless an old Scott shows up but hey I think the Sony will do fine.

[turkey]

I'm really pleased with my XDR-F1HD. It has a few flaws, but it provides a lot of bang for the buck, and I actually think it is a better tuner than lots of other, more expensive, tuners, new or old.

One problem is that you can't punch in a frequency and go directly to it. There's no number pad. Instead, there are buttons to tune up or down, and there are presets.

Another problem is that it runs hot. It's not so hot it's setting fire to everything around it, but it is hotter than I like to see electronics run. I put on a double layer of stick-on feet to get it up in the air a bit and this seems to help. I've seen other people talking about putting in cooling fans too.

The front panel display is always on (it shows the time when the tuner is off). Some people like it and some don't. I'd prefer it if I could shut it completely off, since I don't need another clock or a night-light.

These are all small problems though, and to me what really counts is how well the tuner works.

It pulls stations in cleanly that other tuners I've used do not. It also sounds excellent. Add in that it's inexpensive and small and you've got a winner.

I've been using an antenna in my attic (some sort of yagi that the previous of the house used for TV), and it's been working quite well. I also have the dipole that came with the tuner and use it for one station that doesn't come in well the larger antenna. I'm sure I could solve that problem with a rotator for the antenna in the attic, so I'll have to do that at some point.

There are all kinds of fancy small antennas that claim to improve reception, but it's been my experience that they don't work that well. Bigger and taller is often better with FM antennas.

Peter Aczel recommended the Terk FM-50 antenna for use with the Sony tuner. It's a powered antenna (it has an amplifier built-in) and can be used indoors or outdoors.

Antennacraft might be a good bet too for an outdoor antenna.

http://www.antennacraft.net/FM.html

[Wayner]

I am in agreement with Wayne and Turkey on the Sony. I have one as well and it's the best under $90 dollar tuner in the world. It might be the best tuner in the world, regardless.

One other problem that it has, however, is that it's memory is volatile. Lose power = lossed station programming. The simple cure is to make a cut sheet to keep on hand to re-enter the programs...it's easy.

I put mine on 4 hockey pucks to get the bottom off the mounting surface. This elevation really helps to keep it cool.

Long runs of RG-6 should be fine, but may need an antenna amplifier.

Wayner

[guest1632]

I'm really pleased with my XDR-F1HD. It has a few flaws, but it provides a lot of bang for the buck, and I actually think it is a better tuner than lots of other, more expensive, tuners, new or old.

One problem is that you can't punch in a frequency and go directly to it. There's no number pad. Instead, there are buttons to tune up or down, and there are presets.

Another problem is that it runs hot. It's not so hot it's setting fire to everything around it, but it is hotter than I like to see electronics run. I put on a double layer of stick-on feet to get it up in the air a bit and this seems to help. I've seen other people talking about putting in cooling fans too.

The front panel display is always on (it shows the time when the tuner is off). Some people like it and some don't. I'd prefer it if I could shut it completely off, since I don't need another clock or a night-light.

These are all small problems though, and to me what really counts is how well the tuner works.

It pulls stations in cleanly that other tuners I've used do not. It also sounds excellent. Add in that it's inexpensive and small and you've got a winner.

I've been using an antenna in my attic (some sort of yagi that the previous of the house used for TV), and it's been working quite well. I also have the dipole that came with the tuner and use it for one station that doesn't come in well the larger antenna. I'm sure I could solve that problem with a rotator for the antenna in the attic, so I'll have to do that at some point.

There are all kinds of fancy small antennas that claim to improve reception, but it's been my experience that they don't work that well. Bigger and taller is often better with FM antennas.

Peter Aczel recommended the Terk FM-50 antenna for use with the Sony tuner. It's a powered antenna (it has an amplifier built-in) and can be used indoors or outdoors.

Antennacraft might be a good bet too for an outdoor antenna.

http://www.antennacraft.net/FM.html

Hi, I would be careful using an amplified antenna. I don't know how good the image rjection is and how good the RF section of that tuner is. With an amplified antenna, you could be asking for more problems than the cure. Just my two sense.

Ray Bronk

[Wayner]

Ray, I have a Channel Master and it works just fine. However, your point I agree with if you start buying cheap junk that usually makes it worse then not having any amplifier at all. It all depends on location from transmitter. He may not need one.

Wayner

[guest1632]

Ray, I have a Channel Master and it works just fine. However, your point I agree with if you start buying cheap junk that usually makes it worse then not having any amplifier at all. It all depends on location from transmitter. He may not need one.

Wayner

Hi Wayner,

My experience with these Turk amplified antennas has not in general been very good. I was trying to be nice about it. He might want to look in to a line amp, which would amplify the signal from the antenna connection something like just a few DB to cover the insertion loss of the cable running it that long way.

Ray Bronk

[Folsom]

Hi Wayner,

My experience with these Turk amplified antennas has not in general been very good. I was trying to be nice about it. He might want to look in to a line amp, which would amplify the signal from the antenna connection something like just a few DB to cover the insertion loss of the cable running it that long way.

Ray Bronk

That sounds a little more appropriate.

[Speedskater]

For everything anyone could want to know about Sony tuners and FM antennas (and lots more):

http://ham-radio.com/k6sti/index.html

[Folsom]

Well it no longer matters because he passed away of a heart attack last night. Thanks for all the help. I am pretty sure he enjoyed his music and especially getting to interact with his grandson, me, as much as possible before now.

[Wayner]

Wow! Sorry DOS! You have my sympathies.

Wayner