radio antennas for table radios
 

I have a Sony Dream Machine that has speech, as I have a visual impairment. It has a good CD player, alarm system, but has a lousy internal antenna. There is a single strand wire that extends out for about half a meter. Does anyone have a clue how I might improve the FM reception?

I truly believe the guy who designs something should have to use it for a few months, so they could see the flaws.

Thanks

they sell fm antennas at the local best buy or even radio shack. they're quite huge but supposedly they improve the fm reception significantly.

and if you don't mind me asking, what visual impairment do you have? not to be offensive or anything, but how did you type your question?

external antenna
 

I have several antennas, but they need to have some method to tie it into the radio. There is a complete absence of screws or binding posts for an antenna to be attached. Only the foot or so of wire, fairly light gauge, insulated, and apparently entirely cosmetic, as it does little to improve reception of the twelve or so stations in the community.

what i have done besofer is to splice a couple extra feet of wire on to the exposed wire and then try moveing it to different positions to see where it picks up the best

The length should be about about right(for FM). You can attempt to lengthen it, but not arbitrarily. Go with a 1m total. You must try to maintain a multiple of the transmissions wavelength(about 1m for FM). Try orientations of 0 or 90 degrees from the transmission source(straight towards or away, straight up or down, horizontal left or right at 90 from source). Try moving the antenna away from large or flat metal sources(may act as a destructively interfering antenna or ground plane). Give it a try, it's only time.