"ric" wrote in message ...
Robert Morein wrote:

Are you familiar with the FM2G-C? It is being strongly considered.

http://www.fanfare.com/fm-2g-c.html

This is an omnidirectional antenna, which means it will be very
susceptible
to multipath. The fact that it is cut for the educational band gives it
a
little more gain, but, as I said, gain is seldom the problem. The
problem is
phase cancellation caused by reception of a signal that is reflected by
two
or more different paths. This causes the signal to actually cancel 100%
at
certain frequencies. More gain on nothing does not result in something.
The
solution is a directional antenna, which attenuates all but one of the
reception paths, eliminating the phase cancellation.

Hmmm...I'm getting a slew of opinions on this, and few of them reach
the same conclusion. Such as:

http://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/recep.htm

I've tried various dipole antennas, all with similar results. Best
results so far was an RCA powered indoor TV "rabbit ear" type antenna.

I'm tempted to have an antenna cut specifically for 88.3 MHz, as that is
the only FM I listen to. Oh well...

You can do it yourself. Take a look at
http://www.ycars.org/EFRA/Module%20C/AntDip.htm

The wavelength of 88.3 mHz is 66.88 inches. Your dipole should be 1/2 that
length: 33.5. All you need is a piece of twinlead, which is just junky
antenna lead-in wire. Cut it to 33.5 inches. At each end, twist the
conductors together. At the center, break one conductor. Connect the loose
ends to your feed wire. It is not essential, but nice, if you can have t the
connections soldered. Protect the wires from bending and breaking by
encasing the joints in some RTV (GE silicone goo).

I do not understand why the station engineer recommended the Fanfare. This
antenna has 0 dB gain. 0 is a very small number. The only advantage to the
Fanfare is for external use, since it is self-supporting. An indoor dipole,
which can be taped or tacked to any convenient surface, does not need
mechanical rigidity.

A properly cut dipole has twice the signal strength: 3 dB.