I started this page and its companion pages to help Catholics bring in low power stations that carry EWTN, but physics is physics so it should be useful for everyone. Because my interest is communication, not the AM radio hobby, many people with no interest in Catholic radio will still find that these are the most useful web pages available.

Free and Easy Tips

First, if you are having trouble bringing in a talk radio program and your radio has controls for treble and bass then turn the treble all the way down and the bass all the way up. If you have a control for tone then turn it all the way down. Many inexpensive radios do not have these controls, but if your radio does have these controls this is a cheap, easy solution that can eliminate much of the static.

Second, reception works better near windows. Avoid areas covered by metal, brick, or concrete. There is an exception to this rule. If there is a source of interference you may improve your reception by moving away from it. I found that moving away from a window that was close to a power line improved reception. More on interference later.

Third, slowly turn the dial to look for the station. If it is difficult to find you can mark its location with a little invisible tape, which is really near invisible tape. You can also memorize exactly where one side of the needle lines up on the dial. It also helps to memorize the stronger stations that are near to the one you are searching for. This can help you explain where the station is to your friends.

Fourth, properly orient your AM antenna. The telescoping antenna that sticks out of your radio is for FM, not AM. The AM antenna on a portable radio is usually a ferrite rod with a thin wire wound around it. The AM antenna is inside the radio and normally runs across the back of the radio parallel to the ground. To get the most signal either the front or back of the radio should face the broadcast tower so the antenna is perpendicular to the signal, like a sail spread out to catch the wind.

Minimize Interference

If your problem is another radio station that is right next to the one you want on the dial you might be able to find out through experimentation, or the Internet where its signal is and then point either end of the radio at the offending stations broadcast tower to largely eliminate its signal.

Often the interference is not another radio station, it is an annoying buzz. Note, that the interference is always a radio signal, whether it is a signal from another channel or a buzz from a florescent light. You minimize the signal by doing the opposite of what you would do to maximize a signal you want.

You can find buzz interference with a radio. If you have a portable radio you can move it around looking for the buzz. If you put the radio up close to a source of interference, for example, florescent lights, it should buzz loudly, the buzz will decrease as you move it away.

Also the buzzing will increase if the front, back, top or bottom of the radio faces the interference, and decrease if the left or right end of the radio faces the interference. This is because the interference decreases when either end of the ferrite rod antenna points at the interference, and increases when the length of the rod faces the interference.

This can allow you to determine almost exactly where the interference is coming from in your neighbor's appartment. For example, by playing with the radio in various places in my apartment and finding out at what angle the buzz disappeared I was able to determine that a television set in my downstairs neighbor's apartment was the source of interference. It was a matter of looking for the intersection of several straight lines.

You can also look for interference by turning individual appliances on or off. Or turn all the electricity in part of your home off with the switches at the fuse box. This will allow you to narrow down the search for your problem.

Interference sources you can turn off

1. florescent lights
2. incandescent lights that are about to burn out
3. blinking Christmas lights
4. television
5. computers and monitors
6. electric motors
7. vacuum cleaners
8. microwave ovens
9. electronic bug zappers
10. electric blankets

Interference sources you can not simply turn off

Unfortunately, there are many other interference sources that can not simply be turned off. Here are some of the more common ones with suggested solutions.

Touch lamps, the type you turn on by simply touching the base, have to be unplugged not just turned off.

Light dimmers can cause interference even if they are in your neighbor's apartment. If you have one in your home, you can have it replaced with a regular switch. I have not had to deal with a dimmer switch built into the wall but I have dealt with dimmer switches built into lamps. I have found that if I turned the light off completely the interference was eliminated, which is contrary to the normal story. Perhaps this is only true of dimmer switches built into lamps.

Hard wired smoke detectors cause interference, they can be replaced by battery powered models.

Aquarium heaters, particularly some cheaper models, cause interference. You can upgrade to a better model. The key point is the way the thermostat turns the heater on and off. In cheap heaters the electricity can arch when the heater is about to turn on. In the more expensive models little magnets pull together and complete the circuit in a quick way that prevents arching.

Automatic on/off night lights and outdoor yard lights which come on automatically also generate interference. This point was confirmed by a note from my guest book, "Have had interference from an radio shack adapter that screws onto a light bulb, for automatic turn off at dawn; at great distances"

Dirty or faulty insulators on utility poles can cause interference, you can phone the utility company and ask to have them repaired or replaced.

A faulty electric switch in your house can cause interference. You can have it replaced. This might be a good idea even if you are not concerned with AM reception.

The interference maybe coming through the electric socket that powers the radio. If the problem disappears when you use a battery-powered radio then you have found the source of the interference.

Some older radios have plugs that are not polarized. If you can flip the plug over then the plug is not polarized. Sometimes the interference can be cut by turning the plug over and putting the prongs in the opposite socket holes.

The chlorine in swimming pools can generate interference, the source I used gave no suggestions for reducing this. I have checked a couple of pools with a radio and I have not been able to hear this interference.

