Radio Road Which tuner to get and getting the most from it. Thank God, for the radio!

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Longish thoughts!

Posted by Timbo in Oz (A) on February 14, 2014 at 19:07:15

In Reply to: RE: FM tuner recommendations posted by OakIris on February 14, 2014 at 12:42:10:

Hi Holly,

Here's the 'executive summary' or 'abstract' - The ROI you will get depends on you (and your SO.) :-)! I've spent a bit of the afternoon editing / cutting and pasting but may have repeated myself! ;-)!

You should first determine what is the value to you of a good FM tuner, and a good? antenna for/while living in Denver, where your home is. You cannot pay someone to do this for you.

FM esp. in stereo can be a very good high-end source - IME&Opinion- especially where stations use very little processing and where they do a lot of live acoustic concert broadcasts, or replay them. I record for one such station, and our national public classical network is akin to the BBC's Radio3 - at its former best!

You wrote "Most of the radio stations I listen to have a decent signal." ? What does that actually mean, I ask? :-)! Because 'it depends.' It does indicate to me that you may not be living down in an 'FM hole'. Which can't hurt.

IMExperience a tuner with a tubed front-end has to be driven pretty hard to sound really good and with low multi-path* on that quite strong signal. Both aspects point us { ;-) } at a directional antenna with gain.

IE the very best reception / sound usually requires a directional antenna with gain - aimed at the cleanest - *least reflections! - signal in the air above and around your home. This _can_ mean aiming at a strong early reflection, because it is the cleanest signal for a particular station, for where your home is. A rarely exercised option! You really do need a topographical map, one with contour lines to really understand what you are up against. From the transmitters to you.

It is also vital that the radio-system gets to full-limiting when pointed at a desired signal. This a function of how much signal reaches the radio's front-end - from each station. Noting that I have never heard a tuner in overload and valve tuners are more overload-resistant.

A longish boom multi-element FM antenna - perhaps with a rotator - may be necessary. The other directional alternative is one or more DIY wire rhombics hidden under carpet or a big rug OR pinned to a large ceiling. A double Rhombic can be arranged / overlaid to give a wider arc than most boom antennas, while still minimising multi-path. Pointing their main axis at the desired stations is a requirement, so you will need to orient your house to the topographical map.

Rhombics also have heaps of gain - once each of the 4 equal sides approach / exceed the ~3m wavelength of FM.

Sooo - before you even consider a serious tuner AND what antenna?, you (both?) need to nut out, using say a cheap used SS tuner / the FM Fool web-site / your car radio - WHICH stations in the Denver area are 'truly desired' by you, and where each transmitter/s is/are. In case of more than one transmitter the one which will give you the most signal where you are. You may be lucky and find that some of the desired stations share a transmitter site/tower.

Then you'll know what you want to aim at. This lets you list you how many compass bearings there are that are outside an arc of about 15-20 degrees.

Denver is up in the Rockies - mountains are a great source of reflections which cause the problem called *multi-path. *Multi-path signals - even when not grossly audible - will reduce the listen-ability of FM.

I live in Canberra - one of the world's most spread-out capital cities - which backsinto three valleys / bowls of our own Great Divid(e)ing Range - right next to the highest bits called the Snowy Mountains. So Multipath on FM (and ghosting on analog TV) - both due to reflections - could be a big problem for some residents. Like us!

Selectivity? - and tube vz SS front ends. Selectivity is a function of several things: the antenna's pattern, the two station's signal level at your tuner's front end, and the stated 'selectivity' numbers for the tuner. So, if you had two stations very close in frequency, at much the same signal level at your tuner's front end - and on the same bearing from you, or close, you could be in difficulty. The USA's FM band-II IS very crowded! This reinforces my point about finding out what's 'in the ether' around you on FM.

A few tubed tuners are selective. Are there other issues with rejecting unwanted signals by older tuners!??

Yes! Other stuff transmitted by a given station. i) SCA signals and ii) HD Radio signals. Both can require a steep band-pass filter inside the radio's circuits. Another reason to find out as much as possible about the stations in and around Denver.

Happy to advise further.

Warmest

Tim Bailey

Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger

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Kimber Kable

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