Poor radio reception

[carlos-1975]

now i know the vr4 has bad radio reception but as it has two aerial leads at the back when fitting an aftermarket headunit you onlt use one . so if getting an adaptor eg.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260429261371&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
or
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190338177706&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

do you think it will improve the reception or has anybody tried it ?

[Turbo_Steve]

Nope: Aerials don't really work like that.
What will happen is that one aerial will actually lose signal out of the other one.
You could possibly do it with some kind of resisitive splitter, but then you have the issue of gain lost coupling them, and the problems of having two aerials 500 wavelengths apart in the same plane: you're likely to get phase cancelling.

The only way you can reliably use two aerials is really to do what the factory did and use a summing diversity setup: two seperate tuners and the best signal always wins. It's actually surprisingly effective.

The other important stuff you need to check if your reception sucks:
1) Try both aerial leads, the aerials are slightly different. One may work better than the other.
2) Ensure your signal amplifier is running - the pair of aerial leads have an additional spade connector in the middle. If this isn't connected, you get almost no signal at all. It needs 12v to power the aerial amp.
3) Change your headunit - Cheap headunit? Rubbish reception. We took out the ALDI rubbish that had been fitted and put in a Kenwood to massive improvementgenerally perfectly acceptable. I'd swear that on a regular aerial, this pioneer will pick up transmissions from mars :D

[Ghost_2008]

I have a Pioneer head unit and the signal was very good, no real issues at all....... however a year on and I am getting a fair amount of static, this might be the radio station that i listen too as I know there was a pirate station using the same frequency....... as yet I havent changed the station, I just turn it off and listen to the superb sound track that is the Legnum VR4..........

I dont recall hooking up a 12v source to the aerial, so i may have a fiddle with that over the weekend..........

[carlos-1975]

3) Change your headunit - Cheap headunit? Rubbish reception. We took out the ALDI rubbish that had been fitted and put in a Kenwood to massive improvementgenerally perfectly acceptable. I'd swear that on a regular aerial, this pioneer will pick up transmissions from mars :D


steve dont swear at me again or i will report you lol/lol
gonna go out now and see if there is a supply for them

[carlos-1975]

that has to be the worst 2 hours ever what was going to be a simple 10 minute job took two hours and swearing and shouting and growling i bet my neighbours were wondering wtf

[Turbo_Steve]

How on earth did sticking a voltmeter on the aerial power feed take 2 hrs...it's not like you're unfamiliar with taking them apart!!?

[carlos-1975]

/hammer well steve are you sitting comfertably
removed all the facia and stereo out the aerial power lead was connected so i swaped the aerial over as there are 6 million wires behind there do you think i could get the stereo back in. so stereo in time to test it low and behold the battery on the car is dead again:thumbsdow . pop the bonnet as i have another battery and the optima yellow top is doing my head in then the stupid allen key on the battery clamp is rounded so finally get the battery out new one in and as the terminals or farther forward on this battey the leads dont reach. turn the battery around and just about get the terminals to reach now need to find another bolt to tighten the battery clamp/hammer . are you bored yet i was jump in the car to test and the stereo has no power so you guessed it headunit out again to find the power lead that got disconnected. find the offending wire but another 20 mins getting the headunit back in . i couldnt be bothered to test it will see in the morning. two hours nighmare:censored: :censored: :censored:

[Turbo_Steve]

Wow. Just wow.

What's wrong with the battery: those optimas are normally pretty robust: is something staying on and draining it?

Damn it dude, I wish you lived up-the-road from me...I swear we'd have a lot of fun :D

[carlos-1975]

lol i have had a read around about the optima and there are people saying they explode and dont hold charge. there are people saying they need 4 days charge with a special charger after dying. and there are people saying your alternator needs to be charging at 14-15 volts so i dont know what i do know is if my battery is not dead by wednesday thursday as it usually lasts a week then there is something up with the optima

[WizardKing]

Gotta' say a big thanks to Turbo_Steve,
I only had the local radio station available . . . until now ! /megawoot

I knew of the two aerial leads but didn't have a clue where their signal amplifier's power came from. Mine was still attached to the factory connector (therefore not plugged into anything !)

In case it helps someone else, here it is [white wire with black line, attach it to a switched positive.]

30999

[carlos-1975]

what did you do then spill the beans is it better tell me tell me

[Turbo_Steve]

Powered up the aerial amp, by the sound of things.

[carlos-1975]

oh so you mean steve the two hours i sepnt behind the headunit i thought if it was plugged in it was powered up cack do i just wire it to a live ?

[WizardKing]

That's all I needed to do, Carlos.

[swinks]

So, which one is better with aerial amplifier feed?
Get one stright from switched ACC (+12V), or get one as some ISO stereo connectors have (blue wire), back from radio?

[WizardKing]

Can't see how either would be any different.
No, hang on, the blue wire from the headunit is only intended to be a signal (i.e. to turn amps on, not to power them with.)

Although units may vary, it would probably be best to use a switched +ve. feed to the aerial's booster. It's bound to want more than just a few milliamps of current, possibly exceeding the blue wire's circuit design parameters and damaging your headunit.

My ISO harness has additional power connectors, so I used the switched +ve. from it.

[Turbo_Steve]

It depends on the headunit, but I'd suggest, as above, you just wire it to the "yellow" switched live - but I'd keep the little spade connector.

[WizardKing]

Unless it's a Kenwood, whereby the switched live is red.
I have kept the spade connector. I cut the wire, keeping it as long as possible, next to the original stereo plug.

[Turbo_Steve]

Yah..sorry....was aimed at Carl who sounds like he's about to go and do it, rather than you :D

[carlos-1975]

you can read me like a boof but think i might take the side panel off this time lol

[Turbo_Steve]

Good Luck, mate!

[swinks]

Right then, that explains, why my aerial is working inly with switched +12V (red wire), not with blue one described as "antenna". No feed then, there.
Thanks guys!

[WizardKing]

When car stereos started to have that blue wire, electric (motorised) aerials were very popular. . .


(This is not from memory, it's from a history book !!):whistle: :whistle: :D