There maybe other sources of interference in your neighborhood that you will have to live with: medical equipment, radio equipment, and neon signs. You can deal with these in several ways.

First, minimize the interference by pointing the ends of the ferrite rod toward the source of interference as explained above.

Second, move the radio as far away from the source of interference as you can. Most interference problems disappear if the radio is a couple of feet away from the interference so this can work wonders.

Third, sometimes there is interference for only part of the day. You can record programs, even while you are not at home, and listen to them at your convenience. I discuss this below as part of this summary, but I also have a web page with my original ideas and some links on timed radio recording.

Timed Radio recording

A cheap way to do this is with one of those anti-burglar timers used to fool burglars into thinking you are home by turning the lights on and off. You can set the anti-burglar timer to go on and off when the program begins and ends. Set a radio tape player to the radio station and to record. Insert the cord from the radio tape player into the anti-burglar timer and the anti-burglar timer into the wall socket.

A difficulty with this solution is that you can only record on one side of the tape unless you have auto reverse, which most inexpensive tape recorders do not. With a two hour tape you could record a one hour program, but two hour tapes are thiner than other tapes and can break in the machine and jam it. Many manufactures recommend that you do not use them. The hour and a half tapes will give you 45 minutes of recording on a side and are the longest generally recommended tapes. However there is a 110 minute tape by Maxell which C Crane and Company recommends and sells, this will give you 55 minutes of recording to a side.

Many Catholic programs are only a half hour long, and most are no more than an hour, so the 55 minutes of recording time that you can get on a Maxell tape will give you most of the program. This will at least give you a chance to get a good taste of Catholic radio. If you fall in love with Catholic radio you can use your VCR to record the program or buy the reasonably priced equipment discussed below. If you want to listen to typical three-hour secular talk radio you have even more reason to use your VCR or buy the equipment.

You can also rig at least some, perhaps all, VCRs to record programs. This has the advantage that you can record up to six hours in slow play mode. The disadvantage is that you will have to use the VCR to play the tape back. This works well at home but you cannot listen in the car. I have a more detailed web page on timed radio recording with both tips and links. The links can give you more detailed instructions on using your VCR to record programs.

There are several special recorders that you can buy to do timed recordings but now we are talking money. But as I have finished the free suggestions this is a good time to make the transition to solutions that cost money.

Buying equipment

One difficulty with the CCRadio and many other methods for bringing in Catholic radio is the price. It is not that $150 dollars is too much for a radio which you may be using for many thousands of hours. It is that for about $150 dollars you could buy a very good short wave-radio which would bring in EWTN short wave and will also function as an excellent AM radio, probably about as good as the GE Superadio and the CCRadio. The fact that you can get EWTN short wave puts a cap on how much you might want to spend on a pure AM solution. For more information on short-wave equipment for EWTN click here.

For a little over $200 you can get an excellent short wave radio, the Sangean ATS 818ACS, that has a built in tape recorder and does timed recording. This will allow you to tape any time you get good reception and listen to the programs when you do not. I have found that short-wave reception seems to be about the same any time of day, you just listen to different channels, so this is less useful than I thought. Nevertheless, it should allow you to listen in the car on the way to work, and share the programs with your friends.

It should be mentioned that the local AM radio has things the national service does not. There are announcements of local events you might want to go to. Our bishop speaks to us through the local AM station but not the national service. Finally for at least the Sacramento station there is Bob Dunning's program, "The Bishop's Radio Hour". If you are a fan of that then you need to concentrate on AM even if you have to spend more than a couple of hundred dollars.

Another national radio source that is just becoming available is Sirius Satellite Radio, which is adding EWTN to its service. This is likely to provide very clear reception but the price is higher than the one time cost of short-wave. Still the price is not unreasonable. I will be collecting more information this.

One last point on buying radios. If you have an old radio you may not be able to get some stations. In 1991 the FCC expanded the AM band to include 1605 through 1705. Radios sold before then do not have these frequencies on the dial and therefore can not pick up some stations, for example, 1620, the Catholic station in Sacramento. The other Immaculate Heart Radio stations are not in this range and should not be affected. If you wish to hear a station in the 1605 to 1705 range you have to have a recently built radio.

Antennas

While the antennas I have tried have failed to greatly improve the reception of really good radios C. Crane company is selling what they call a Twin Coil Ferrite AM Antenna which one of their customers claims greatly increases the reception of his CCRadio.

This antenna used to be called the Justice Antenna after its inventor Chris Justice, who is the head engineer at Crane.

I have not tested Twin Coil Ferrite AM Antenna. It costs a hundred dollars, and the Catholic radio station I was trying to get moved closer, so now I have no difficulty getting it.

While I have not tested another website, The Hardware Maniac, has. The Hardware Maniac asked for a free antenna in exchange for writing the review. His first impression was that it did not help much with a good radio, the CCRadioplus. It did wonders for cheap radios. This is what I have found, antennas only help with cheap radios.

