Stream internet radio, high quality, and the diversity is endless..... Yes, it won't have the analog sound of a really good tuner and a station that is still analog (are their any??) but the convienence factor and diversity is amazing! I was playing with a Slim Devices squeezebox the other day and listening to Techno from Amsterdam, Berlin and London, not to mention Jaff from Paris, blues from St Louis..... The world is open game via the net.. |
A hi gain antenna is the answer if you`re in the boonies. If the stations are scattered, add a rotor. |
I know, I know... the internet would work, but... I guess I should have said that I am interested in a high quality analog tuner, but I'm *not* looking for which tuner is "best". I already have a couple in mind.
I know there are several people in the tuner sections that have been able to get a couple of hundred miles of coverage. But:
1. Where are you located?
2. What's been your maximum distance in FM?
I'm wondering what strategies for this are best? Other than obvious things like a signal sleuth, and a directional antenna. |
If by 4-6 hours you mean 200-300 miles then it will be impossible to pick up FM stations from that distance. FM is basically line of sight and at 200 miles you are well beyond the horizon. |
Hmmm... sounds like maybe people were pushing the truth a bit when they were saying they were in Eugene and picking up Portland and Seattle stations? |
I know it's all relative, but I'm looking for someone to answer my question about earth coverage distances and gain sensitivity. Does anyone know the formula for FM/Earth coverage based on parallax, and antenna height? Or where I might find it? In terms of absolute distances? |
Try here:
http://fmtunerinfo.com/ |
Arrrrggggggghhhh... obviously someone who missed my post in "the best tuner" thread... |
I don't remember the formulas for this stuff but as an ex-chief engineer at a radio and TV station I can tell you that if you are more than 60 or 70 miles you aren't going to pull in much. With a high gain antenna up on your roof you'll be be lucky to recv station 80 to 90 miles. As stated above, FM is transmitted "line of sight" and the curvature of the earth is the limiting factor. While some tuners are more sensitive than others, it won't help at the distance you seem to be talking about. Sorry. |
Bio....Not sure about your response there, don't ask for help, then argue with people who try and give it .
If you check the website I mentioned not only will you find info about tuners, but several links about antennas and FM reception.
There is also an FM tuner group, which if you went there you would surely find your answers. This makes a lot more sense than going round and round on this forum.
Arrrrggggggghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
Arrrrggggggghhhh!!!!!! What is this, a pirate thing? I once read that the Sansui Tu-X1 could pull signals in from Mars, but maybe that was on AM.
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?hbest&939943562&openflup&73&4#73 |
I just hate fmtunerinfo; "if it's not Kenwood, it's crap" seems to be their motto. Plus, the problem with modding tuners these days like on fmtunerinfo is that as HD radio is encroaching on the low-rez bands, it's getting harder to do a good mod without capturing all that digital hash that's not decoded in the lo-rez spectrum.
How tall are most towers to earth curvature? (i.e. - what's the natural parallax v. tower height?) is hardly argumentative. I know it's further than 80-90 miles which makes me wonder about "signal sleuth"-type boosting of signals to signal fade ratios. Not knowing is fine; I just don't want to get in to "tuner shootout" territory. Being 200 some odd miles from a source means it won't work; that's obviously too far, if it's about Earth parallax, but I wonder if 120 miles or so might work in the right circumstances.
Also: not a pirate thing.
Use a big directional rotatable antenna had occured to me. Does anyone know anything about station signal power and how it relates to tuner gangs, spec's, quieting, how the tuner actually goes about acquiring the signal?
Nobody's actually answered my question:
What's the most distant signal you've acquired and how? |
Bio,
I think you are going a tad overboard with the criticism of the fmtunerinfo site. They don't all just like Kenwood. There is one guy, I believe named Jim Rivers, who evaluated a variety of tuners in his own personal system and he happened to think that the Kenwood L-02T was the best. If you go into the website and scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the FM Tuner forum, you can ask this same question and I'm sure you'll get a slew of reasonable answers. The FM forum members consist of a lot of FM techs who know their stuff. Most of these guys aren't audiophiles, so to speak, but they know their tunas and I'm sure would answer all your questions with informative answers. I was kidding about the pirate thing.
|
I think some of the basic info is good, especially about DIY - I'm not out to get them or anything, but I find other people quoting them "like the bible of tuners says...", and it's not. All audio clubs have biases and I happen to think a useful sampling of what's going on on ebay or 'gon helps people that are pulling things out of the attic either to sell or maybe, hopefully, use. I saw an L-02T recently for $30, and it was working. I passed for some reason. I've been kicking myself since.
I'm sort of sorry this forum has degenerated into this, when I really wanted either tall tales or "you won't believe this, but I got a signal from way far away...". Anyone? Please? Bueller...? |
Bio,
I'm also a former Eugenean, now in Florence. I lived in Ferry Street Bridge and Whiteaker and never got any Portland stations, but when I moved into the South Hills facing north I could get a few, not listenable though. I knew a guy who lived near the top of Spencer Butte with a big yagi who could get fairly decent Portland. If you're moving to southern OR/northern CA, I can't imagine where you could live and get an antenna high enough to get Portland or SF.
KWVA now streams at 320K which is at least as good as most broadcast signals, and KRVM now has an AACplus stream that is also very good. KLCC is at 80K which is quite listenable. KWAX is at 192K and is also terrific. What more do you need? |
Interesting; I hadn't considered the mountains and you could live up higher which would decrease your parallax and increase your range. ...so maybe 110/115 miles on a hill, looking at yahoo maps distances. Thanks. I agree, no way much further than that. |
