1. Turn treble down, bass up for AM talk
2. Record the AM signal when it is strong
3. Most sources of interference are weak
4. Tip the radio to reduce interference
5. A loop antenna helps a lot when regular antenna is weak.
6. The best position for a loop antenna
7. A comparison of some good reasonably priced equipment
8. Best For the Money
9. Old radios do not get all of today's AM band
10. A good shortwave radio is often a great AM radio
11. Are you really interested in that station? Try before you buy.
12. Mark the position of your station on the dial
13. Experiment, try different things
14. Place a second radio turned off, but tuned to the same station next to the radio you are using

This page was written to help Catholics listen to low power Catholic AM stations, but physics is physics, so they will work for anyone. Because I am not a radio hobbyist and I am simply interested in communication the tips are simple, practical, and inexpensive

1. If you are listening to talk radio turn the treble all the way down and the bass all the way up. Or if there is only one control marked tone turn it all the way to the low end. This will give you clear, easy to understand voices. This tip really helps a lot. I usually listen to music with the treble and bass in the neutral middle position if the station is strong. I assume that is the way the musicians intended it.
   
   
2. Many weak AM stations, including many Catholic AM stations, cut their power at night, and you may get interference at one time during the day but not another. So you may be able to get a station during the day when you are at work, but not when you are free to listen to the program. You can use an automatic light timer, the type that is used to fool burglars into thinking you are home, to record radio programs when you are not at home. I have a popular web page giving the details of this idea and information and links for other methods of timed radio recording.

   The pilot of the Airwaves liked this idea so much that he put it on his AM radio reception web page. This is the only one of these tips you will find off of this site. The Pilot has a great page and has done me the honor of linking back to this page.
   
   

3. Many web sites list many sources of interference, florescent lights, televisions, computers, etc. I have been testing this and found that most of the commonly listed dangers are real, but the interference disappears if the radio is more than a foot, 30 centimeters, or so from the source of interference.

   But sometimes a source of interference causes problems over a much wider area. For example, the people who lived down stairs from me at my former apartment had a TV that produced a loud buzz even though the TV was a good 20 feet away from the radio. But the much larger TV in our apartment which was five to ten feet away was no problem. So most of the time the normal sources of interference are a minor problem, but sometimes one of them is a big problem. You should treat the common lists of interference sources as a list of suspects, not a list of convicted criminals.
   
   

4. You can greatly reduce interference by pointing either end of the rod antenna in your radio directly at the source of interference. This is very important, but not at all original.

   This is perhaps a more original tip, if the source of interference is higher or lower than the radio you may have to tip the radio to point either end of the antenna at the source of interference. For example, if the interference is downstairs you may need to prop one end of the radio on a book and adjust it so that the radio angles down to aim the end of the antenna at the source of interference. I am not sure this is all that original, but maybe it is, and it helped with that TV downstairs I mentioned in the last suggestion.
   
   

5. I have bought a Radio Shack loop antenna, which has now been discontinued, and have had a chance to experiment with it. The Select-A-Tenna is another adjustible loop antenna that is still on the market and much of the following would apply to it. With a cheap radio my Radio Shack loop can make a big difference. I pick up the radio and move it away from the antenna and the station disappears all together, reappearing when I move the radio back to the loop.

   But with a good radio like the GE Superadio it is difficult to find any difference. Many web sites will tell you that the antenna is more important than the radio, but good radios often have good antennas built in. The GE Superadio has a large ferrite antenna built into the back. My landlord ordered a Select-A-Tenna to use with his CCRadios from C. Crane Company. He found it did not help and sent it back. Once again the point is that the CCRadio is a great AM radio and even a great antenna like the Select-A-Tenna may not make much difference. On the other hand a Select-A-Tenna used with skill may make a difference under certain circumstances even with a great radio and might be worth the sixty dollars to the real fan.
   
   

6. You get the best reception when the loop antenna is placed so that if it were a wheel it could be rolled toward the broadcast tower.

   This is the opposite of how you use the regular AM antenna in the back of your radio. The antenna in the back of the radio should be placed so it is perpendicular to the signal. Think of it like a sail that is catching the radio waves. If the signal comes from the north then the ends of the radio should point East and West, and the back of the radio should face North or South.

