I recently started my freshman year at Kent State University which is northeast of Akron, Ohio. I brought along my Sangean PR-D5 but the AM reception inside my dorm room is terrible. There is this white noise that smothers every frequency allowing only the strongest signals to make it through. I've heard using a longwire helps, but I'm not sure if I can do that because my radio doesn't have any antenna inputs. So far I've just gone outside, but that's not very practical for several reasons. Most obviously is that it will get cold in a few months, but there have also been several muggings on campus so I don't like to go out by myself at night. Any tips here would be great.
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AM Reception in a College Dorm
- Thread starter almaniac27
- Start date
If you can use a longwire or external antenna (there are types that attach to the window), then placing your radio by the window is about your only choice. I lived in a dorm for more than 4 years (some post-grad) and know how they can be. The concrete and steel construction of those buildings always limited AM (and FM) reception, but with them now being wired with broadband for internet and every room having a computer - AM is pretty much doomed.
Nope, from what you've described, either you place the radio by the window or you won't get anything on AM beyond the strongest local signals.
Nope, from what you've described, either you place the radio by the window or you won't get anything on AM beyond the strongest local signals.
R
rbrucecarter5
Guest
My sympathies about being housed in a dorm - some of my worst memories of college! And not just from a DX standpoint - but those are other stories.
The radio next to a window trick might work, but an AM box loop might also help. It will give you strong gain on just one frequency, which might mitigate the interference somewhat. Of course, if the interference is on the same frequency, it won't.
I'd stream the stations you are interested in, until you can get out of the hell hole and in an apartment somewhere.
The radio next to a window trick might work, but an AM box loop might also help. It will give you strong gain on just one frequency, which might mitigate the interference somewhat. Of course, if the interference is on the same frequency, it won't.
I'd stream the stations you are interested in, until you can get out of the hell hole and in an apartment somewhere.
There was no amount of aluminum foil nor any mechanical arrangment that would help FM reception much in any dorm I lived in. I always tried. We would make all sorts of loops and attach it to the windows and all other manner of stuff.
It wasn't that bad until everybody in the dorms and all the buildings around them started having computers and a million other appliances, like the others said. You could at least get farther-out stations in one direction with the radio by the window and a little bit of effort, back then.
It wasn't that bad until everybody in the dorms and all the buildings around them started having computers and a million other appliances, like the others said. You could at least get farther-out stations in one direction with the radio by the window and a little bit of effort, back then.
Semi-related topic here...
Are the Kaito SW/MW active antennas (KA-31/32/33) any good? Certainly they must improve the reception in a college dorm, but how are their DX abilities and would I hear improvement on my trusty old Realistic DX-440 (Sangean ATS803A)? I'm hoping to pull in some TAs as the evenings lengthen... ;D.
~BG
Are the Kaito SW/MW active antennas (KA-31/32/33) any good? Certainly they must improve the reception in a college dorm, but how are their DX abilities and would I hear improvement on my trusty old Realistic DX-440 (Sangean ATS803A)? I'm hoping to pull in some TAs as the evenings lengthen... ;D.
~BG
Tincap said:
If you can't string anything outside try taping a wire antenna to the window. It helped me greatly for FM reception admittedly a long time ago.
cyberdad said:
The best situation I ever had in a dorm room was simply being as close to the window as possible.
Same thing today whenever I'm in a hotel/motel.
radioman148 said:
Exactly. I used to place the receiver/system as close to the window as possible and the antenna was draped over and around the window. Always worked great at my school and, being in the northeast, reception depended on which direction you're facing. So it was like having a high-gain directional antenna. Same was true of the TV. Got daily reception of signals from 60 - 75 miles away, no small feat in southern New England.
To be honest, I never tried for AM back then. It was just a few years after most music radio stations went away and a few years before talk caught my interest. So, I was just into FM and TV dx at that time.
However, now that all of these dorms are wired for the internet and everyone has a computer (which they didn't in 1986), reception is sure to be much more challenging than what I dealt with.
BRNout said:
Yeah my college days were in the early 70s so I'm sure the internet factor is a major factor that I never had to deal with. Regarding windows, these days whenever I'm in a hotel I try to get as close to the window as possible otherwise reception is terrible.
Being on the 9th floor of the dorm gave me really good FM reception even though a 2kW ERP University FM station was on the next tower over, less than 100 yards away. I recall that AM was okay, but this was before computers became common in dorms. A dipole for FM and a long wire down a few floors (using very thin wire) would work fine. Sometimes I would just go out to my car in the parking lot and tune in there, which was okay unless the windchill factor or heat was too oppressive.
hijacking the thread further: I was on the 23rd floor of a dorm in Bowling Green, KY in 1971...
window faced south, and placing the TV of FM antenna in front of the window brought in
Nashville stations like locals (about 60-70 miles). When DX conditions were right, it was not uncommon
to see Huntsville UHF...even Birmingham and Montgomery VHF were possible at times. I eventually put an
external antenna up (made for a travel trailer)...and it was spectacular until I was forced to remove it.
FYI...the local ABC affiliate's stick was north of town, and it was unwatchable due to multipath.
window faced south, and placing the TV of FM antenna in front of the window brought in
Nashville stations like locals (about 60-70 miles). When DX conditions were right, it was not uncommon
to see Huntsville UHF...even Birmingham and Montgomery VHF were possible at times. I eventually put an
external antenna up (made for a travel trailer)...and it was spectacular until I was forced to remove it.
FYI...the local ABC affiliate's stick was north of town, and it was unwatchable due to multipath.
I've never been in a college dorm, but I am in a similar situation in a basement floor apartment. I have the AM loop and the FM rabbit ears antenna next to a window. While I am picking up all kinds of noise on AM at some certain frequencies, the FM reception has recently got worse. On the entire FM band I am hearing what sounds like a large group of washing machines spinning their baskets at high speeds and being loud at it. I turned the FM antenna at certain position to null out the noise as much as I can. Local FMs drown out the noise but weak signals are often buried in the noise.
romer979fm said:
23rd floor of a dorm in Bowling Green, KY - in 1971! I don't know which part of that impresses and surprises me the most. I didn't know any universities had dormitories so high up!! Let alone almost 40 years ago! Just had to comment on that....
Also, I'm sure you were bummed when they made you take that antenna down!! We had one perched outside our window in eastern CT and got Providence and Boston with it.
BRNout said:
Watterson Towers at Illinois State University, 1967, 28 stories, 298' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watterson_Towers The dorm I resided at is a 12-story building called Wright Hall, part of the Tri-Towers complex (the other two buildings, also 12 stories, being Haynie and Wilkins)
romer979fm said:
Also in 1971 I was on the 10th floor of a dorm room in De Kalb, Il facing north and completely surrounded by corn fields.
I picked up Milwaukee easily and sometimes Madison, but had a difficult time getting Chicago to the east even though it was closer.
In the late 60s in small town Iowa when radio reception in the dorm got problematic, we turned to TV.
What we did was stroll on over to the local pub on Friday afternoons and have a few beers while watching Captain Ernie's cartoon showboat via WOC-TV6 from Davenport. (WOC also being notable for being the ONLY station to broadcast after midnight with Alfred Hitchcock reruns following Johnny Carson)
What we did was stroll on over to the local pub on Friday afternoons and have a few beers while watching Captain Ernie's cartoon showboat via WOC-TV6 from Davenport. (WOC also being notable for being the ONLY station to broadcast after midnight with Alfred Hitchcock reruns following Johnny Carson)
cyberdad said:
I did the same thing catching one of the Rockford, Il stations doing reruns of Sea Hunt & other shows from the 50s after the Tonight Show.
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