Arts >> Music >> Recording Music

How to Get Reception on a Boom Box

The giant-sized cousin of the handheld transistor radios of the 1960s and 1970s, the boombox is a portable sound system that features stereo sound, cassette or CD players and as much bass as possible. These devices saw their peak in the 1990s as they allowed the bass heavy hip hop and pop music of the time to be pumped out at full blast from any location, before the invention of the mp3 player and other technologies made them all but obsolete. Most boomboxes came with an AM/FM radio that was adjusted for reception through a metal antenna, but this often produced poor reception. Fortunately, there are several ways to improve boombox reception in your home or out in public.

Instructions

    • 1

      Move the boombox near a window. The collapsible antennae of boombox radios picks up radio waves that are easily blocked or disrupted by walls and other buildings, especially if they are stone or reinforced masonry. Move the boombox near a window and point the antenna towards an unobstructed piece of the sky.

    • 2

      Wrap the antennae in aluminum foil. This old trick helped UHF television viewers get rid of snowy pictures in the days before digital television and it still does the trick for AM/FM radios. Use the aluminium foil to enlarge and extend the antennae of the boombox to give it more surface to pick up the radio waves. You can even create a forked or T-shaped end to the antenna that gives you a broader angle of reception for the radio waves.

    • 3

      Buy a loop-shaped or "bunny ear" ferrite antenna at an electronics store. These loop-shaped antennae are especially helpful with picking up AM signals, which are higher frequency and often have trouble entering buildings. A looped ferrite-based antenna will actually attract these radio waves and help you pick them up

    • 4

      Turn off as many other electrical devices in the house or building as you can. Other devices, especially Wi-Fi Internet and other transmitting devices, can interfere with the reception of your boombox radio.

    • 5

      Turn the radio to mono. As a last resort, if the station you want to listen to is still fuzzy after you have made other adjustments, turn the stereo sound off and switch to mono.

Recording Music

Related Categories