Radio reception

[legnum1]

Is there any way to improve FM reception on the OE MMC radio? Mine will only find 2 or 3 stations and for some reason finds Radio 2 on 4 widely different frequencies. It has a bandwith expander fitted and AM is fine.

[elnevio]

It is entirely possibly that the band expander has only been fitted to ONE of the two diversity antennae.

You may need to either fit another band expander to the other diversity antenna, or just disconnect it.

[chris g]

Or....

Get a spanner/screwdriver or a man who has them and get the jap radio removed and replaced...

Really only way to get full quality UK reception and choice...

[Roberto]

And make sure the aerial booster has power going to it.

[giblet]

Or....

Get a spanner/screwdriver or a man who has them and get the jap radio removed and replaced...

Really only way to get full quality UK reception and choice...

Got a kenwood unit in mine, worked fine in my previous cars and picked up the fm transmitter on my phone fine but for some reason it doesnt seem to pick up the signal properly in the vr4 :uhoh2:

[elnevio]

The problem even for UK units is that we are mostly having to use just one of the two diversity antennae as the sole source of FM input, and just one on its own isn't exactly ideal being used as such!

[chris g]

Diversity antennae...?

Do we even need an aerial then...?

Or is it just a change of language...?

[chris g]

I have really only just made it into the world of MP3...

Bought a radio that gives me MP3/CD/Bluetooth/remote/iPod control/USB x2/aux connect AND CD multichanger if I have a unit...

Nothing was mentioned about any bloody diversity antennae...!

[giblet]

The problem even for UK units is that we are mostly having to use just one of the two diversity antennae as the sole source of FM input, and just one on its own isn't exactly ideal being used as such!

Is there no way to join them both together, say by cutting off the end of the smaller one and wiring it into the bigger un?

[elnevio]

Is there no way to join them both together, say by cutting off the end of the smaller one and wiring it into the bigger un?
I have been assured that this won't work (although haven't tried it) - but understand that this is because the two antennae (sorry, Chris - aerials!) are slightly out of phase with each other.

The diversity head units use the one with the strongest signal, but have the hardware on board to filter out the phase difference, so I understand!

[Ghost_2008]

Yeah connecting the two arials will cause problems, as above they pick up slightly different signals which would conflict with each other.

I fitted a decent after market stereo and it was fine until we moved, now we get crap reception due to location. But because I notice it at home I notice it everywhere now!!! So on my list of things to do is remove the stereo and check the ariel connections, but I'm not hopeful.......

[Roberto]

Anybody tried connecting a cheap universal aerial, just to see if the reception improves?

[elnevio]

I would have thought it would, Rob! Although you have to mount it somewhere (i.e. drill a hole, and/or spoil the factory roofline!).

Personally, I'm not that worried. I find my FM reception on my UK head unit is decent enough most of the time. But it would certainly be interesting to see if there is a good way of obtaining better reception. I wonder if the hardware part of a diversity head unit could be butchered and installed in-line to a UK head unit...

[legnum1]

Thanks for all the advice so far - I already have a roof mounted Bosch aerial for the TV - could that double-up for the radio as well?

[Turbo_Steve]

Nope. The TV aerial\antenna will operate in a totally different bandwidth.

In terms of getting the diversity system working, you really need a pair of tuners. Two tuners recover the same signal at different phases and frequencies, and then the audio stage sums the two recovered audio signals.

So unless you're going to get a proper, seperate, dedicated radio, and pipe it into the Audio input of your existing setup, it's not really a simple solution.

However: there are other ways to skin this particular cat.

For the In Car PC fiends, you can run a pair of USB tuners and sort it all out in software. I've not tried it myself, but I have heard the results can be pretty amazing.

Diversity aerials when proprerly implemented offer significant gains over a regular setup.

[vixen1578]

Turbo Steve

I have (inherited with the car) a Sony CDX650 and the radio reception is poor.

Would a RMA819 Glass Windscreen Mount Amplified Aerial Antenna mounted on the top of passenger windscreen. There are loads on ebay.

Thanks

V

[Turbo_Steve]

You're welcome to give it a try - however if your radio reception is really that bad then I suspect the existing aerial isn't getting any power. They are windscreen mounted amplified aerials themselves, so I don't see that adding the autoleads one is going to be a huge improvement. Chances are the factory one just needs connecting the switched live at the back of the headunit.

There's a spade connector in the same wire as the two aerial plugs. Ensure it's getting 12v.

[vixen1578]

Thanks I'll try that.

V