Question for Quad FM3 owners

Jump to Latest
#2
There is no such thing as the best indoor aerial. They are all crap. What you need at a minimum is a 75ohm/PAL tap off your TV aerial, assuming it has a VHF segment. I've serviced dozens if not hundreds of these, and while they all have good sensitivity, some exceptional, they were not designed for indoor aerials, and neither was any other serious FM tuner.

EJP
 
#4
ejp said:
There is no such thing as the best indoor aerial. They are all crap. What you need at a minimum is a 75ohm/PAL tap off your TV aerial, assuming it has a VHF segment. I've serviced dozens if not hundreds of these, and while they all have good sensitivity, some exceptional, they were not designed for indoor aerials, and neither was any other serious FM tuner.

EJP
Click to expand...

OK. So what do I need to fit to the aerial connection in my lounge room? Can you quote something from the Jaycar catalog for me?
Jaycar Electronics | Components, connectors, switches, power, and more

Thx guys

Doug

Just twigged to the "ejp". ;-)
 
Last edited:
#5
That presupposes your TV aerial isn't a modern UHF one but the old Australian VHF band 1/2--band 3 brings it above the FM band (VHF )--band 4 goes UHF --500MHz upwards .


No amount of "adjustment " to a UHF aerial at that high frequency can make it suitable for much lower reception of (approx ) -- 88.5MHz-- 108MHz-- check out capture frequencies of the different physical dimensions of a small UHF aerial and a much larger VHF one .


It might give some sort of a signal but it certainly wont be full strength --is analogue TV transmission still in use in Australia ?


Australian and New Zealand television frequencies - Wikipedia


Since 1-1-2001 Australia phased out analogue PAL transmissions thereby requiring Yagi type UHF TV aerials -
Digital terrestrial television in Australia - Wikipedia
 
Last edited:
#6
Yes, indoor 100mHz FM is all fiddly adjustment and compromise. The waves barely fit in a domestic room, it is all end-effects and multiple reflections. My "best" has often been 3 meters of real cheap wire, draped over lamps and doorways and stuck in the center hole of coax. It works different on every station, and when you move around, but keep you exercised jumping-up to try a new position.

FM Indoor Antenna - 300ohm | Jaycar Electronics
Classic dipole. In good areas, often works OK in two tries (N-S vs E-W). Needs 2-screw inlet or balun.

FM Indoor Antenna - 300ohm | Jaycar Electronics
Claims 45MHz and up and up. At a half-meter long, they must be very optimistic; but I have seen less work in urban zones. Has amplifier to turn weak noisy signal into strong noisy signal.

NO GO!!
All these below are rated 175MHz and up, and likely reject the ~100MHz band.
UHF/VHF Passive Indoor TV Antenna - Desk or Wall Mount | Jaycar Electronics
Digimatch VHF/UHF Economy 7 Element Receives Band 3, 4, and 5 (Channel 6-12 and 28-69) | Jaycar Electronics
DAB+ Outdoor Antenna | Jaycar Electronics
 
#7
Last edited:
#8
Get the strongest FM signal you can arrange; as suggested above.

Actually - of more direct interest - note that Quad tuners FM 1,2,3,4 are all designed to drive a minimum of 100K input impedance in the preamp; and so have very, very small output coupling caps (100n - 220nf max). Replace or augment with 4.7-10uF if your preamp has a lower impedance input (as is likely)

I've everything from an 'Acoustical FM1' (1954 - made before P J Walker's company was renamed Quad); to a late -production FM4. They are all lovely to use - subject to the above...



(ETA: for the valve FM1, FM2, you must add a buffer to drive anything below 100K; else you overload the valve Foster-Seeley discriminator which is also the stage; that done, the musical performance remains excellent)

eta2: pic...
 

Attachments

  • AM2.jpg
    AM2.jpg
    40.2 KB · Views: 188
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom