At 09:46 AM 1/25/2001, Keith Adams wrote:
>with the factory stereo with a Fuba, and a Blaupunkt in the Vanagon with
>an antenna
>that has been broken off and is currently held together with a drill bit
>(DPO's
>fix).  The van gets better reception!

Dunno whether this is relevant here -- but amplified antennas for shortwave
I mean HF excuuuse me I mean World Band (tm) reception have always been a
bit problematic.  In fact $1500-class (cheap or expensive depending on
where you're looking from) HF receivers try to avoid amplifying the signal
at all in the RF stage, because it's hard and expensive to avoid
introducing noise and other undesirable stuff.  They'd rather work with the
signal at microvolt levels.  But amplified HF antennas do work well in some
circumstances.  The major exception is anywhere there are powerful
transmitters nearby, as the amplifiers become swamped with the undesired
powerful signals.

Someone more knowledgeable may be able to say more specifically about
amplified FM-broadcast antennas.

david

David Beierl - Providence, RI
  http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'84 Westy "Dutiful Passage"
'85 GL "Poor Relation"