vhf fm reception

Owners of FM tuners may often ish to know what sort of signal level they can expect to receive in the locality in which they live. The simplest and most accurate method is to obtain a direct reading using a field strength meter, but of course very few people possess one of these instruments. The charts produced by the BBC of the service areas of their various transmitters provide a useful guide, but it is often possible with a sensitive receiver and good aerial to obtain a usable signal outside the service area. This article investigates the rules governing VHF propagation and shows how received signal strengths may be estimated with a few simple calculations.