Radio reception
 

Has anyone had a huge problem with getting reception on their cars? I get so annoyed whenever the radio is on in my car. I get pretty horrible reception. I know its not my area because I get in my moms durango and its fine!! Whats going on here? I tried a new antenna but that just made it worse!! The connection to the radio is fine and the antenna is fine. Any suggestions?

If it's a stock radio, you could be losing the first stage of the reciever amplifier. It has happened. Simply losing a biasing resistor for one of the transistors would be enough to knock your signal down. Is there someone else in your area with a Bon? You could swap radios in about 5 minutes and see. These are the easiest to pull and swap that I've ever seen.

I also get the crappy radio reception! :evil: Frustrates me so much that I'm considering spending the hundred's on XM radio and never listen to regular radio again.

I know its not my radio because I just put in an aftermarket alpine cd player. It was very expensive and I actually regret spending so much on it :oops: The same reception problem happens with both stock and aftermarket. Is there something in-line with the antenna cable that may need to be replaced? does your book say anything will? thanks

You can go to Radio Shack and pick up an AM/FM signal booster and hook it in line with your radio.. however.. did you check the antenna cable for short or opened ? It sounds like the internal of the antenna cable has been fudged.. and I've seen that done a lot of the times.. you can't physically see it, but if you use a test meter.. you can find if the ground is proper.. the center pin to antenna has continuaty, and put center pin to ground.. if you get continuaty, then the cable itself is shorted..

If it's not the radio, I'd bet you have a worn cable between the antenna and the radio. You're losing signal before the receiver. The only components are the radio, antenna, and the cable. You've done 2. Go for #3, but that's gonna be a PITA.

yeah thats what i was afraid of... :x

one other thing i didn't see while reading the posts but might have missed. are you sure the antenna cable is secure under the dash over in the area of your ecu cause if you take the panel under the glove box down there is a connection for your antenna from the back of the car to the piece that goes to the radio in there. I have never personally had success with the signal amplifiers if you were thinking of going that way.

Check the antenna cable with an ohm-meter. The resistance between the two ends (antenna end and radio end) on both the ground and the center conductor should be less than 0.2 ohms. Wiggle the tip and cable while you are checking it.

Poor grounds at the antenna or any other connection in the antenna or the cable can also cause problems. Check the antenna mounts to make sure they are tight.

well i went out and bought all new wires between the antenna and radio. no help there. Now i have purchased a completely new antenna. it is a glass mount cell phone like am/fm radio. It has the same problems as my factory radio.

One more thing i think is worth noting. My gain switch never worked when i had my factory radio installed. Is there a ground or something that may be disconnected causing crappy reception and that gain amp to not work? I did replace the amp under the radio when i had the stock stereo and the light to the switch works too. What do you guys/girls think? This is the biggest problem with my car right now\

BTW I did get new dual rolled exhaust tips and if you guys are helpful, maybe I will post some pics when I get them developed. :spin2: