Description
Directional ferrite rod antennas pick up stations on the AM band better than older ''long wire'' antennas (provided the ferrite rod inside the radio is aligned for maximum signal from the transmitter).
I tuned three receivers to 666 ABC Canberra which operates on a power of 5 kilowatts and is almost 20 km away from my place.
The AWA 500MY receiver used a ''long wire'' antenna, and as a result picked up more noise than the other two receivers which have internal ferrite rod antennas aligned for maximum signal, making the ferrite rod antennas directional in two planes, usually referred to as a ''figure of 8 pattern''.
This two directional pattern exhibited by the ferrite rods resulted in the receivers rejecting extraneous noise that was picked up by the long wire antenna.
Note that a ferrite rod antenna responds essentially to the MAGNETIC field (H field) of an electromagnetic radio wave and basically ignores the ELECTRIC (E) field component of the electromagnetic wave. The H & E fields are at right angles to one another, and that is why the radio must be rotated to align with the H field for maximum signal.