We have center twins which become our little dorm room at night, but we would sometime like a little radio music. We have had trouble getting am/fm reception in this area and we assume it is because of the aluminum shell. Has anyone else had that problem and made some modifications??

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I have SOB, but an external antenna is the answer. There used to be film like that used for electric defoggers that could be installed on windows, but I've not seen that for a long time. MY RV has a flexible folded dipole whip on the roof, something like this: http://tinyurl.com/cu8gj, but with a base designed for RVs.

If they're not available, there are several small antennas that could be positioned near a window.

If you want to go external and can't find a flexibe antenna, a simple whip antenna with a drop to your dorm room would work just fine - expecially with the ground plane the aluminum shell would provide...

How does the radio work when it is against the window glass? Different windows may work better for different stations.

Here is a link to C Crane, who are the leaders in broadcast radio reception:

http://www.ccrane.com/library/am-reception.08.25.03.aspx

http://www.ccrane.com/antennas/index.aspx

Due to the abysmal quality of boom boxes, we use an AM/FM/CD/Casette car radio. It and its speakers are portable, and plugs into a cig lighter outlet and uses an external antenna connection. We use it inside and outside, even hanging it from our awning.

You can also get better sound from a small radio if you use computer speakers connected to the headphone jack. Altec Lansing GT5051s will blow you away.

Dave,

Try satellite radio. I have an XM Skyfi II that can be used in my home and in the Barth. The music choices are excellent and you can listen to the same station coast to coast. The antenna is about the size of a halved ping pong ball. It not as cheap as the other alternatives discussed above, but sound quality, music, sports and talk radio choices are unsurpassed. XM also carries every baseball game held all season long on various channels.

Bill G

We have Dish TV, and it includes Sirius music as well as Dish's own music channels. We have never watched TV in a MH, but might take the Dish receiver with us just for the music. It is that good. So much variety! There is something for everybody. Well, not quite. They don't have a Polka channel.

we too like to listen to radio/cd while in bedroom...to keep things simple we have an in dash unit that is on and off without ignition being used and has a remote that we can use from the rear bedroom...it also provides our regular radio usage while parked or underway with speakers front and rear...

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Bob and Jan Orr
Canadian Barth owners
94 30ft. Breakaway

OK, it is time for me to divulge all the facts here. We do have XM Radio, we even have the boombox thing with is great. It takes about 17 lbs of batteries and it is big. We too can use the dash radio, in fact, we have some great speakers in the cabinets above our head. However, I like to listen to music with my earphones after everyone has gone to sleep. What I do now is balance the small radio I have in between the window and the woven wood shades and I can kind of start getting good reception.

I would like to just put the radio on a shelf above my head but I would get no reception there. I am just thinking of doing something with wires and tin foil but I don't want to leave too much space for mosquitos, (the Minnesota bird) Well, I'll work out something.

My wife on her side has a little drop down TV and that works great.

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How about a suction cup on the little radio?

Dave, I don't know if this would do anything for FM, but years ago someone sold an antenna booster for AM & SW. I saw one, & hoked up a copy of my own by taking a piece of 1/8" plywood about 2" x 10", and wrapping about 12 turns of fine insulated wire around it lengthwise. It cost pennies to dollars of the factory job, & did wonders for AM & SW reception, clipped to the radio antenna, or just lying next to the radio.

Cheap, simple, & worth a try if you're into mickey- mousing around with stuff like that.

Dave,

Spring for an IPOD or get a really long cord and plug your headphones into the output jack in the XM unit.

Bill G

Man you guys are all so techy. I like my little transister radio I got from Wallyworld for $12.99 on sale. It has weather too. And I sometimes get powerhouse 50,000 Watt WCCO in Missouri at night.. I guess I will paper my side of the Barth with tin foil and solder some speaker wire to the antenna on the radio, snake it out the window and duct tape the wire to the tin foil.

I guess it is genetic. My dad had a little GE transister radio that he always had on his side of the bed. If he woke up in the middle of the night he just liked to check out the news or weather, even though he lived in Ventura, CA the weather was always booooring, 72 and cloudy in the morning with sun breaking out at 11AM 84-90 the rest of the day, every day. Who would want to live there...shhhh.



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Try the gizmo I suggested first. Easier to put up & put away, doesn't block the view, no soldering involved, an alligator clip at most, & if it doesn't help, not much is lost.

It'll be great for 50 KW WCCO AM in MO. You're too young to remember Cedric Adams on WCCO, & in the Mpls. Star, then the Star-Journal when they combined. I think he died before it became the Star-Journal-Tribune.

Eden Valley wasn't even a wide spot in the road those days. The Country Club in Edina was the address to have then.

[This message has been edited by olroy (edited December 03, 2005).]

I believe the dingus Roy described will be most useful for AM. Being a loop, it will be directional. Does your little radio have a telescopic whip antenna?

I remember WCCO as being in Minneapolis, not MO. I grew up listening to Cedric Adams in the 50's. Used to get KCMO from MO.

I will try your solution Olroy. Bill WCCO is in Minneapolis but it stays at high power all night so you can get it in MO. Actually they have a great all night talk show and people call in from all over the US. I actually heard them in Boston once.

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In the '50s I traveled rural areas in 5 southwestern states. I'd finish a job in one small town, eat dinner, & drive to the next . The "Wonderbar" AM radio in my '53 Packard was my link to humanity as I chased the white pool of my headlights down empty country highways. As one staton faded, I'd punch the bar until another one came booming in.

I could always get KGO and KABL in San Francisco, & XERF? XELO? in Del Rio, Texas. Their transmitter was in Mexico, & was something above 50KW. But I never got WCCO. Too bad, it would have been a link to my youth.