CR 70 antenna question/help

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My parents received a Crosely CR79 4-in-1 enterntainment unit (CD,
radio, turntable, and casette). The attached 24" antenna does not pull
in a good signal in their condo, and they are not willing to move the
unit to sit in front of a window in order to get a signal which is only
slightly better - reception in their area is just not great, as they
are mid-way between NYC and Philly, so neither city's stations are
super strong.

The user manual says to NOT attach any external antenna, but I was
wondering if anyone has done something like this safely, or if there
are some other suggestions to boost the FM reception. Thanks!

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

"nazhel" wrote ...
> My parents received a Crosely CR79 4-in-1 enterntainment unit (CD,
> radio, turntable, and casette). The attached 24" antenna does not
> pull
> in a good signal in their condo,

What kind of antenna is it? Whip? Retractable? Loop?
Folded dipole? You can probably connect (or couple
capacitively or inductively) an external antenna to improve
reception. Is it just FM reception that needs improvement?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

On many radios, the whip antenna is for fm only, and the radio has an
internal ferrite bar antenna for am reception.

If you are trying to improve fm reception, you can run a length of wire
over to the near-window, and at the radio, just wrap the end of the wire
around the whip antenna 5 or 6 times. This is a simple form of coupling,
but works wonders in some cases.

You can get a simple dipole wire antenna at radio shack for 5 or 6 dollars.
It is made entirely out of wire, in the form of a "T." The flap portion
across the top of the "T" is about 3 feet long, and is the antenna
reception part. The vertical part of the "T" is the lead-in part, and it
may be 5 to 8 feet. So, the lead in may or may not be long enough to get
to the near-window, so you may have to purchase some extra 300 ohm lead to
get it where you want it. Again, you would take the lead-in and wrap it
around the whip antenna 5 or 6 times.

Tune in a weak station that you can barely hear without the added antenna,
and then experiment with the coupling to see what works best.

This would be a very simple and cheap way to experiment, before you spend
more money on something that may or may not work.

Just some ideas.............


--James--