How to fix a scanner antenna

Your stereo came with a piece of wire attached at the back. This is/was the FM aerial. It should be roughly 1 metre or approx 38" long. There is no socket on the back of this stereo to attach an external FM aerial. So if the wire broke off then you're going to have to either attach some new wire to the stub, or open the set up and solder directly to the circuit board.

The exact cable lengths for an FM antenna to pick up 88-108 MHz is 37.66" long.

If you are using an indoor Antenna:
1- the most probable reason would be the location of the antenna and TV in an area where the reception is very low. Indoors all houses are affected by the running electrical circuits which in turn generate magnetic field that together with the structure of the house obstruct or weaken the wave signals of wireless and TV reception. Also this issue may be aggravated by the vicinity you are live in. Where you are living may not have the optimum reception from some services including TV signals. Your best bet is to try moving the (Indoor) antenna closer to the outside (such as windows, or better to a balcony) and try all four directions of the house.
2- One other possibility, is the antenna jack being disconnected from one of its wires (or a de-solder) at an internal part of its circuit). This problem can be detected by trying another antenna that is working good when used with another TV (and preferably at a different location) thus testing for the possible weak signal at the same time.
3- The last possible issue is the antenna receptacle built onto the Tv set. This may have a problem of some element of it disconnected internally on the board or de-soldered..
If the Antenna is external, all the above points are still valid, but the probability is higher, for some hidden disconnection on the receptacle, the antenna plug or at the connection of the co-axial cable with the external antenna. (Once I found a co-axial cable with disconnections of its central copper wire within the protective insulating coat- probably due to defects in the plastic coat that had microscopic holes that allowed air and humidity into the central wire and caused it to corrode and have those discontinuities)..

The SW FET preamp transistor, Q1, on the underside of the circuit board blows if a static electric discharge hits the whip antenna. In my case, a cat rubbing against me & the radio on a very dry winter day did it in. The back & circuit board has to be removed to get at it. The micro transistor & the solder connection are very tiny, so hard to replace. The antenna jack should still work, because the preamp is only for the whip antenna's SW reception. An easier solution would be to just run a wire from the antenna jack to the whip antenna, but you would no longer have the whip's preamp benefits, or just use a longwire antenna connected to the jack for SW. Also beware plugging into the jack disables the AM ferrite antenna inside, so you might not want anything plugged into it for AM reception because the internal ferrite seems to perform better than any external antenna.

The only realistic way to improve reception is with a better antenna. You can find a wide selection at sources such as eBay and ScannerWorld.com

Bill B.
Listening in since the 60's

To improve reception, use a 75 Ohm outdoor antenna instead of an indoor antenna. Disconnect the indoor antenna before replacing it with an outdoor antenna.

your antenna connection inside the unit is broken on the circuit board,i had one of these and repaired it numerous times by taking the unit apart and resoldering the connection at the board,also their antennas don't last long as far as the antenna plug end is concerned

Assuming you already tried a different antenna, check antenna connections inside the case ... the antenna connector's centre conductor should be firmly soldered to the circuit board, and another solder connection from the circuit board to the antenna connector barrel. If the antenna connector has been twisted too much, these solder joints may be cracked and you could try re-melting the solder.

Hello dino, It sounds just offhand likethe scanner is just getting tired. Maybe a componant failed or changed value inside on the circuit board, that will change the whole setup. It will no longer be fine tuned for the correct freq. range. Hope this helps,,, I know it's not what you wanted to hear.Mechanic

Possible solution. I have fixed two with this problem. When the radio drops to a hard surface, the ferrite coil antenna is the heaviest component on circuit board. Look for cracks in solder or broken wires where attachments to circuit board occurs for this component. Use a fine point soldering iron with low heat.