[xxtimbo]

I bought a sony radio tuner £6
obviously at one time it was part of a
stack sterio music centre.

It has settings for mw lw and fm
It has 6 presets ... which probably dates it .... (maybe 6 for each radio band .)

I put in a 10 ft copper wire at the back for an ariel.
On fm I managed to get some channels in exellent quality .... no probs there.

But going on to LW and MW I could hardly get one channel, just a lot of fuzz as the digital number moved up and down.

Do I need some kind of special ariel to get mw and lw channels ?

I m getting more or less the same result in my pioneer music centre.

[chrisjr]

Look on the back of the tuner again. You will see a couple of terminals that look a bit like some amps use for speakers. That will be for the AM aerial. Just stuff a bit of wire into them and see what happens.

You'll need a reasonable length in most cases to get a decent signal. I've got results with 3 or 4 feet but it can depend on where you are.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Yes, the AM aerial is completely separate to the FM one, essentially you just need a long wire.

However, AM is such awfully bad quality it's hardly worth bothering with.

[xxtimbo]

there are 3 terminals for ariels
just for fm
there's one terminal for lw and am ariel.
Maybe a longer wire might help, but I have a feeling the reception is so poor its hardly worth bothering.

[chrisjr]

Originally Posted by xxtimbo

there are 3 terminals for ariels
just for fm
there's one terminal for lw and am ariel.
Maybe a longer wire might help, but I have a feeling the reception is so poor its hardly worth bothering.

Increasing the length of the wire attached to the FM terminal will have zero effect on the MW/LW reception. That terminal is not even connected to the AM tuner stage.

To get AM reception you must connect something to the AM aerial terminal.

[David (2)]

Thats if it has an AM aerial port...my one didnt. If no port its built-in which means you need to move the unit around to effect reception-very common and not very good. Use the internet instead

[xxtimbo]

Maybe Ill get 20 or 30 feet of wire together and put it in the attic,
theres a lot of medium wave stations out there.... surely it can pick some of them up !

[gomezz]

Originally Posted by Nigel Goodwin

However, AM is such awfully bad quality it's hardly worth bothering with.

Unless you like to listen to R5L and / or Talksport. Which reminds me that I need to replace the AM aerial to my AV amp with a longer wire to get the aerial itself futher away from the noisy interference it picks up round the back of my TV and other AV kit.

[David (2)]

I know digital radio is not perfect but provided you have reception R5 + talksport are far better on there than AM.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Originally Posted by David (2)

I know digital radio is not perfect but provided you have reception R5 + talksport are far better on there than AM.

I wouldn't want to listen to either of those - but obvious poor quality isn't of any concern for such stations

Assuming you're in an area that can get DAB?, then that would certainly improve quality greatly.

[gomezz]

Originally Posted by David (2)

I know digital radio is not perfect but provided you have reception R5 + talksport are far better on there than AM.

I am assuming that someone who got themselves a tuner on the cheap as the OP did is not so interested in spending their money on a DAB radio.

And my own set up is such that I can switch to AM radio on my AV receiver from the comfort of my armchair while I would need to get up off my fat arse to switch my DAB radio on.

[platelet]

Originally Posted by xxtimbo

there are 3 terminals for ariels
just for fm
there's one terminal for lw and am ariel.
Maybe a longer wire might help, but I have a feeling the reception is so poor its hardly worth bothering.

From memory mine used something like this for AM
http://www.amazon.co.uk/LOOP-ANTENNA...dp/B008Y3XARA/

And this for FM
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electrovisio...dp/B000L1ONW4/

But as with others, LW & MW reception were not great

[raretronics]

Originally Posted by xxtimbo

I bought a sony radio tuner £6
obviously at one time it was part of a
stack sterio music centre.

It has settings for mw lw and fm
It has 6 presets ... which probably dates it .... (maybe 6 for each radio band .)

I put in a 10 ft copper wire at the back for an ariel.
On fm I managed to get some channels in exellent quality .... no probs there.

But going on to LW and MW I could hardly get one channel, just a lot of fuzz as the digital number moved up and down.

Do I need some kind of special ariel to get mw and lw channels ?

I m getting more or less the same result in my pioneer music centre.

Its great to see people still have a keen interest in technology that inspired the future of present day radio. Only problem you will have is modern devices around the home these days cause many interference problems to the old radio bands i.e MW,LW, things start to get better at the bottom end of the HF band like SW. If you wish to listen to AM or LW then I suggest you move the receiver to somewhere in your home which isn't near anything like Laptops, Computers, TV's, etc. most of these unit contain either crystals or ceramic filters which normaly operate on simular frequencies to the MW and LW bands. anything that has a MCU or Controller like Programmable Pic's etc all use Xtals, which will cause major interferance on these bands.

I'm sure your sony receiver you purchased will have is own VHF Antenna connector for FM and a joint LF Antenna connects for MW and LW. Some older units will have a Ferrite Core Antenna located on the back of the unit. Many people think its a handle or something like that. If does you should be able to move it away from the unit which will help alot with the signal and interferance problems..

[wavy-davy]

These days the limiting factor is more likely to be the level of interference than the length of the aerial on mw/lw. I tend to find a battery powered radio sat on a window ledge is the best bet.