Because the Latino Radio Service (LRS) broadcast with very low power using a short, inefficient antenna, it is best heard outside using a portable or car radio on the campus of the University of Illinois.
If you are in a building, your radio should be placed near a window facing in the general direction of Bevier Hall (Goodwin Ave. and Gregory Dr. in Urbana). Because internal AM antennas in radios are directional, the radio should be rotated until the best reception is found (if your portable radio includes FM it will also likely have a whip antenna, but this is NOT used for AM reception).
If your radio has an external AM antenna (usually in the form of a plastic loop), it should also be placed near a window facing Bevier Hall and rotated until the best reception is found.
Unless you are very close to Bevier Hall, daytime reception of the LRS will normally be better than reception at night. This is because stronger, distant stations also using 1660 KHz may be reflected from the ionosphere at night and interfere with our signal. There is normally no "skywave" on the AM broadcast band during daylight hours.
An good, very small, inexpensive radio with good AM reception that also includes shortwave and FM stereo (when heard through earphones or headphones) is the Grundig Mini PE 100 (see reviews). It has excellent battery life (using 2 AA cells) and is available at Radio Shack stores. While its tiny speaker provides only fair sound, its audio is quite good when heard through earphones or headphones. This radio is excellent for carrying around campus, for travelling and for discovering the many English- and foreign-language broadcasts available on shortwave radio. The Grundig Mini PE 300 (see reviews) is a similar radio having a digital frequency display for about $40.
C. Crane Company carries a variety of high-quality radios with sensitive tuners for AM listening, from the Sangean DT200DV AM FM TV Pocket RAdio ($60) to their CCRadio plus ($165). They also sell a variety of external AM antennas that should improve the indoor reception of any AM radio you already own, especially if you can place the antenna near a window in the general direction of Bevier Hall.
(to be continued)
| Home |