Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] very bizarre antenna function

[Jason Uher]

What I really meant was, "What frequency bands are the antenna you're
using designed to work with".  From the picture it's just a whip
antenna, meaning for optimum reception it should probably be much
longer.

A quarter wave whip would be 1/4 of the wavelength of the signal you
are trying to receive, 3e8/(100e6) = 3m wavelength, so 3/4 of a meter
or about 2.5 feet (just like the antenna on your car ;) ).  If you
just want to see if it works I might suggest getting a length of wire
and cutting it to size, then strip the end and push it into the
connector slot.  You could also get one of the collapsy antennas you
find on boomboxes and the like and hook it up.  The problem you will
run into is that the SMA connectors are usually used in HF/RF
applications, so you will need some sort of adapter.

If you want to build a fancier antenna (still easy to do), just google
'FM antenna' and you will get lots of sites explaining both the theory
and construction of FM antennas

Using an appropriately sized antenna will greatly increase your signal strength.

Jason