How to DIY FM Antenna

This wikiHow teaches you how to make your own antenna to improve the range of your FM receiver. Depending on your preferred frequency, you can use coax cable or speaker wire.

Table of Contents

Use coax cable

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Prepare the necessary materials. To make a straight antenna from coax cable, you need the following materials: ^{[1] X Research Source}

50 Ohm (or 75 Ohm) coaxial cable with copper shielding.
FM receiver with coaxial connector.
9.5 mm . diameter copper tube
Wire cutting pliers
Hacksaw
Welding tools

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Calculate the length of the antenna. Thus, you will know the length of copper pipe and coaxial cable to be cut:

Divide 468 by the frequency you want to connect (eg: 468/108MHz = 4.3).
Divide the last result by 2 (for example, 4.3/2 = 2.15).
Continue multiplying by 30.5 cm (12 inches) to calculate the antenna length (for example, 2.15*30.5 cm = 65.57 cm).

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Cut one end of the coax cable. Keeping one end of the coax cable intact as a connector, proceed to cut off the other end.

You can use wire cutters or hacksaws to do this.

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Strip the sheath to half the length of the coax cable. You need to remove the protection layer by layer until you see the white sheath around the cable core.

For example, if the antenna is estimated to be 15 cm long, you need to strip 7.5 cm of the length of the protective case.
You will need to remove the copper protective cover during this process. The easiest way is to use a saw to mark a shallow line around the area to be cut and and then try to peel the copper sheath off the cable.

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Cut the copper tube by half the length of the antenna. This is the other half of the antenna receiver, so the copper tube should be as long as the part you just pulled.

As a reminder, if you plan to use a 15 cm antenna, the copper tube should be 7.5 cm long.

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Insert the copper tube into the coax cable. Insert the copper pile on the stripped end of the coax cable and slide it down.

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Solder the protective sheath of the coaxial cable to the copper tube. You can do this by cutting about 2.5 cm of PVC insulation (black) just below the stripped part of the coax cable, turning it upside down with pliers, then using a solder pen to Connect this lip to the copper shell.

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Connect the coax cable to the radio receiver. Plug the coaxial connector you keep into the coaxial antenna port on the receiver, the other part is the antenna.

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Adjust the antenna. Once connected, point the antenna towards the nearest base station and fix it if necessary.

The less obstructions between the antenna and the FM radio, the stronger the signal you will receive.
The coax cable is stiff enough to lie in the desired direction without support, but you can use brackets or tape to secure the antenna if necessary.

Use speaker wire

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You need to understand when to apply this method. If the FM signal is relatively good but only needs a little tweaking sometimes, you can use the speaker wire as a range amplifier to improve the connection quality.

Speaker cables are not the ideal solution for long-range reception. If the signal malfunctions continuously, you should use coax cable.

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Prepare the necessary supplies. To make a rudimentary antenna from speaker wire, you need: ^{[2] X Research Source}

3 meters speaker wire
FM receiver with clamp (or straight) connector
Wire stripping pliers

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Strip about 1 meter of speaker wire. Use a knife or pliers to separate about 1 m of speaker wire in opposite directions. You should separate about 1 m and leave 2 m of wire intact.

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Bend the speaker wire into a “T” shape. Bend each end of the separated wire at a 90-degree angle to the remaining 2m length of wire.

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Strip about 5 cm of insulation from the end of the intact speaker wire. Use wire stripping pliers to do this. After stripping, you will have two bare wires at the end of the “T”.

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Find the antenna port of the receiver. Usually, there are two ports marked “FM EXT” or “ANT EXT”, but you will most likely see an “FM” port somewhere near the connector; there is also a label “Balanced” or “BAL” near the respective connection ports.

FM receivers will have a clamp or straight connector. A clamp-on connector is clamp-like as the name suggests, while a straight connector takes the form of a metal pin that plugs into a connection post.

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Connect the bottom of the “T” speaker wire to the receiver. Use the bare end of the wire under the “T” that you stripped to connect to the connector of your FM receiver.

If there is only one connection port on the FM receiver, you can twist the two bare ends of the “T” end together to form one and connect to a clamp or post.

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Adjust the antenna. In theory, you need to place the antenna as high and as close to the base station as possible. But in some cases this means putting the antenna above the wall or outside.

You may need to move the FM receiver so that the signal is strongest.

Advice

Both antennas in this article are designed to be “balanced” and would be inconvenient to connect to a typical “unbalanced” drawstring antenna.
Coax and speaker cables are relatively cheap. If you already have the right tools to make the antenna, you can do it yourself for much less than buying a new FM antenna.

Warning

An outdoor antenna requires a weatherproof solution (such as a waterproof junction box).
If the antenna is installed outdoors, additional lightning protection is required.

Steps

Use coax cable

Use speaker wire

Advice

Warning

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