i tend to prefer rabbit ears myself as they are easy to rotate as well as position the antenna elements at different angles to aid reception - either flavor, HD or non-HD for those that care about package labels. RF does not make the distinction !!. In the extreme case, a large outdoor TV antenna works well, too. Obviously the outdoor TV antenna is just not as portable but aids in DX as the FM broadcast band in Los Angeles is full.

73,

kevin

kc6pob

On Tue, Apr 7, 2020 at 1:20 PM Paul Blundell <tanger32au@...> wrote:

Over the past few days, I have been testing a few different low cost / simple aerials for use on the FM broadcast band (87.5-108MHz).

 

All these aerials have a cost of under $10, the idea of this test was to see which one would do the best job of pulling in signals on a range of test frequencies, these are a mix of community stations and also some commercial stations from both the North West and South of the state.

 

The table below shows the results of each aerial on each frequency. All stations were checked on multiple radios at different times of the day and night to account for any differences, the results below are the best each aerial was able to pull in each station during these times.

 

Normal in-built whip

3M of wire hanging vertically from a window.

$6 VHF/UHF TV Rabbits Ears

1/4 wave whip

1/8 wave whip

FREQUENCY - STATION	Standard Whip	3M Wire	Rabbits Ears	1/4 Wave Whip	1/8 Wave Whip
087.8MHz - LC FM	0	5	5	3	3
095.3MHz - TAMAR FM	0	5	6	6	5
096.9MHz - MEANDER VALLEY FM	0	2	2	1	2
098.9MHz - 7AD	0	1	0	2	1
101.7MHz - SEA FM BURNIE	0	1	1	1	0
105.7Mhz - SBS Hobart	0	0	0	0	0
107.7MHz - SEA FM DEVONPORT	0	0	1	2	0

Overall, the four external aerials all preformed much better than the built-in whip. Both the Rabbits Ears and 1/4 wave whip performed much the same and tied for the best signal levels, the Rabbit Ears having the advantage of being smaller and easier to move around. The 3M length of wire was not far behind with the 1/8 wave whip being the poorest of these four, it still however pulled in four stations that were missing on the standard whip.

 

These tested were preformed at home (due to the current COVID-19 restrictions) I am planning on repeating these tests again in the future for a lookout and seeing what difference this makes.

 

 

 

https://ultralightradiodxing.blogspot.com/2020/04/low-cost-fm-aerial-testing-april-2020.html

--
Paul - Moderator
UltralightDX