   A web page on loop antennas said the loop must be perpendicular to the internal antenna. I have tested this and found that what is relevant is the orientation of the loop antenna to the broadcast tower not the radio. This will mean that the loop is perpendicular to the internal antenna, but that is because both the internal antenna and the loop antenna are properly oriented toward the broadcast tower.

   If the loop is not wired to the radio it will have to be close to the radio. If the loop antenna and the radio form a T, with the front or back of the radio facing the tower you will get an optimal signal, unless there is a source of interference.
   
   

7. I have had a chance to test and compare some equipment because other members of my parish had key pieces of equipment. I have mentioned the Select-A-Tenna above. I have also been able to compare the GE Superadio with the CCRadio.

   I was not able to tell much difference between the CCRadio from Crane which costs about 150 dollars and the GE Superadio III which runs about 50 dollars. But perhaps there is a difference between the CCRadio and the GE Superadio that I did not notice. The CCRadio is digitally tuned which could save you quite a bit of time over the years if you switch stations a lot. A note in my guest book says that the earlier versions of the GE Superadio were the best, and beat the early CCRadio. I have included links to three web pages that provide comparisions between the Superadio and the CCRadio. This is a big topic in AM radio circles.

   If you listen to a lot of AM on hard to get stations it may well be worth it to pay an extra hundred dollars for even a small difference. The average person listens to over a thousand hours of radio a year. If you are an avid listener you could easily listen to more than 10,000 hours in the next decade, in which case the extra cost is a penny an hour.

   There is another comparison that I have not made and I can not find on the Internet, yet this would be a very important comparison. Which is better the 50 dollar GE Superadio combined with the 100 dollar C Crain Twin Coil Ferrite Antenna or the one hundred and fifty dollar CCRadio alone. The combination of the GE Superadio and the C Crain Twin Coil Ferrite Antenna cost about the same as the CCRadio alone. Several reviews of the C Crain Twin Coil Ferrite Antenna say that it can greatly improve the reception on good radios like the CCRadio and the GE Superadio so it is likely that the Superadio Twin Coil Ferrite Antenna combination should win. If you know anything please leave a note in the guest book.

   Another thing you might want to consider is that the CCRadio costs about the same amount as a great short wave radio and the great short wave radio might be almost as good as the CCRadio at bringing in AM. More on this below.

   Let me note on the proper spelling of these products because it is useful for searching the Internet. The GE Superadio is spelled superadio, not superradio, or super radio. The CCRadio is not spelled CC Radio or C.C. Radio.

   The GE Superadio was originally produced by GE but has been produced by Thompson Electronics for many years. GE does not produce many or perhaps any of home communications products that bare its brand, but at least some of what GE puts it's brand on is exceptionial. If you are looking to improve your TV reception, particularly UHF, I have found the Optima TV antenna really works wonders, but I digress.
   
   

8. While I have not been able to test all the equipment myself, the following is my best guess based on what I have read and personal experience.

   1. The best choice for 50 dollars is the GE Superadio.
   2. The best choice for 150 dollars is the combination of a GE Superadio and a C Crain Twin Coil Ferrite Antenna.
   Perhaps you disagree, feel free to express yourself in my guestbook.

   Let me note that someone has put a note in about the C Crain Twin Coil Ferrite Antenna. The said it was a "great concept" but produced "minimal improvement for AM reception." More recently another person also said they got very little improvement with this antenna.
   
   

9. In 1991 the FCC expanded the AM band to include 1605 to 1705. Earlier AM radios did not have those frequencies, so if you are searching for a station in that range you will need a newer radio. The only EWTN station with this problem is 1620 in Sacramento. The only other Catholic station I know of is 1670 in the Los Angeles area which does Spanish programing.
   
   
10. Good short-wave radios are frequently good AM radios. So if you are interested in short-wave you might want to buy a short-wave radio rather than a high end AM radio.

