Portable FM Recorder?

[jdwtyl]

I'm going to be going to a drive-in concert where I am assuming they will be broadcasting the show via FM.  I'm wondering if anyone here has any input on getting the least lossy capture of the FM broadcast?

I think Andrew has been using a PA system too, not 100% sure though. Anyways I hope you get a tape and share!

[tapeheadtoo]

I had looked at Tecsun PL-880 for exactly this purposes. It has a built-in telescopic antenna, so I'd look to put an SMA or BNC port on it. But that looked nice for drive-in FM pulls.

I used this model for a recent drive-in.  Great reception with the stock antenna without modification.  Unit has both headphone out and line out (obviously I used the latter).  I wasn't thrilled with the captured sound though--mono and compressed.  Don't know how much of that was due to the broadcast signal vs the radio itself.

How's it sound with regular FM audio? I could see the transmission being mono and compressed, but hard to say.

Listening now to the line out with regular FM.  Sounds the same, mono and compressed.  Seems what DSatz noted earlier was correct.

It's been gone for decades so I can't test but I remember my old stereo boombox sounding sparkling clear through headphones.  Or maybe it was just the glow of youth.

Certainly this Tecsun is only built to output one channel.  Still glad to have it around though.  A decent portable radio is a good thing to have.


DSatz said:
<<Actually I disagree. Portable radios don't generally have very wide dynamic range or flat frequency response. They generally have just one signal path, with its response tailored to their built-in amplifier and speaker or speakers. Low-noise, low-distortion circuitry would raise the cost of manufacture significantly, when the market segment that cares about such things is so tiny, it's almost non-existent.>>

[Scooter123]

The Tecsun PL-880 is a clone of the C. Crane radios distributed here in California and are similarly priced, quite high actually.

I have a mountain cabin, and the C. Crane radio is the only one I've found that can pick up any stations up there.  Both the Tecsun and the C.Crane have mono signals but stereo headphone output, so the receiver portion of the radio must be stereo.  Well, at least that's my assumption

[morst]

Bump

...Android phones have a built-in FM tuner which utilizes the headphone or line cable as an antenna..

[hoserama]

My experience with using headphone ground antenna systems with ALD recordings has been challenging. Much much easier having an independent antenna.

[Scooter123]

Actually that's why I recommend the C. Crane--it has an external female port for an external antenna if you want to use it.  However, we have a huge double bay antenna set up in our cabin which I tuned to a distant NPR radio station.  The C.Crane pulls in better reception with its whip than my $50 two bay job and the Adcom. 

Sigh ...........

[tapeheadtoo]

I'm learning more about this Tecsun unit.  There is actually an "FM ST." button which works with both the headphone out and line out.  It still sounds compressed but at least it's in stereo.

Unfortunately with the cooler weather approaching there probably won't be too many more drive in shows this year to capture.  Assuming the FM transmission is in stereo (for our shows it was broadcast to two frequencies, 91.3 and 91.9) the Tecsun stereo output would be adequate, I suppose.

[Scooter123]

I can confirm today that the C.Crane FM Tuner is indeed stereo