I live three blocks from the Empire State Building in New York City. I use an 01 tuner with the Magnum Dynalab ST-2 whip antenna. I am having difficulty picking up even local radio stations. Does anyone have a suggestion for an appropriate antenna? Your advice is appreciated.

Evan,
Welcome and great question. Before I give you specific advice, please re-post with details of your set-up; What kind of building are you in? Brick, aluminum siding? How high up is your residence? Is your ST-2 outside or in? Did you get your hi-fi from Innovative Audio? If so, they can be more helpful (and should be for the price of an 01). NANA is located in downtown Chicago, I'm sure they can offer suggestions as well. There are no 'tricks" to getting great reception, only two general rules: 1)Height: get your antenna as high as possible. After calling Magnum Dynalab (another good source) this summer, they suggested to me to get my ST-2 higher. Even though I only put it 10 feet higher outside (because of local zoning rules) it resulted in eliminating all hiss and tremendously improving quality of music!!
2) Obstructions: Keep the aeriel away from anything metal, ie. gutters, window frames, home wiring, balcony railings, etc. Unfortunately high-
rises (lots of metal) in your way are the biggest problem. I live in an area of Detroit that is in the middle of power-lines, all major TV and radio transmitters, and some tall buildings and I'm only able to get about ten FM stations decently received (eleven, if you count WOMC through my Naim phono section). Fortunately my favorite station comes in perfect now! As a sidenote many FM stations are now broadcasting on the internet and the sound ranges from fair to pretty good (not close to off-the-air with an 01 though). Depending on where your computer is it is an easy connection and inexpensive to connect to pre-amp.

Ron The Mon

P.S. If yor antenna is outside, make sure it is grounded!!

Evan,

Check if the hi buildings around you prevent
an "eye contact" with the transmiting antenas.
If they do, I think it is difficult to you to get a good input signal from the antenna (it is a problem with FM transmission/receiving).

Arie

Evan,

I apply the Magnum Dynalab ST-2 whip but outside on the balcony rail. I am up on the 8th floor of a nine story and am approximately 8 air miles to most of the Washington, DC broadcast antennae. An external antenna here is necessary as they seemed to went a little bit too far over board on the reinforcemnt rods when they formed the concrete of this structure (not even the bunkers in Normandy were as reinforced).

I use the 02 and can pull some Baltimore and Richmond stations (50 - 75 air miles; Balt has a very good progressive rock and Richmond a very good classical that broadcasts their symphony live). All stations are received without hiss, well over thirty. There seems to be another five, but too close to the stronger so the 02 seems to cancel out them.

My coax from the antenna is 50 feet Rat Shack special.

I listen to the radio most of the time while I am in the home office or moving about in the residence.

I was worried about the sensitivity of the Naim tuner. I had a Creek T-40 before. Needless to say, the sound from the 02 is at a much higher level.

When I discussed my situation with NANA rep he suggested a simple dipole would be better since it could be positioned directionally, aimed towards the most listened to stations. I did not try this as I am happy with the whip. You might want to try the horizontal dipole.

The only real improvement would be the Ron Smiths and for you and I and the municipal codes they are a no-no. I'm afraid us cliff dwellers are at a disadvantage.

The building I am in has an old rooftop antennae for the broadcast TV stations which stills work; albeit, most residents connect to the cable service on a different link cabling system. The bad thing is the old rooftop system has devices that filter out FM radio broadcasts; exactly why I am not sure, but there must have been a reason. For TV the audio on the old roof top is much cleaner as the cable TV supplier seems to induce extensive hum in their system, particularly when the bold white lettering appears on the screen.

Hope you can find a better reception technique as you have one of the finest tuners ever created.
Cheers