    Many weak AM stations, including many Catholic AM stations have a much stronger signal during the day, but must cut their power at night. The Catholic station which I used to get best, KSMH cuts their signal from 10,000 watts to 1,000 watts at sundown. After sundown you may lose the AM signal but it has commonly been believed that short-wave radio works best when the sun is not shining. Thus you might want to switch from AM to short-wave if there is something interesting on short-wave.

    If you do get a short-wave radio it may have to be a new one, because some stations broadcast on parts of the short-wave spectrum that were not used many years ago.

    As a great short wave radio can be had for under 200 dollars you should think carefully before spending that kind of money or more on an AM radio.

    The more expensive AM equipment is popular in places like Alaska where relatively isolated people have great difficulty picking up local news.

    There is another option, Sirius Satellite Radio, which is adding EWTN in English and Spanish to its service. Once again one should look at this before spending hundreds on a very high end AM radio.

    It also might be mentioned that DirectTV and Dish Network now carry EWTN in English. This is a television service not radio so I will leave it at that.
    
    

11. Before you spend a couple of hundred dollars to bring in a station you might want to find out if you really like it. As mentioned above, the average American spends close to a thousand hours a year listening to radio according to the Statistical Abstract put out by the Bureau of the Census. The majority of that is FM, but a large mminority is AM. If you are a radio fan, which you maybe if you have read this far, you might be spending more than a thousand hours a year. So if you listen to something hundreds of hours a year for several years even a couple of hundred dollars is dirt cheap. If you quickly lose interest it can be quite expensive. So how to check out the station without buying the equipment? Here are several ways.

    You maybe able to listen to some short-wave stations and even distant AM and FM stations on the Internet to test your interest. If you have broadband you may simply want to listen to the station this way and skip the equipment, but if you have a dial up modem you will probably not want to tie up your phone line for hours at a time on a regular basis just to save a couple of hundred dollars on the radio equipment that could bring the station in. But even listening on the dial up modem is a good way to try the station before you buy the equipment.

    Most libraries have public access to the Internet and you maybe able to listen to the station that interests you while surfing the Internet at the library. Once again this is a good way to try before you buy but it makes since to buy the equipment rather than going to the library and waiting for a computer.

    If your normal travel by car brings you closer to a station that carries EWTN or any other channel that interest you this provides another opportunity to try before you buy. For example if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and are thinking of getting short-wave to bring in EWTN you could listen to EWTN on 1620 AM in Sacramento when you are traveling through the valley near Sacramento. You can check the Internet for stations near you.

    If you travel around the country on vacation or business you are likely to be close to an EWTN station at least occasionally. Once again you can check the Internet before each trip to see if your itinerary will carry you within range of an EWTN station.

    You might also be able to test your interest during the day on a weekend. As mentioned above the AM signal is often ten times as strong before sundown. If you work most of those hours that might not help during the week. But you might well get the station during the day on the weekend which will allow you to test your interest. For example many people in the San Francisco Bay area might be able to get 1620 AM the Sacramento station with a cheap radio during the day. A good shortwave radio or a GE Superadio might bring it in at night.

    This idea of trying before you buy must be a preoccupation of mine. I sent a letter to the editor of the New York Times suggesting that online bookstores put an excerpt, the table of contents, and the index on their web sites so you could try the book before you buy. Some on the online bookstores were already putting few excerpts before the Times published my letter, but nobody to the best of my knowledge was putting the table of contents and the index online A few months later Amazon.com put up the "Look Inside" system for many of their books. The "Look Inside" system does everything my letter suggested, three different things I suggested were done, coincidence, maybe, maybe not. But back to AM radio.
    
    

12. When tuning in weak stations it is important to know exactly where the station is on the dial. You do not want to waste time carefully tuning in the wrong station. If you do not have digital tuning place a bit of invisible tape on the dial so that one side of the tape lines up with where one side of the needle should be when it is tuned into the desired station. If this is too messy for you, you can remember exactly where the needle lines up with any number AM or FM on the dial.

    To find a station you might want to find a place where it comes in well, like outside or next to a window in a tall building, carefully mark where the station is on the dial, and then try again at home.

