Narrow Band FM 2 wire antenna

Good Day,

I have a Narrow Band FM Receiver that I am experimenting with. I wanted to find out why it has two equal lengths of wire as the antenna?

When inspecting the PCB one wire in connected to a point marked "ANT" and the other to "GND".

Why would we need to take the ground point as part of our antenna?

If reception is weak would it be possible for me to replace this with another antenna that would boost signal?

Thanks

It's called a dipole - and is the standard basic aerial type.

Thought as much.
In terms of orientation would it be better to run them outward from each other in a vertical or horizontal direction?

StudentSA said:

Thought as much.
In terms of orientation would it be better to run them outward from each other in a vertical or horizontal direction?

Click to expand...

The same as the transmitting aerial - which ever that is.

Generally speaking, when unsure of the orientation of the transmitting antennae, most lower frequency dipoles, especially in the 2- 20MHz range, are horizontal. Easier to deploy due to their length.

for NBFM, usually, this is used above 50Mhz, and the most common antenna orientation is vertical.