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:

You've put in all new antenna wiring? That would be the first suspect. Ensure good connections at all of the connectors. Have you got the antenna wiring near any electrical components or their wiring?

It may be a bad ground at the radio or at the antenna. Attach a braided ground strap to the radio and to a good chassis ground under the dashboard. Ensure that there is a good ground at the antenna (at the bezel nut and at the antenna base). Disconnect the radio ground wire when you use the strap.

Does the poor reception happen when the engine switch is at "ACCESORY"? How about when the engine is off but the switch is at "RUN"?

As for the amplifier, measure the voltage b/t terminals 8 (Dark Green) and 4 (Black). Is there battery voltage there? Try also terminal 1 (Orange) and 4 (Black). Battery Voltage?

where on the radio should i attach the ground strap? I know i have a good ground at the antenna because i unbolted the ground and shaved the paint at the bolt location.

I get bad reception pretty much all the time. more often when i am on the move. when i am sitting in my driveway, it seems fine. but when i am on the highway it is terrible, unless i am near boston, it is ok but not good. i notice that when i move the car a couple feet it is good then a couple more and bad and a couple more and good etc. there is no difference whether the engine is running or on accessory when sitting.

Anywhere on the metal chassis of the radio. I have mine on the screw on the back with a nut around it. Don't forget to disconnect the regular radio ground when you do it.

thanks, i will have to try this out. the regular ground is the thin black wire coming from the wire harness?

It should be the only black one attached to the back of the radio.

There is a short cable that runs from your radio to just under your glove box. There is a connector there and the cable runs back to your antenna. Often there is a poor connection here. Also, this short cable is prone to wearing out. If the outer shield breaks, you may have acceptable FM signal, but terrible AM. Play with this cable with the radio on and if this is the problem, the signal will tune in and out. You cannot tell by looking at it if the cable is shot.

been there done that merlin. I already ordered and installed a completely new small antenna cable from gm. No luck. thanks anyway.

Did you try the new ground yet?

i am working on that. i havent exactly had the most time on my hands in the past two weeks. I will try to snag one off an antenna laying around at my dads work

all i listen to at work is FM its cool in the morning because Howard Stern is on but the luch time rewind sucks if i wanted to here songs from back in the day i would listen to an 80's-90's variety station.So when i'm in my bonny it's stricly CD's till the girl get's in the car then it goes to FM. Since I'm gonna shave my fixed antenna. Go to an Audio store or i think Best Buy and ask them for the aux. radio antenna hooks up on your windshield and is powered so u get better reception. and it will run you 30 bucks. my bro didn't want to listen and spent 2 hours hooking up a replacment antenna and still gets the same crappy signal.