Cross posted as suggested by another AVS member.

Here's my fmfool profile:
http://www.fmfool.com/modeling/tmp/ba17735595/getfm.php

Hi all, I'm currently looking for an antenna for FM reception in my home. My current setup has the reciever in the bunker (concrete basement) with a 25' run of RG6 (quad shield, solid copper core) run up to the attic. As the crow flies I live pretty close to most of the radio stations that I'm interested in, unfortunatly theirs quite a few peaks, valley, bays, and trees between me and them.

I hear people say "try and tune them in the car", and so I've done that. At my home the reception is "OK", but seems to vary a bit depending on the weather (heavy cloud cover seems to make things worse.)

The top three stations I'm interested in listening to are KEXP, KUOW and KNDD. Roughly 40-45 degrees from my place.

So here's the question in brief:

What [b]KIND[b] of antenna would suit me best?
Within that category, can you make some model reccomendations that are suitable for attic mounting, and won't piss my wife off for spending money on "another toy". There is power in the attic.

Thanks AVS

Not clear if this is indoor or outdoor setup and if you already have a TV antenna. Your FM signals are strong so any omnidirectional antenna will work well.

When I set up our outdoor TV antenna added an omnidirectional Winegard PR-6010 FM antenna to the mast and used a Winegard CS-8800 combiner. That way we have FM at each TV outlet.

Indoor, I'm hoping to stick it in my attic.

A VHF antenna will pick up FM, which resides between channels 6 and 7. If you already have a VHF antenna, connect and try.

If you don't have an antenna, perhaps this would suffice:
http://shop.npr.org/products/FM_Reflect_Antenna-195-0.html?sc=gaw&gclid=CMTDtbqOq5wCFdZM5QodsHn9kQ

I am in transition right now. Currently (and for many years) I have used Antennacraft FM6 antennas in my atiics (for different systems). They work fine. The gain they have makes up for being located in the attic. They are very directional.

I have just decided (last week) tht I am going to order and install a Fanfare FM-2G antenna on the top of my TV mast (outdoors, 43' above ground).

With this antenna, I will lose all forward gain and all rearward and side rejection that the FM6 has, but I will gain omnidirectional reception and the added 25' of height will increase the signal by an average of about 12db, so I am hoping for a big gain in stations (actually expecting it!)

Furthermore, a vertical 1/2 wave whip will be light (5oz) and nearly free of wind load. This type of antenna is also not nearly as succeptable to ground plane type interference, so I am hoping to get a cleaner signal.

the antenna is expensive and while being touted as an indoor antenna, I feel that when used as a high outdoor antenna, it may be fantastic. I shall see!

Bill

Here (http://www.dtvusaforum.com/dtv-hdtv-reception-antenna-discussion/4396-evs-best-top-rated-fm-hd-radio-antenna-guide-reviews.html) is a overview of commercially available products, plus research links, and some advice, just getting started.

You probably dont want an amplifier, and probably want to push gain being that you are in an attic. If you want all the green stations at 90 degrees then an Winegard 6000 will probably do you well. The omnis and whips are all about 0dBd +/- 2dBd...as well as Rabbit Ears and FM Dipoles. If you have a pair of unamped Rabbit Ears lying around, you can try those in the attic, to see if you need more gain...extend them about 60 inches (or 30 inches a side) and point them in a 90 degree V towards 90 degrees compass heading.

Yagis are where the real gain starts. You can also build a large rhobic in the attic with wire. A commercially available rhombic antenna is shown on the guide...however with Rhombics at VHF/FM frequencies, generally much bigger than that is preferred.

Most of the stations that I'm interested in are within about 10' of each other from my location. Are you saying that a Yagi generally picks up about 90' ? Seems like that would do me well then, but they seem so very big! Do they make smaller yagis, or are they that big because they need to be to function?

Winegard 6000 point it due East.

You dont have a metal roof, or terra cotta/tile shingles do you?

Just normal asphalt 3 tab :)

Here's my only worry with the Yagi -

Station 1 is 75'
Station 2 is 35'

So the difference between them is 40'. If I shoot the yagi and split the difference at 55', will I be able to pick up both with good quality?

You can use a set of Rabbit Ears to see if you can use something in the 0 dBd range (or put another way less than a yagi)....like a whip or dipole.

A Twinlead FM Dipole can be had for a pittance at a local retailer....you can also use that to see if you need more gain or not.

I threw a wire up in the attic just to see what I would get. It was better than I expected for a roughly 5' peice of speaker wire taped to the end of a coax cable.

Instead of fighting with a huge HD6000 in my cramped attic, I decided to try the HD6010 instead. I'm hoping for decent reception with this thing, but if not I can always upgrade to the 6000 :)

Nice.

The 6010 "turnstile" dual crossed dipole actually has less gain than a whip or a dipole, by about 2 dB. FYI.

Well my HD6010 expiriment failed. I actually got worse reception than when I had a peice of speaker wire strung up there. I'm wondering if I've set it up wrong? It basically goes like this:

HD6010 - fconnector - 10 feet RG6 quad shield - fconnector - 25 feet RG6 - Fconnector - Tuner.

Do I have to many connectors? Am I using the wrong cable?

Here's a picture of it up in the attic:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2426/3873701010_c99f4659b2_b.jpg