FM Reception

[admin_exported]

I'm trying - without luck - to get decent FM reception for my Linn Kudos tuner.. I have recently had an external FM aerial (omni directional) fitted and am really struggling to get a decent signal. In fairness, many sorts of signals seem to struggle to reach us, despite living in a pretty urban area. For example, I can't get DAB on a Pure portable unit, some mobile networks have no coverage and I've never been able to get even the usual poor signal on portable TV's, either with their supplied loop aerial or external portable aerials. I can get Freeview just fine though.

So for the stations I can receive, the Kudos' signal strength meter is showing around 28-33, when the manual states that it will start to produce good reproduction with signal strength 70+. The aerial installation engineer seemed diligent in checking his work when we saw how low the signal was and, in fairness, a second aerial engineer gave his opinion that I shouldn't expect strong signals in the area I live.

So (long story short) I have two questions:

1. Does anyone know of a good source for FM transmitter coverage maps? Or reception strength maps, if such a thing exists.

2. Is replacing the cable between the aerial socket and the tuner from the stuff the engineer supplied (which he assures me is good cable, but then he freely admitted to only ever listening to music on his laptop PC) going to help in any way?

Thanks to anyone that read this far!

 

[Anonymous]

Nope, and I'd not heard of one to ask about them either. I'm only familiar with the indoors 'amplifier boosters' or 'noise generators' as they should be called.

I'll check them out; thanks for the pointer.

A

 

[gregory]

i believe offcom have signal strength maps that show coverage of different areas and can recommend good aerial installers,why the guy who did yours installed an omnidirectional aerial is beyond belief when surely a multi element would have been the way to go,perhaps you can get them back as your not happy with the service they provided.you should not need a booster if the aerial has been installed properly.i hope you get it sorted,all the best,gregory.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Fred Scuttle"]
That's only OK if all the stations you want to listen to are in the same direction.

[/quote]

Yes, that was the reasoning. Either way, I'm surprised how poor reception is. I can't get Radio 2 at all, for example...Radio 3/4 are pretty awful. The best reception is a signal strength of around 38 for some godawful local station I have no desire to listen to. It feels like an FM black hole!

I'll google for the Ofcom maps...thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

Found the Ofcom maps, at least for commercial stations (couldn't see any for the BBC stations) and they do indeed show that coverage is poor in my location. Still, with an outdoor aerial, even an omni, and a decent tuner I was expecting better. Ho hum. Maybe I'll try replacing the socket-to-tuner coax in they hope of getting a tad more signal.

A