[PMAT]

I have a great local FM station here (the crush) and haven't been able to pull it in at home or at work. I was selling a receiver on Craigslist and need to show that the FM worked well, so I grabbed the grounding wire to the small chandelier I had taken off my ceiling. I cut it to about three feet and put it on. Bam! Huge signal. After the guy left I looked at the wire and it is a very tightly wound, bright copper thing (perhaps golden ratio!) and has no coating that I can see. I went to another system of mine and put it in and .......................Bam! Huge signal. What the....... So try it you have a similar problem. With the right advertising I should be able to get $250 for this sucker. Order now and Ill throw in an exotic wood pole for the wife.  aa

[ooheadsoo]

Hm...pics?

[BradJudy]

Sounds like a typical braided copper ground wire.  I'm guessing you luckily (or intentionally) hit the length about right for a 1/4 wave (~30" for FM) which resulted in good reception. 

[Wayner]

Bradjudy hit the nail on the head. Great antenna for non-rural areas.

Wayner

[Dan Driscoll]

Another option that has worked well a for me in the past was TV rabbit ear antennas. Very effective, IME.

[Wayner]

Ah yes, Dan. part of TV broadcast (voice) is in the FM range.
So you are correct sir.

Wayner

[PMAT]

In my case I had tried rabbit ears, speaker wire, magnet wire (4 ft and then cut every inch off down to 2 feet), the little fm antenna supplied with recievers and nothing worked. The station was un-listenable until I tried the grounding wire. Sorry, no pics.

[JimJ]

And then, for those annoying stations that fade out often...

[konut]

What was the make and model of the chandelier?

[Goosepond]

And then, for those annoying stations that fade out often...

Ahhh yes, now we're talking my problem. I've experimented with an outdoor elevated antenna. I'm sure the antenna itself was just crummy (an old TV antenna).

But here is something you antenna experts may have the answer to. I've got an old house with a tin (or at least metal) roof. Does anyone know if a metal roof inhibits an indoor FM antenna's reception?

TIA

Gene

[Dan Driscoll]

But here is something you antenna experts may have the answer to. I've got an old house with a tin (or at least metal) roof. Does anyone know if a metal roof inhibits an indoor FM antenna's reception?

It's probably acting like a shield, since in all likelihood the tin roof is grounded through the house.

[Goosepond]

But here is something you antenna experts may have the answer to. I've got an old house with a tin (or at least metal) roof. Does anyone know if a metal roof inhibits an indoor FM antenna's reception?

It's probably acting like a shield, since in all likelihood the tin roof is grounded through the house.

Yeah, I wondered about the shielding. But the grounded part scares me, you know with lightening strikes. I've got a lot of tall pines real close to the house, so maybe they draw the fire and leave the house alone.

Gene