How to boost radio reception??????????????

Sporttracguy · 09-20-2004, 01:28 PM

ever since i put in my new Head unit the radio reception hasnt been as good as my stock system.. is there a way to boost the signal? something i can plug in or something? any help would be great, thanks

antimatter · 09-20-2004, 01:37 PM

whoaa fella, go easy on the question marks. Why don't you try using the search feature of this website. Do a little reading and get back to me. The answers are out there.

Must you be spoon fed?

kingtut · 09-20-2004, 01:37 PM

I have same issue, had to get an aftermarket unit -Pio- to be able to use an AUX-IN, but the reception sucks specialy for AM (1010wins news & traffic), the AM signal keeps fading in & out. I did some search and found that it is common for aftermarket units not to be as good as stock when it comes to tuner reception. You got to hand it to the car guys, they do make good tuners!

mindscream · 09-20-2004, 01:38 PM

Radio Shack used to have an antenna booster, but I checked today and they didn't have one on their website. It seems that anything that's useful Radio Shack has stopped carrying...

I guess they didn't like those techie types coming in who knew more about their products than the idiots behind the counter.

If you did a

for Car or Auto Antenna Signal Booster you should be able to find something.

Found one here from google
http://www.electronixwarehouse.com/c...s/boosters.htm

Mind Scream out

Sporttracguy · 09-20-2004, 02:25 PM

Thanks guys, ill check it out.. anyone had any experience with these antenna boosters that work?

Comp-guy · 09-21-2004, 06:19 PM

I've had bad luck with boosters. My wife's stock tuner could be stronger, so I bought one. I can't tell any difference.

I E-mailed a bunch of people who bought them on E-bay and asked how they faired, thinking maybe I bought the wrong one. They all wrote back with similar stories to mine - little or no improvement, not matter what brand they bought.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Good Luck

Jailer · 09-21-2004, 09:38 PM

Try a weingard booster if they're still in business. It's the only one I've seen that actually worked. Be prepared to pay for it though, last I knew they were running in the neighborhood of $50, but that was 11 years ago. Might be able to find one on e-bay if they went under or aren't making them anymore. One thing, it will not help with AM reception, it's an FM booster only. AM & FM signals travel differently, AM Travels in a straight line (hence why you can pick up AM stations at greater distance than FM) where FM doesn't (Why FM isn't affected as badly by large object in it's path like skyscrapers). A booster also will not help if you are not receiving any signal, it will only boost what's there.

Joe_Collectible · 09-25-2004, 11:49 AM

if your inputting bad reception, your going to boost bad reception. Maybe not a signal booster, but a better antenna? http://www.antennax.com/ (OEM stuff mostly) - can't go wrong when their homepage shows a fast and furious logo :/

Pre-amp and Boosted signals are diff

This good artible to read: http://www.termpro.com/articles/antenna.html

Sporttracguy · 09-25-2004, 12:18 PM

The thing is,, my reception with the OEM head unit was great so the antenna should be fine, when i put the pioneer in the reception just isnt as good. I have checked the connectiong many times from the antenna to the head unit and its installed correctly,, not sure what else to do.. we will see if this booser i ordered helps.. ill keep you all posted

Jailer · 09-27-2004, 07:30 AM

That's unusual, Pioneer used to have excellent tuners. We used to recommend them to people with reception complaints because of it. Not to say that they couldn't have changed their tuners. Try a booster, but I doubt it will help much. How far away are the stations you're trying to pick up? You might try testing the antenna before you invest in a booster, you may have an intermittent connection somewhere. To Test it take an ohm meter and connect one end to the center pin on the antenna, connect the other to the antenna whip (you may have to unscrew the whip and connect it to the whip stud). You should have Zero resistance. Next connect one end of the ohm meter to the ground side of the antenna, that's the fatter metal part of the antenna connector, connect the other end to ground. Again you should have zero resistance. If you have any resistance at all it's usually on the ground side of the antenna and you should consider replacing the antenna. One last test, make sure there is no connection between the + and - sides of the antenna connector, if there is your antenna is shorted and no good.

Bigmaxxin · 09-29-2004, 02:50 AM

yeah i thought the pioneers have the super tuners, cause i have a pioneer with this technology, and i can get radio signals from places like chico, (i live in sac) and modesto.

zPilott · 09-29-2004, 02:44 PM

my problem is with the fm modulator. I thought it would jsut be a pass through when it is turned off, but it affects my reception. If I have the antenna plugged straight into the HU the reception is fine, but when I go through the modulator, with the switch off, the reception is reduced.

Does anyone know of an input selector that has antenna jacks? maybe I could solve my problem if i bypassed the modulator alltogether.

Sporttracguy · 10-02-2004, 03:20 PM

Turns out it was the RF modulator. connected the antenna directly to the head unit and it fixed the problem,, i think its odd that i didnt notice it with the stock unit though. the pioneer has aux inputs so i wont need the RF modulator anymore,, good thing lol

zPilott · 10-02-2004, 08:01 PM

must be nice!

MatrixPC · 10-03-2004, 01:30 AM

Most of you replace an original radio with the after market one and having radio reception problem (suck on AM), the change is that your car antenna is powered. You need to feed power to the antenna. Usually the antenna and its "power" wire join together about 1-2 feets after the harness and antenna plug.