rubbish radio reception

[longman 0]

well i have a kenwood cd/tuner and unfortunately i cannot tune into terry wogan in the mornings very well. No seriously i only get local stations and occasionally radio 1, is it the stereo or anyone know of any problems with the aerials??? :roll:

[dazzyvr6 0]

yeah mines pants aswell

[20valver 0]

and me......

[G60Jet 1]

have you got the power booster for a non oem stereo? cos you need one for the C's area, get down to halford and get one cost about a tenner, plug line with th lead and you need to supply a voltage to them

[longman 0]

no i dont think i have the booster, what exactly is it a power booster or a signal booster and what does it connect to?

[Jim 2]

Nige,

 

Can you explain how you are supposed to get a voltage feed to the thing? I bought the booster but because I am so technically inept, had no idea how to power the damn thing. It comes with a small crocodile clip to attach it to a power feed of some sort but.... no idea which one :\

[longman 0]

you probably need to feed one from the radio

[longman 0]

how much was the booster you bought?

[2cc 0]

I got Kenwood and radio reception is AOK. But yeah there is a booster thingy fitted which is powered from the ISO plug on a thin black wire. I'll have a nose at it later and post up any gen

[20valver 0]

Cheers i'll have a look for one.......

[Steve B 0]

To power the antenna, just tap off of the AMP remote/ power aerial wire from the ISO connector as 2CC said.

 

Wire colours vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, but in general it will be blue or blue/ white.

 

If unsure, test with a voltmeter or test light - it will carry 12v when the Headunit (radio) is turned on!

 

Hope that helps guys (and gals)

 

Hi by the way - sorry for the lack of introduction, ill do that 2moro coz im goin homw now

 

Steve

:D :D

[longman 0]

steve, sorry to be a pain but i know the wire you are talking about but is it a power booster or a signal booster thats need to connect to?

[G60Jet 1]

no i dont think i have the booster, what exactly is it a power booster or a signal booster and what does it connect to?

 

that what they look like

[2cc 0]

All above reads true, but a bit more to add for those that know b****r all about this.

The radio signal cable appears to have been subject to a design change down the years. The early cars, like my '90 16v, were fitted with a signal amplifier (booster - call it what you will) that was mounted in the roof lining right up by the antenna (or aerial). The signal cable had a thin black power supply wire moulded on along its length and picked up +12v from the radio ISO connector. On my car this is actually a switched output from the radio and is only present when the radio is turned on; as Steve says usually Blue/white). If you can see that wire (the black one) and it has power to it then the amplifier has probably failed.

On later cars the signal amp is not fitted in the roof but at the radio end. I suspect that it may have been an add on and maybe not fitted as standard. The amp is a wee metal box which just connects onto the signal cable and its own lead goes on to the radio. As above, it's power lead is a thin black wire which should pick up a switched +12 from the ISO connector.

So, if you haven't got one fit one; if you have check its connections or replace it as needs be. (If you have a supsect old rear type don't worry about it, just fit a new one at the front)

Mine is a VW part, number: 1HO 035 551. Dunno what they cost

Happy Woganing - is it me?

HTH

[Jim 2]

Hm.. I guess I'll have to have another go when the weather is a little less... inclement. I have got the booster but its just sat in my toolbox in the boot.

[Jim 2]

All above reads true, but a bit more to add for those that know b****r all about this.

The radio signal cable appears to have been subject to a design change down the years. The early cars, like my '90 16v, were fitted with a signal amplifier (booster - call it what you will) that was mounted in the roof lining right up by the antenna (or aerial). The signal cable had a thin black power supply wire moulded on along its length and picked up +12v from the radio ISO connector. On my car this is actually a switched output from the radio and is only present when the radio is turned on; as Steve says usually Blue/white). If you can see that wire (the black one) and it has power to it then the amplifier has probably failed.

On later cars the signal amp is not fitted in the roof but at the radio end. I suspect that it may have been an add on and maybe not fitted as standard. The amp is a wee metal box which just connects onto the signal cable and its own lead goes on to the radio. As above, it's power lead is a thin black wire which should pick up a switched +12 from the ISO connector.

So, if you haven't got one fit one; if you have check its connections or replace it as needs be. (If you have a supsect old rear type don't worry about it, just fit a new one at the front)

Mine is a VW part, number: 1HO 035 551. Dunno what they cost

Happy Woganing - is it me?

HTH

 

That might help explain a bit.. I have that black power cable running up with the aerial cable, but have no where to connect it to my head unit! Looks like I need to go and find out about that part at the dealers!

 

Thanks for that! :)

[dazzyvr6 0]

ive got a wire on my 93vr6 that runs along side the airiel,ive got that connected to the head unit but the radio is still pants,so that means i need a booster,and the wire that runs along the aerial is black

[longman 0]

well i too found that i had a wire with the aerial and found that it is already connected, so i tried the booster and that made no difference at all so i think that my radio is crap.

