poor radio reception after new radio installed...
 

replaced headunit with aftermarket pioneer and reception is poor. car audio place said they used the right harness. broight back n they tried window antenna product, no dice, in ash amp, no dice, some metal thing behind headunit, no dice. what can I do? they gave me a load of how everythings going HD radio and hit or miss on regular reception as factoey headunit had built in amp. love new festures but hate crappy reception

npr

Bad ground or antenna connection. They may have damaged the antenna wire while installing.

More info please..
 

nprboxster,

You didn't say if the reception is bad on AM only or both AM and FM.

Is there ignition noise on the AM band? Maybe you don't listen to that band at all.

If they tried a windshield antenna and it didn't help I'd be looking at the receiver itself, maybe the antenna amp is faulty. Or the radio itself may not be the best, in spite of all the new features. Sometimes an upgrade ends up degrading performance.

Finally what brand of radio is it?

J T

havent tried AM but FM is spotty. its a pioneer 7300bt

Try hooking the unit up to a spare rabbit ears in the house or make a simple wire loop to rule out radio dysfunction. When you run out of options you can always try an fm signal gain add on device.

If that's the case
 

Then I would try and get the installer to try another Pioneer of the same model and see if it's any better. If it's the same then that radio is a dog or the antenna is at fault OR both 'could' be bad. If FM is bad, AM will be almost non existent, the FM freqs are much higher and require a shorter antenna to receive them.

If the installer doesn't want to play ball and satisfy you, hopefully you paid with a credit card, you can dispute the charge and get your money back.

Hopefully the installer is reputable and interested in repeat business and what you tell your buddies and tries everything to satisfy you.

Best of luck with it sounds like you have a lot of things to do with that car so far!

J T

ARRL DXCC Honor Roll | WAS | Royal Omani Radio Award | WAC

I'd bet good money the radio isn't a dog, Pioneer tuners are some of the best, far better than the becker unit ever thought of being.

tried AM and almost nonexistent reception. from none to barely make out. i'll bring back in and see what they can do, luv the deck otherwise. nice to hook ipod up, or put usb stick in full of music and love the built in bluetooth, just need to fix issue withreception n good to go.

ps, is it expensive to have rear speakers put in thebox behind seats? what happens when you remove box when you open engine compartment if now has wired speakers?

If they can do it
 

I am not surprised by your findings, they are as I predicted previously. Poor FM and lousy AM if any.

If the installer has another radio like yours, maybe they can hook it up on the bench with an antenna to see how it works in that setting. If AM and FM are good then it's one of two things.. your antenna is somehow damaged or your radio is faulty. Doing a bench test will save the hassle of installing another rig only to find it doesn't work either.

Good luck!

J T