As a DXer you’re going to definitely pay a lot of attention to your reception. After all, your ability to tap into distant signals depends on it, and it is going to play a huge part in determining how successful your DX sessions are.
Unless you happen to be a radio enthusiast, when you first start out it can all seem a bit daunting. Not only will you need to slowly but surely develop your understanding of radio and the various factors that affect reception, but you’ll also need to learn about radio equipment that can be used to boost your reception too.
If you want a bit of a head start on all that, here are 5 great DX tricks that should help you to get a decent boost to your reception:
Check for interference if you keep hearing static or noise
In today’s day and age with mobile phones, microwaves, WiFi, and tons of other signals bouncing around practically every house it’s no wonder if you find that you keep hearing static or noise when trying to find stations. The best way to figure out if it is because of interference is to carry your radio around the house and see if any devices are making it worse. Try listening from a different room and with a different power outlet – that could make all the difference.
Change the position of the radio
Most AM radios use built in ferrite bars as antennas and as you may or may not know these are ‘directional’ in picking up signals. Even doing something as simple as changing the position of your radio by rotating it could help you to improve your reception of certain signals that are coming in from certain directions.
Use a coil antenna booster
Granted this may be a bit technical if you’re just starting out, but a coil antenna booster is essentially just a device that helps boost your antenna’s reception. The tricky part is that if you do use one you’ll have to manually tune the antenna as you tune the radio too – which can take a bit of getting used to.
Try somewhere distant or head to the beach
Frankly speaking the beach is one of the best places for AM reception as bodies of water are great for radio signals. On top of that if you find a nice and quiet beach that is away from all the noise pollution of most towns and cities then you should find that DXing is a lot more pleasant as well.
Mount an antenna on your roof
Of course for serious DXers nothing beats mounting an antenna on their roof. By getting your antenna up and above most of the interference you’ll find that your reception is a lot better – though it can be complicated and cost a bit to implement.
At very least you undoubtedly now have a few ideas of what you can do to improve your radio reception. Don’t be too worried if you’re finding it hard to get reception when you first start out – as you go on and learn more about DXing and AM radio you’ll definitely pick up more tips and tricks that will allow you to get better results.
On top of that there’s a huge and active community of DXers out there on the internet that will certainly lend you a hand and give you all the advice you need if you reach out and ask for help. Further details at DXnews.com
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