C. Crane FM Reflect Antenna

by C.Crane

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 2 x 8 x 8 inches ; 8.8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000EFHPKO
• Item model number: FMW
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #25 in Electronics > Accessories & Supplies > Audio & Video Accessories > Antennas > Radio Antennas
• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 30, 2006

Product Description

Whether you listen to a portable radio or a top-of-the-line stereo receiver, the quality of sound coming from an FM station is dependent upon the station's signal strength in your area. Adding an FM antenna can help greatly, so be sure to select the best FM antenna for your needs. The FM Reflect Antenna will work with any portable or stereo receiver. This antenna incorporates a new dipole design for maximum gain across the entire FM broadcast band. Up to 213 percent more powerful than a standard dipole antenna, it covers the entire FM band with an almost flat response, where standard dipoles start to fall off near the end of the band. Many FM stations now broadcast their signal with circular polarization. The FM Reflect Antenna is the only FM antenna that can be adjusted to take advantage of this. It is not affected as much by surrounding objects and people as other FM antennas are.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

357 of 362 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not Much Better Than a Cheap Twin-Lead Dipole Antenna, November 16, 2007

By 

Lewis A. Edge (Princeton, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: C. Crane FM Reflect Antenna (Electronics)

Amazon's price for this antenna was the best I could find. I ordered it on a Sunday before a Monday holiday and it was delivered the following Wednesday via their Super Saver free shipping, which I considered to be excellent service. This antenna looks better than a twin-lead dipole antenna, appears to be well-made, comes in an attractive box with a balun coil (matching transformer) for connecting to screw terminals and also an alligator clip for hooking it to a built-in antenna.

Since this antenna has received mixed reviews from other users I decided to be as "scientific," as my skills and equipment would allow. I used my training as an FCC licensed broadcast engineer to compare it to the standard twin-lead dipole antenna that was included free with my tuner. I had already oriented my existing dipole antenna for optimum reception, using my tuner's signal-strength indicators. I then used my tuner's scan mode to see how many stations it could find and I carefully wrote down the frequency and signal strength for each of the many stations that I can receive. Since I live about halfway between New York City and Philadelphia, my FM dial is crowded with stations.

After establishing a base-line of performance with my ordinary dipole antenna, I replaced it with the C. Crane FM Reflect Antenna and experimented with dozens of antenna positions to obtain best reception. Remarkably, mounting the C. Crane FM Reflect Antenna in the exact same position and location, that my twin-lead dipole antenna had been installed, gave me the best performance. After this optimum positioning, I once again used my tuner's scan mode to see how many stations it could find. I then carefully compared the signal strength from each station that my tuner found using the new antenna, with the signal strength that I had received with my previously-installed antenna. Although I saw no indication of a stronger signal on any of the existing stations, I was able to pick up two more stations in my tuner's scan mode with the new antenna.

As a percentage of the large number of stations that I could already receive at my location, I considered two additional stations a very small improvement. The difference easily could have been due to minor changes in atmospheric conditions between the tests. It was certainly not as dramatic as the improvement that I expected when comparing a $3 antenna with a $30 antenna. If you're using a good twin-lead dipole antenna and have adjusted its position for best reception, I believe that you'll need to upgrade to an outdoor antenna, such as the Winegard HD-6000 FM Stereo Antenna, to get a noticeable improvement. I could not find that the C. Crane FM Reflect Antenna is significantly better.

To understand why the results turned out as they did, it might be helpful to understand how antennas work. The most effective antenna elements in the FM and TV band are the length of the radio wave that they're tuned to receive. Our FM band extends from 88Mhz to 108Mhz, which represents a wavelengths from slightly more than 109 inches to slightly more than 134 inches. The higher the frequency, the shorter the wave.

A typical folded dipole antenna is about 58 inches wide, which is about 5% less than half the length of the average FM radio wave. Since the dipole is folded onto itself, it has an effective antenna length of about 122 inches, which is the average between the 109 inch and 134 inch wavelength extremes of the FM band.