[Fat Tony 0]

I had my mechnic replace the whole thing new arial the lot and to be honest although it is better than before is still not great. Best Idea is to record the radio from the day before lol

[G60Jet 1]

Could just be a bad radio reception in your area, does it change with the weather? seriously i work for a radio station the weather does effect FM transmissions although is NOT ment to!!! LOL

[VR6>blunty 0]

Listen to CDs all the time its what I was doing until the face unit of my Kenwood feel off and bust for the last time!!!!

 

Oh well good excuse for a new MP3 player! - any suggestions anyone?

[Jim 2]

Well both me & Tom (VR6) have the Pioneer DEH-P7400MP - the short and skinny of it is :

 

*Organic EL Display,

*Plays MP3's recorded to CD's and CD-R's,

*LOADS of sound tweaking options, eq's, positions

*Compatible with the seperate Pioneer DAB unit if you want DAB.

 

You can pick it up at places like Cel Direct for £240... can't reccomend it highly enough! :)

[yellowdfp 0]

no i dont think i have the booster, what exactly is it a power booster or a signal booster and what does it connect to?

 

that what they look like

 

Summary of my related experiences. Thanks to other related posts on this forum or I would really have been stumped.

 

A few months ago I decided to remove my aftermarket Pioneer radio to check for intermittent left speaker fault. Stupidly I left the ignition key in 'Accessory' and a live radio wire came loose and sparked on the radio cage. After this, neither Radio or Ignition worked despite all fuses looking OK, so I had basically managed to break my entire car! :(

 

I had to call in a professional auto electrician who eventaually diagnosed a broken Ignition Switch. Still a bit of a mystery how a radio short could blow this and not a fuse but anyhow, we ordered up a new switch and with help from other postings, I managed to remove the old switch using a tiny screwdriver. New one fitted and car started again on the key - great.

 

The electrician then tidied up the radio wiring a bit and 'helpfully' suggested he fit an aerial signal booster like the one pictured in this thread, since unlike the original fit radio, my Pioneer did not have one built-in. He did this and went away, and certainly the reception was improved. However, I noticed that the rear spoiler was no longer automatically raising or lowering, although still working on the manual switch. The forum pointed me to possible blue/white auto speed radio volume wire and on checking, I indeed found that the electricician had connected it to the aerial booster and in turn to the blue/white wire on the radio - for a Corrado this is all wrong it seems (again, unlike the factory fit radio?, the Pioneer has no auto speed volume control built-in).

 

So, I cut the blue/white coming from the dash and taped it off beside the ISO connector. I left the aerial booster connected to the blue/white from the radio as instructions say is actually a radio switched 12v+ supply (confirmed with a meter), intended to power an external AMP controller and/or electric aerial, so is perfect to power the booster as will only do so whilst the radio is switched on.

 

[dashboard] ------------Blue/White (speed)------------X

[aerial mast] -----------Black (thick co-axial) -----------> [radio] -------------Blue/White (12v switched)-----------> [aerial booster]

 

I'm happy to say that automatic spolier operation and good radio reception have now been restored! and hope this helps others.

 

David,

Edinburgh.

[CTWG60 0]

I had the same problem and was doing the sunroof so headlining was out. I had a bit of cash so I bought a mk4 polo boosted ariel it has a slightly different angle to it but it's a plug and go replacement. It even had the square hole fitment and a new seal and my reception now is flawless. Did cost about £50 though so not exactly cheap.

[.A.N.T. 0]

I have that black power cable running up with the aerial cable, but have no where to connect it to my head unit! Looks like I need to go and find out about that part at the dealers!

 

Thanks for that! :)

 

 

I bought a new amplified aerial from Ebay for about £25 inc postage and it's the best £25 I've spent in a long while, in fact since I travelled through Thailand but that's another story. The wire you mention above, is it attached to the aerial cable? If so it probably wants a current putting up it to power the amp in the aerial base which is probably knackered. Mine was full of rust completely. It's possible to gut the amplifier out of the aerial base and solder a lead between the actual mast and the base. This makes reception a bit better as you haven't got the loss through the knackered circuit board but isn't a patch on a new amplifier.

It's all well and good, imho, having an amplifier near the headunit, but if the signal has already lost some clarity getting from the aerial down the lead then it's already lost some of the signal. I had one of the boosters by the unit and although it did make it slightly better it wasn't a massive difference.

Doing a test, by listening to the radio and unplugging the power lead to the aerial and it's a noticable difference.

 

Also, while you're on ebay, get a voltmeter. They're about a tenner posted and mean you won't be connecting the wrong wire up and blowing a fuse.

 

It comes with a small crocodile clip to attach it to a power feed of some sort but....

 

Junk the crocodile clip asap, very easy for it to come detached and short out something... cue lots of smoke and a potential dashboard fire...

 

 

Ant.