Better boombox FM reception?

August 2, 2007 7:56 AM

How do you get better FM reception from a boombox?

I have a relatively inexpensive Emerson boombox at work. Needless to say, it has no external antenna jack. I'm in the center of the building with florecent lights all around and reception is crap. How do I rig some kind of antenna? (Can't put anything on the outside of the building or anything like that so it has to be indoors.)

posted by CwgrlUp to Technology (5 answers total)

Has it got a case you can open without a hacksaw? If so, since it has an FM receiver there's bound to be an FM antenna in there somewhere and you could attach an external T-antenna from Radio Shack to the same contact points.
posted by jfuller at 8:04 AM on August 2, 2007

Also, if you can somehow wire the antenna to a grounded pipe, or any exposed pipe, that may help.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 8:29 AM on August 2, 2007

How about listening to internet radio instead?
posted by cahlers at 9:38 AM on August 2, 2007

Response by poster: No doubt, cahlers, but IT doesn't allow streaming. Trust me I'd much rather be listening to Sirius.

L33t, an exposed pipe? I'm working in a bank building not a mechanic shop. :)
posted by CwgrlUp at 12:30 PM on August 2, 2007

When I was in temp hell and had a similar situation, I got a box of paperclips and linked them all together. I then draped/fastened the clip chain all around my office, touching everything metal (filing cabinets, desk legs, picture frames, the metal frames holding up the drop ceiling) to create a kind of "net antenna." Then I bent the final paperclip around the existing antenna of the boombox.

It worked, in that I went from 10% radio/90% static to 60%radio/40% static.
posted by holyrood at 5:15 PM on August 2, 2007