[kelley]

I refurbish old JD garden equipment in an old quonset my Dad put up 70some years ago. The steel structure kills any am/fm radio signal so I can't listen to the news during the week or sports on the weekends.
Can anybody recommend a radio/external antenna setup that would work and not cost a fortune?
Thanks in advance!

 

[chuckv]

Kelley,

Use of a vehicle radio with external whip antenna would be about the most common and inexpensive approach...but you would need to have an AC to 12 volt DC power supply if you don't want to use an automotive battery and charger combination to power it.

Chuck

 

[kelley]

Thanks Chuck. I've got a couple good batteries here. Maybe I can figure out something. I might to find a 15-20' antenna cable. Nothing's ever easy around my outfit 😂

 

[tmac58star]

A length of copper wire strung between two wood posts makes a decent AM raw antenna. You can get a cable/strip antenna for indoor stereos online for about 6 bux, string it up outside and hook it to your radio...but the playback will be crappy. Maybe use a vehicle with speaker ports/plugs as a tuner, plug in your shop speakers to it, and power the radio in vehicle AUX mode with a battery you can remove and charge.

 

[kelley]

I don't think my pickup has speaker ports, but now I wish it did. Good idea 👍

 

[tmac58star]

Pigtail some connectors to the speaker wires...plug and play.

 

[kelley]

Well, the pickup needs to be 15-20

Pigtail some connectors to the speaker wires...plug and play.

Well, the pickup needs to be away from the building 15-20 feet for it's reception to be any good. I'm going to try to rig up an external antenna like mentioned above. Thanks for responding 👍

 

[army]

AM radio is really quirky sometimes. I picked up a church program on an AM station down in Georgia one Sunday night in the basement of our house back in the late 60's. I'm in southern Ontario so that was amazing to me. The station suddenly came in clear as a bell when I was creeping across the dial on an old car radio and a whip aerial. The aerial was just propped up against a wall. It wouldn't pick up any local AM stations though and FM radio was a wasteland back then.

 

[kelley]

That's very true. We used to listen to stations as far away as Oklahoma City and Minneapolis from here in NE CO at night on AM. Daytime seems to be a different story. And this building repels both am and fm.

 

[lt230s]

AM radio is really quirky sometimes. I picked up a church program on an AM station down in Georgia one Sunday night in the basement of our house back in the late 60's. I'm in southern Ontario so that was amazing to me. The station suddenly came in clear as a bell when I was creeping across the dial on an old car radio and a whip aerial. The aerial was just propped up against a wall. It wouldn't pick up any local AM stations though and FM radio was a wasteland back then.

If I remember correctly, that is called "skip". The radio waves bounce off layers in the atmosphere and can travel farther than normal. Also more pronounced at night, probably due to inversion layer, etc.

I remember picking stations up from the south also.

 

[tmac58star]

AM is amplitude modulation. FM is frequency modulation. AM carries like crazy depending on the atmosphere because the wave form is long and relatively shallow. FM wave form is short and steep and more peaks/valleys. Google wildcat radio stations for a better explanation...Wolfman Jack used to blast around the world from a wildcat station in Mexico, ships off the English coast did the same for Europe in the 60s. Wildcat means unregulated.

 

[kjm]

At work we ran and old CB antenna out side, and taped the coax to the radio antenna. works great.

 

[Mike_U]

This might not be practical but if your Quonset is close to a building with Internet, you can string an Internet cable from the building and set up a wireless router in the Quonset. That would give you internet access as well as better cell phone coverage if your phone supports wifi assist calling.
Many radio stations also stream over the internet so that would give you a radio source.

 

[kelley]

At work we ran and old CB antenna out side, and taped the coax to the radio antenna. works great.

I've got a CB antenna laying around somewhere in the shop from my trucking days. I'll give it a try! Thanks!

 

[kelley]

This might not be practical but if your Quonset is close to a building with Internet, you can string an Internet cable from the building and set up a wireless router in the Quonset. That would give you internet access as well as better cell phone coverage if your phone supports wifi assist calling.
Many radio stations also stream over the internet so that would give you a radio source.

That would be cool, but no access nearby. For some reason, my phone gets plenty of spam calls laying on the bench.😂 Thanks for responding!

 

[Mike_U]

If you have a smart phone that gets good reception in the Quonset hut and you have an unlimited data plan, you could stream radio stations from your phone. Use the phone’s speaker or Bluetooth to a remote speaker.

 

[kelley]

If you have a smart phone that gets good reception in the Quonset hut and you have an unlimited data plan, you could stream radio stations from your phone. Use the phone’s speaker or Bluetooth to a remote speaker.

Never thought of that. My phone is an old android, and I honestly don't have a clue what my data plan is. Great idea 👍