FM tuner use in SF Bay area

If you have Comcast digital cable, they may have a KDFC feed. It's always been a challenge to get a good, clean signal for this station, though they recently switched over to digital broadcasting, perhaps that will help.

I am surprised at the positive comments about the station. It's a button on my car radio because there really aren't any classical alternatives, and I do like Dianne Nicolini, but I think their programming is lame. Lowest-common-denominator classical music with an occassional interesting departure. (Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit.) Great website, though.

I live in a very rural area north of LA & have alwsays had problems with FM reception. I purchased a Magnum Dynalab ST-2FM antenna after trying several others & I must say it works awsome. The key was not to just put it on the roof somewhere. I actually got outside on the cell phone with my wife near the tuner on her phone. I moved all around the roof area until she gave me the "best signal" sign. The placement was very critical. Believe it or not, the best spot was on the side of the house & not on the peak. Had I not tested the reception this way I would have had little or no increace in reception. Good luck with yours.
-John

KDFC 102.1 is an important station in my listening, and where I live in the west slope of Mt. Davidson, my problem is not sensitivity with the tuner but selectivity. Multipath is a big problem and sometimes because of where the surrounding clouds are, there is a lot of multipath distortion. The station signal is strong and you do not need an outdoor antenna. Typically, I use an indoor Radio Shack amplified antenna. An indoor dipole tuned and cut for the correct frequency will also work but it is directional and it will not accommodate you if you switch to DZFM, the 91.1 jazz station. The problem with this station is signal strength and not selectivity in my situation.

I have many installations in my home and tuners known for their sensitivity do not come out as the ideal tuner. These include the Sansui TU-717, the Kyocera T-910, and Carver TX-11. The Magnum Dynalab FT-11 works well inspite of not being that company's best unit. The Tivoli 2 radio works well and seems to handle the multipath in good fashion. The Tivoli Pal also makes a decent tuner. Old tube tuners cannot handle my situation. They sound good when atmospheric conditions are ideal; otherwise, they cannot handle the needs relating to sensitivity as well as multipath.

I think that if you live in a place unhampered by the hills and where you can have a line of site situation relative to the transmission of KDFC, you will not have a problem with most tuners. If, however, you live in a situation like mine, you have to solve the problems on a case to case basis.

Hope I have been of some help, and good luck.

if all fails, KDFC does stream online. quality sucks, but connection is as good as your DSL or Cable can provide.