The Hardware Maniac contacted Crane and Chris Justice told him that the antenna would not help much inside his house because his home was cement block construction with steel reinforcing rods. Following Justice's suggestions he tried it out doors and got impressive results. He pulled in stations a thousand miles away. You expect that with shortwave or on rare occations with AM, but The Hardware Maniac felt it was pretty easy.

This leaves me with some questions. Does the Justice Antenna work inside in most houses. Was the problem limited to the Hardware Maniac's cement block house with steel reinforcing rods?

The Maniac solved the problem by putting the antenna outside on top of his house and using a cable to bring the signal inside, but many people do not want an outside antenna for various reasons.

The Hardware Maniac has the longest most detailed review of the Justice antenna but Philly Talk Radio Online has several short reviews written by users. They are generally very positive. They seem to think that the Justice antenna is a big improvement compared to Select-A-Tenna which was previously the recommended antenna. One user tested it with the GE Superadio, which is interesting.

There is also a couple of articles by James Careless a short one, and a longer more informitive one.

I would be very interested to hear what other people thought of the Twin Coil Ferrite AM Antenna. If you have had time to test it you can leave a message in my guest book.

What I have been able to test are tunable loop antennas which have been recommended as a way to improve AM reception. You can order a Select-A-Tenna from many mail order and on line sources. It is about $60 and is highly recommended. Once again the difficulty for Catholics is that a GE Superadio and a Select-A-Tenna together put you into the price range of some fairly good short-wave radios. Still if you really value the local Catholic signal the Select-A-Tenna can make an improvement.

Radio Shack used to sell a tunable loop antenna for about twenty dollars, one third the price of a Select-A-Tenna. Once again it does wonders to improve a cheap radio, but I have difficulty seeing any improvement on my GE Superadio. I have done a side-by-side comparison between the Radio Shack and Select-A-Tenna, and the more expensive Select-A-Tenna was better than the Radio Shack tunable loop.

The tunable loop antennas do not have to be wired to the radio. You can place the antenna next to the radio, experiment with it to find the best position.

The directions usually recommend that you simply experiment, but here is another clue. Place the loop so it could be rolled if it were a wheel toward the station. This is perhaps not obvious because you would think the loop should be positioned like a dish to catch the signal, but this is what works.

The ferrite rod antennas are often oriented to minimize interference rather than maximize the signal. The same is true of loops. Orient the loop toward the interference as if the interference was an axle and the loop was a wheel. This should reduce the interference.

Some web pages recommend what are called long wire antennas, which I mentioned several paragraphs above. These are long wires strung up outside to catch radio signals. They are cheap, but can attract lightning strikes, which can destroy equipment, burn down your house, and perhaps kill you. There are other safe solutions for Catholic radio listeners including short wave radio, so there is little reason Catholics should take this risk.

As mentioned earlier reception is best near a window. Metal, brick, and concrete can hurt reception. Particularly at the office it can be very difficult to get good reception. C. Crane and Company sells a one hundred dollar Digital FM Transmitter. You put an AM radio near the window. Plug it into the Digital FM Transmitter and the FM transmitter turns the AM signal to an FM signal and broadcasts it. You should be able to pick it up on an FM radio in your cubicle.

There used to be another product called the "Radio Program Recorder" which included an FM transmitter with a radio and a tape recorder, but it seems to have gone out of business. You can read more about it on my web page on discontinued equipment, but I do not recommend it.

Timed recording equipment

C. Crane and Company sells a VersaCorder which can do timed radio recordings for about 100 dollars. It can record at normal speeds and at one-quarter speed. Crane also sells and recommends a 110-minute tape. This tape has 55 minutes to a side in normal speed and 3 hours and 40 minutes to a side in quarter speed mode.

You can not play the tapes recorded at one quarter speed in a regular tape recorder, but you can run the VersaCorder off of batteries. This allows you to play the tapes in your car. You can also run the VersaCorder off of the cigarette lighter in your car with a special cord.

I have not had a chance to use the VersaCorder myself this is simply based on the C. Crane and Company web site, but Crane is an old established company with strong reputation for quality equipment.

There were other products that also did timed radio recording but many of them have gone off the market. I have put up a page on this discontinued equipment.

A reader offered a suggestion for improving AM radio reception using eithernet. I turned it into a web page.

On August 26, 2004 the Cleveland Plain Dealer ran an article "Tips for tweaking your AM radio reception" based on tips gleaned from the Internet. This web site was sited as one of the sources. I was very pleased to see so much from this page in the article. I would like to thank the writer, Lammers, for using this material and invite other writers to follow his example.

In his article he said this is a very popular topic. I can believe it, this web page got 1,255 page hits in August, mostly from my most popular page on AM radio reception which got 4,135 page hits in August. These are very high numbers for a Geocities personal web page.

This file is now up to 27 thousand bytes, almost all of it text, that should be about 13 type written pages. I have tried to provide you with almost all the cheap, easy, or reasonably priced tips. There is more information on some of the other AM radio pages which you can access on my links page on AM radio reception

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