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Signal amplifiers for Car

DON'T! There is no way you can pay $10 for a booster and get anything but a cheap 39 cent transistor in it. And the transistor in your car radio is much better. Noise sums by the root sum square law, so noise from a booster will predominate and swamp any weak signal. The best thing you can do is get the longest whip antenna you can put on your car. This works for FM as well as AM! The biggest help will be on AM, and some ham radio operators swear by putting a loading coil on the whip to increase the electrical length even more. 600 mile daytime AM is common with that arrangement, and will probably help HD AM as well.

If you are interested in FM only, look for a diversity antenna arrangement. That puts two antennas into the receive path, and sums them together. If one is in a null, chances are the other will not. That will also help FM HD from dropouts.
 
rbrucecarter5 said:
DON'T!  There is no way you can pay $10 for a booster and get anything but a cheap 39 cent transistor in it.  And the transistor in your car radio is much better.  Noise sums by the root sum square law, so noise from a booster will predominate and swamp any weak signal.  The best thing you can do is get the longest whip antenna you can put on your car.  This works for FM as well as AM!  The biggest help will be on AM, and some ham radio operators swear by putting a loading coil on the whip to increase the electrical length even more.  600 mile daytime AM is common with that arrangement, and will probably help HD AM as well.

If you are interested in FM only, look for a diversity antenna arrangement.  That puts two antennas into the receive path, and sums them together.  If one is in a null, chances are the other will not.  That will also help FM HD from dropouts.
Click to expand...
Mhh, thanks man, but I've always been looking for the C. Crane whips, but I have yet to find one. Something makes me feel they've been discontinued. Any good recommendations of antennas. I'd really hate to go buy a second one. Drilling a second hole into the fender is not my thing. I'm mostly interested in FM, but fixing AM won't hurt either.

To anyone, what is your favorite antenna and stereo to use in the car (I know most of you will say Delco)?  I need some ideas into fixing my reception.
 
oldjohnny said:
To anyone, what is your favorite antenna and stereo to use in the car (I know most of you will say Delco)? I need some ideas into fixing my reception.
Click to expand...

I don't know what happened to CCrane whips - but I see whip antennas on sale at auto parts stores all the time.

Delco's golden age was their AM radios in the late 60's. They are so-so, also rans now days - especially on FM - with only two ceramic filters. I would wait until Pioneer comes out with their line of HD radio Supertuners. I've never found a better aftermarket car radio for FM or AM - sensitive as they get, and the Supertuner 3D comes with adaptive IF bandwidth, great sounding on strong local stations, and it will pick out first adjacent FM stations like nothing else on the market! I've got TWO first adjacents on my presets, both over 100 miles away with a strong local right next to them. NOT A TRACE of crosstalk from the local - I've NEVER heard that type of performance before, except maybe on the legendary Marantz model 10-B home tuner.
 
I think the best way to go now if you like AM, is to buy the best newest radio for its FM specs that satisfy you, but
put in an old AM car radio from the 1960s, adapted to have a true line-out to go in the new radio's auxilliary input. Hide it somewhere.

Presto. Hi -Fi AM. You can find such AM radios for 10 dollars all day long on e-bay.

Don't bother trying to ever make the new radio's AM work properly. It can't. It's missing too many things.

IF you are living on the fringe reception area of large FM signals, the booster may be of some
use on FM. It will cause other issues such as increased ignition noise, overload on nearby signals, and you'll
always be playing with the on/off button to see which way is better. Careful consideration then finds
neither case is better, they are just differently bad. Moment by moment, it seems helpful IF you are traveling in the fringes
without terrain issues. Good for flatlands only I think. Also, they cause insertion loss, so on/off comparison seems to show
improvement, but quick removal of the booster and reconnecting antenna straight in often proves the signal after may be louder, but it
ALWAYS comes with more noise, which may render the signal unlistenable.
In other words, it's a wash. You could get the signal without the booster, it just wouldn't be as strong.
 
I have had excellent luck with a Winegard FM amplifier (passes AM very well)
made for car use, it has an on-off switch that takes it (electrically) out of the circuit for very strong signal areas such as FM antenna farms where it overloads badly with intermod

I have used these amps to improve the horrific FM reception in a Toyota Supra
radio and have had excellent results using them to fake out the blend circuits
and recapture almost normal stereo in fringe areas with recent Ford Vestieon and
Delcos.
They were still available as of last year for about $15.00
 
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