FM stereo is the standard way to play a radio broadcast with stereo audio. It’s used by most radios today. Look for a switch on the side of the radio that has FM/FM stereo. The process of converting an FM signal to stereo degrades the noise/signal ratio. This means the signal is actually worse in stereo. On some radios, this can make a big difference. You may have even noticed your car radio sometimes switch to mono. For the best signal, switch to mono. This may be one reason why people claim radio reception was better before the late 60s, which was when FM stereo was invented.
Examples include monitors/screens, computers, cable boxes, microwaves, halogen or fluorescent bulbs, CD players, VCRs, DVD players, and light dimmer switches.
Steel and concrete can have a noticeable effect on radio reception. It’s most ideal if your radio is higher up, without obstruction, and closer to the transmitter. If you have an outdoor antenna, it should be on the roof if that was where its meant to go.
They also need to be powerful enough to resist the interference of your engine. If you need your car radio to pick up a station, it’s probably time for a roof-mounted antenna, which is in the next method of this article.
Buy a TV antenna or set your radio station to tune in increments of 0. 5 in order to get 87. 75 or 87. 76. Once you do this, you will be able to hear the music these stations are broadcasting.
Make sure the antenna is on a window. Spread the two branches out as much as possible and perpendicular to each other. This works decently and is a step up from cheap radio antennas, however, don’t expect anything extreme or remarkable.
Do not use an antenna that is meant for UHF; this will not work well. You will only get a slight improvement if you use a UHF antenna, or even more likely, the signal will worsen! Try rabbit ears. These are meant for TV but have the VHF tuning necessary for radio. A rabbit ear antenna will often perform well. Remove any “FM” blockers on your antenna which are often built into rabbit ear antennas. Try a basic antenna wire. This is cheap and won’t be super effective if your radio and location are bad. Fully extend any built-in antennas. Many VHF antennas will require an adapter to plug into your radio unless your radio has a TV antenna input, which some radios do.
Make sure it is outdoors, roof-mounted, or in the attic. Most roof antennas will give you radio reception similar to a car radio, or often better. Try repurposing a TV antenna you already have; use an FM splitter to use it on your radio. This can be good if you don’t want to pay for an FM radio antenna but have one of these around. Consider an omnidirectional radio antenna. This will detect radio signals from all sides. If you use an antenna rotator or don’t need to detect radio signals from all sides, get a directional radio antenna. These antennas are so effective that radio stations use them to detect the strength of their stations.
