I bought one of those “all in one” home theater systems and the FM antenna that came with it is horrible. It’s basically a piece of wire that doesn’t do anything. I only get a couple of stations with minimal interference – everything else is not so good.

What kind of antenna should I get? Anything you recommend?

 

It really doesn't matter what you get. That antenna would work perfectly if it were placed somewhere where it could pick up signal. In fact, just today I hooked up an fm antenna that is that same style and everything was crystal clear. We had run a RG6 Coax cable out to the garage. That coax is plugged into the the receiver with a regular RG6 fitting (looks like a cable tv wire, same wire, same fitting) and then on the opposite side, put a fitting on the coax wire and barrelled (used a coupler) to the antenna and stapled it up high in the garage. It's about placement. I have even used a regular 16/2 speaker wire spliced onto the coax in place of the antenna. You are supposed to spread the two wires something like 31" apart from one another, or something like that. Anyway, if you can get a wire run to a higher location or outside the house, it would work fine.

 

I wish it was this easy. I live in a condo building, on the top floor (3rd) but my unit is surrounded by the building on both sides... think of a U shape building and I'm in the middle. I tried to move the wire closer to the window and higher up but nothing seems to work, I still get static. Maybe if I got a longer cable I could just hang it outside, haha. I have no idea what else to do...