There are several ways to increase the gain of an antenna. One way is to increase the number of active antenna elements that are exposed to the radio waves and connect them together. Another is to use a reflector to concentrate the radio waves onto the antenna. Satellite antennas, for example, reflect and concentrate very short waves onto a rigid dipole antenna by using a dish. Outdoor Yagi FM (and TV) antennas use multiple elements connected in tandem with reflecting elements in the rear to focus the antenna's sensitivity in a single direction. Such antennas are very efficient because they use both multiple elements and reflectors to increase gain.

Ultimately the Crane antenna, no matter how attractively it may be designed and packaged, cannot defy the laws of physics. It has only a single active T-shaped folded antenna element which is exactly the same as an inexpensive twin-lead folded dipole antenna. It is, therefore, not surprising that several reviewers including me, who have compared it to the cheap variety, have found that it gives no better reception.

178 of 184 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Powerful Dipole Antenna, October 31, 2007

By 

Douglas Vanderweide (Maine, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: C. Crane FM Reflect Antenna (Electronics)

A couple clarifications, first, over previous reviews and the product description:

1. This antenna is NOT rigid! It will not stand up on its own, hold its shape on its own, etc. The description and other reviews suggest this antenna will hold its shape on its own; it will not. The cable is thick and somewhat stiff, but it is not rigid.

2. This is a simple dipole antenna made of high-quality coaxial cable, the same kind used for cable TV. It has the same basic length as a 300-ohm dipole antenna you would buy at Radio Shack or Wal-Mart.

3. The cross-T section is basically two lengths of coaxial cable, one atop another. Its ends are plastic with pinholes, which would allow you to hang the ends via a tack or brad inserted through the hole.

4. The connector is a standard 75-ohm F-type screw-on, the same type of connector used for cable TV connections. If your radio uses the smooth-type 75-ohm connector or the twin-lead, 300-ohm type connector, you'll need to purchase an adapter. I am using a 75-ohm to 300-ohm adapter I got from Radio Shack.

This antenna is basically a more powerful version of a dipole antenna. In my area -- suburban Maine, atop a ridge -- this antenna did an extraordinary job of pulling in distant stations and a great job of isolating the strongest frequency (depending on where the antenna was placed and how it was shaped) in places where station signals overlapped.

Because it is so powerful, how you position this antenna has significant effect on how well it works for the station you want to tune. That is true for all dipoles but especially for this one. Something as simple as whether the center cable has a loop in it, or curves on the way up, can have a huge effect on whether a particular station comes in well.

What is a good antenna position for one station may not be the right position for others, especially, as the documentation notes, if you are trying to bring in many different kinds of stations at different positions on the dial. Be prepared to play with the shape of the antenna and to fix its position with a bit of tape or twist ties.

There's one term I can't apply to this antenna, and that's "aesthetic." It is thick and it is clunky. If you don't want to have a big, white cable hanging around your home, or you don't think you can effectively conceal this antenna, don't get it.

And again, since this antenna is powerful, it is very sensitive to positioning -- where you might want it to go may well not be the place it wants to be. Keep that in mind when planning how you will mask this thing.

Overall, I am very pleased. I'm not sure it was worth the $30 I paid for it -- an 18-foot length of double-shielded coax and an RF connector, which is all this thing really is, would cost about $12 at an electronics store -- but it does work, if you are willing to invest the time to position it properly, live with where it decides it needs to be, and don't mind (or can hide) its industrial appearance.

54 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars No better than a $2 indoor dipole antenna, June 6, 2007

By 

W. Bailey (Northern California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: C. Crane FM Reflect Antenna (Electronics)

I hoped to "clean up" my fm reception a bit with this antenna. I replaced my $2 indoor dipole antenna with this $30 antenna and discovered absolutely no difference in fm reception. The strong fm stations were still strong but the weak fm stations showed no improvement. Save your money or test it and return it as I did.