Antennas for portable VHF FM receivers

An investigation has been carried out in which several types of antenna have been considered with the specific objective of replacing the conventional whip with more robust and compact designs without unduly sacrificing performance. The performance of the antennas when used with a portable receiver, within the home, is somewhat nebulous in that the sensitivity usually depends on the receiver acting as a counterpoise for electric field sensitive antennas, and it is influenced by nearby metal objects. Some improvement in reception can be made by increasing the metal content of the receiver itself. The author presents results of measurements on some familiar types of antenna when used in the VHF broadcast band and describes their features