AM Radio Reception

[bizsmith@yahoo.com]

I'm installing a new radio in my coach. The radio vendor says in a car, the whole car body acts as the antenna for AM. It doesn't appear that I am going to get good AM reception even though I have connected the radio chassis to to the metal in the coach. AM reception was never really good with the old radio that died. Suggestions?

[dickandlois]

Do you still have the OEM antenna ?

The Chassis acts as a ground plane, they do not make a good antenna, but if you have the installation manual and a nonconducting tuning stick; you can try to tune the coupling capacitor at the input and see if that helps. Fractions of a turn make a big difference between max and min. capacitance. One turn 360 deg. equals the full range.

Work carefully because the cap could be set at the 180 degree point, so you might have only 90 degrees clockwise from the starting point and 90 degrees counterclockwise !!!

You might want to try tuning the ORM antenna to the new radio, it makes a big difference in most cases.

Keep me posted. May need some additional information on your coach and see if I can come up with a workable option.

Rich.

[kaypsmith]

Radio vendor, boy is smart. As Rich says the car only acts as a ground plane. If you have a rubber or fiberglass roof, you can take a piece of copper wire and stretch it from front to rear of your coach. Wire can be shielded with standard poly dielectric really is better, since it will help prevent corroding. Black in color will last longer because black is UV proof. pull one end of the wire, or both ends to a good grounding point on your coach, and make sure that your antenna is grounded well also. Seems like extreme, but with Rich's suggestion will greatly add to the AM reception. As an amateur radio operator, I have literally worked the world from rv with a similar setup. Good luck and Happy trails, Kay