    It also helps to remember strong stations that are near the station you want on the dial. Strong stations with distinctive programming are useful if you want to explain where a station is to a friend. You can also help friends find radio stations by putting the phone up to the radio so they can hear what it is playing while they try to tune it in. I find this helps them a lot. Helping your friends at church find Catholic stations is a great way to build up the faith and help Catholic radio.

    This last suggestion, and perhaps some of the others may seem a bit trivial, one can see why a book or magazine article might not include them, but space is free on the Internet so I have attempted to include things that might normally be left out so you could try "every trick in the book."
    
    

13. Some one sent me an e-mail that said their reception improved when they were close to or touching their radio. Many people have noted this. I used to set my radio on a gallon jar of water to get a similar effect. Things like this may make reception better or worse. What can I say, experiment.
    
    
14. Here is another tip I recieved in my guest book. "I use two radios tuned to the same station, held right next to each other. The second radio does not have to be on, and the improvement on my cheapie is great!" This did not work for me, actually it made the signal weaker. But perhaps it will work for you, like it did the person who left the note. Another area for research.

Here is a web page on Catholic radio stations nation wide,Catholic Radio in U.S.

In this web page I have been discussing AM radio, which is the American term, internationally the term middle wave is used. The tips are also useful for long wave radio.

I have written a summary of the tips from this page and many other pages. It maybe the most extensive collection of AM radio reception ideas on the web, though some of the other pages go into more depth on certain topics.

The Pilot of the Airwaves has been a radio hobbyist for many years, and used to work for his college radio station. His page gives the standard advice, which is very important, but also has many other points based on his considerable experience. The pilot's page, like the one you are reading, is on Geocities.com.

The Australian Broadcast Corporation, ABC, has put up several good pages on AM radio reception. These pages may not cover all the standard material, but they have material the others do not. One of the ABC pages is on troubleshooting at home.

Another ABC page is on home AM antennas. They do not like loop antennas, most other sites do. What they seem to recommend are big outdoor antennas that can be cheap but are difficult to set up and can cause a lighting strike.

Here is another good place to check, because it has a couple of thoughts that other web pages do not, but it is rather short and does not have much of the material that other sites do have. One of his points was that if you have a two pronged plug in which both prongs are the same you might want to try turning the plug over so the prongs go into the opposite slots. He also suggests moving to another plug to eliminate interference that is coming through the plugs. eHow has lots of good practical ideas on many topics. You have to register to get all their advice.

Here is a careful comparison of the two strongly recommended AM radios, the GE Superadio and the CCRadio from Crane. It is written by Bob Grove. The web page is on the Grove Enterprises web site, so Bob Grove probably owns the company or is part of a family that does. This article is part of Monitoring Times. The article is fairly long.

A popular page on talk radio in Philadelphia that has some material comparing the GE Superadio and Crane's CCRadio.

This is a sophisticated page on AM interference problems. The writer explains what the different sources of interference sound like. This could help you narrow down the suspects as you search for the source of the noise. An advanced page for the person who wants to know all the tricks, but filled with material you will not find on any of the other pages.

Another intelligent page on interference. It suggests that many of our interference problems are the fault of the radio or television set.

This web page has a very long list of AM links, many of them intended for AM hobbyists. The page even links to this one, so he must have good taste, right?

Here is a web site put up by a radio station which may or may not have anything original. Either way it has a good summary of the basics.

Finally let me mention that you might find material on AM reception by searching for the interational term medium wave radio, more rarely called mediumwave and very rarely middle wave. Conversely if you are searching for information on medium wave you should use advice for AM radio which is the same thing. Long wave radio uses the same techniques as AM radio even though it is on a different part of the radio spectrum.

Have you got any thoughts on improving AM radio reception? Perhaps you know of an important web site that I missed. Why not write about them in my guest book? Geocities will e-mail me to inform me of your entry and only I will be able to read it, so this is like e-mail but I do not get as much spam. I may include your thoughts in this page, which had more than 2,900 hits in June 2004, and perhaps traditionally published works as well. Furthermore the Cleveland Plain Dealer has just published an article largely based on this site, so who knows how far your thoughts will go.

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