Radio Arial

[masma]

We bought a new dab radio/cd player. It's just what we wanted except... the arial is a metal pully up one and where we want to put it the arial won't go up more than 4 inches. Can we put some wire round siad arial and thread that up the back of the unit, would that work?

[mikey4444]

What was the make and model of the radio ?

DAB radios need a rather better Arial than ordinary radios.

[masma]

It's a JVC model number RD-D2278.

[Zacs-Master]

But you would have encountered that problem with nearly all digital radios. Anyway.....can you not pull the Ariel out at an angle?

[dannyk13]

My DAB radio has a wire aerial which is just drooped over the back of the table the radio stands on.Works fine.

[murraymints]

my bedside radio also has a dangly wire thing.unlike the kitchen with a fixed one..works just as good

[vulcan42]

It worked for me, for some reason the signal wasn't very strong where I wanted to place the dab radio. Bought a couple of crocodile clips and ran a wire from the aerial, behind the the curtain and along the curtain rail, got good reception after that.
https://www.bitsbox.co.uk/images/small/croc_sml.jpg

[mikey4444]

Thanks Masma....looks a nice bit of kit !

I don't think that you do what you are suggesting with the Arial though. Have a look around at the rear of the unit. It should have an external Arial socket, rather like the type that you would connect up you TV with....ie a co-ax sort.

If there is an external socket, that you will need to connect an extra Arial up to that.

Have a look on Maplins if you have one handy !

[fiction-factory]

Do you mean the aerial is designed to be no more than 4 inches long, or are you just saying that because of where you want to place the player tan obstruction (shelf etc) prevents you from extending it beyind 4 inches

[Zacs-Master]

I assumed the latter ff.

[Zacs-Master]

Ah ha! I note from the spec page the radio has a USB socket. You can buy arials for DAB radios which plug into these. Just google ‘USB arial for DAB radio.

[fiction-factory]

I was puzzled zacs because from this picture it looks as if the aerial can be angled in any direction so if it is extendable there should be a way of tilting it to fit in

[fiction-factory]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JVC-RD-D227B-Wireless-Flat-Panel-Hi-Fi-System-Gun-Metal-/282639817803

[Zacs-Master]

Hence my 09:50 post ff.

[fiction-factory]

yes, and i don't think we have an answer from masma on that yet. But i can't tell from the pic whether it is extendable anyway.

[masma]

Right... off to Maplins we go! The aerial only pulls up, I did think about putting it sideways but no joy there. Thank you all for your help and a Happy New Year to you.

[Kidas]

Yes.
The aerial is a piece of wire that 'catches' the broadcast radio waves. In theory you can tune the length of the aerial to the broadcast freqency/wavelength.

Radio hams advise that the aerial should be nominally a half- or a quarter-wavelength.

DAB in the UK is around 225MHz, which corresponds to a wavelength of 1.33m/ Thus, the nominal length of a quarter-wavelength aerial would be about 33cm (just over a foot in old money).

That basically gives you the minimum length you need. IN broad terms, the longer the aerial, the more signal you are going to catch.

Bottom line, just add a wire to the aerial. Make sure there is a good electrical connection between the pull-up aerial The crocodile clip is an excellent idea. The wire that can be as long as you like, but if you want to be geeky about it, make it an even multiple of 33cm long (33cm / 66cm / 133cm / 200cm etc)

Good luck

[Zacs-Master]

Are you sure you’ve pulled it out to it’s full extent? Sometimes the bit that allows you to angle it is the last thing to pull out. You might then be able to angle it and put it back in the restricted space.

[fiction-factory]

Yes, it was angled on the picture I posted, masma

[bhg481]

I think DAB is broadcast with vertical polarity, so having the aerial sideways may not be much help. I also think the USB connection is to enable you to play music from a memory stick - I wouldn't expect it to be connected to the aerial system but I stand to be corrected.

[Zacs-Master]

You may be right bhg. Ah well, just a thought.