Radio Reception

[CAS]

I have had poor radio reception, especially in the FM band, since day one. I was told by TM that there is an antenna amplifier on this system which should make it better because the antenna is small and behind the passenger seat and not above the body of the frame.<br />
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I inspected today and found the problem. The antenna wire is very long and TM just rolled it up and stuffed in behind the left or rear portion of the radio and mount housing. I removed the bundle and removed the tiewrap, uncoiled and spread it out along the bottom of the trunk, it is about 6 feet long and the reception is now excellent.

[Nana]

Nice to find such an easy fix! <img src="images/smilies/grin.gif" border="0" alt="" title="big grin" class="inlineimg" />

[Gorilla]

Nevr had reception problems but I'm going to check anyway.

[Mattel]

If you don't have reception problems, don't take your radio apart, you may cause more problems. It is a pig to put back together. If you get a CB kit you can use the antena from the cb and it works a bit better.

[CAS]

Who said anything about taking the radio apart. You just have to reach in the back and gently pull the bundled wires out and seperate. Not difficult.<br />
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Another owner informed me that his AM band has never worked and I tried mine with the same results. I will contact TM for more info or a fix.

[CAS]

TM informed me that to get AM you will need a splitter from Radio Shack and another antenna. <br />
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Plug the splitter into the antenna outlet on the radio, plug the FM amplified antenna wire into the FM side of the splitter and the new antenna wire into the AM side. I would guess just a wire would suffice for an AM antenna.

[Mattel]

I had to pull my radio out to do my CB work. I think the AM antenna requires coils, but I may be wrong. I miss my AM raido, and I may try to do the same, let me know how that works.

[John Luciano]

An FM radio antenna will work with a very short 18" antenna. AM needs at least 2 feet, 3' is what you should have. The FM will work with either the short or the long ,so that is why the Goldwings have the long antenna. On My SVX the power antenna goes up an extra 6" when I hit the AM button.

[rich meyers]

I have a 09/Stallion. When picked it up speakers were not plugged in. Connected and could only get higher FM channels. Checked by radio and found Black ground wire that runs with aerial was not connected. Connected black wire to both Blue & blue with white tracer that were hanging. Now radio has the best reception on AM & FM.

[BlueTrinity]

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<img src="images/misc/quote_icon.png" alt="Quote" /> Originally Posted by <strong>John Luciano</strong>
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<div class="message">An FM radio antenna will work with a very short 18" antenna. AM needs at least 2 feet, 3' is what you should have. The FM will work with either the short or the long ,so that is why the Goldwings have the long antenna.</div>

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</div>You're absolutely right John, but I have the 18" stubbies on my HD and they work just fine. The difference is that my stubbies are coil-wound around the short staff to achieve the frequency length required for AM. <br />
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I even replaced the CB antenna on the other side with an identical stubby and experienced absolutely no degradation in the signals.<br />
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Wonder why that wouldn't work for these others as well?

[CAS]

Interesting post Rich. I am not sure what that means. The blue is a +12 volt that should go to a motorized antenna. I can not see a blue/white on the drawing. There are very strange notes on the installation instructions for this radio when it comes to an antenna in the glass and they also are addressed to this blue lead. I will need to talk to Sony for clarification.<br />
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The antenna input is on the right rear of the radio (looking at the front of the unit). My 09 has a plug and about 5 feet of wire coming from this input antenna going to something mounted near the left rear of the radio on the mounting frame for the radio. <br />
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I can not see what it is (small 1" X2") but I suspect it is the amplified antenna. This device has at least two leads with only one connected to the radio antenna input plug. The other is just dangling.

I can not see any unique color or markings on these leads and they are both black unless there is a difference in the insulation with ridges. I will have to slide out the radio to see if this device has any other leads or power. <br />
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I called Sony and they do not know of any reason why the AM does not work. It is probably the length of the antenna as discussed in other posts.<br />
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I located an automotive antenna splitter ($6) that would allow you to connect a second antenna for the AM if needed.

[CAS]

I contacted TM today concerning the antenna. The small device to the left rear of the radio is the antenna and it is amplified for AM and FM, about 4" long and is double backed taped to the radio mount. Some units had this antenna mounted on the wall behind the passenger seat, but TM did not know why this changed.<br />
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There are two leads on the antenna and one goes to the antenna input on the radio and the other goes to a blue/white single bullet connector next to the larger connector that goes to the Stallion harness. This single connector is the power input to the amplified antenna.<br />
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Mine is not connected, so that is probably why my AM is not working and my FM was weak.<br />
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Tonight I will try to find this blue/white wire and connector and hook-up. More to follow.<br />
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Thanks for the earlier post directing my attention to this spot.

[rich meyers]

The post I made worked fine for me. It did not short out anything or have any current when hooking all three wires together. It also worked with just hooking either blue or blue &amp; white with black ground on antenna. Radio comes out very easy. If you look at the back you will see we didn't get a lot of plug in's connectors we should have, such as for front &amp; rear speakers. Hope this will help someone.<br />
Rich

[CAS]

Rich, <br />
<br />
My blue wire from the Stallion wiring harness had a bullet connector on it and supposedly the small black wire running with the antenna leads was connected there. It is suppose to be +12 VDC IAW TM. The connection on mine had been broken. The copper in the wire is very small.<br />
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My AM reception did not appear to change when I reconnected. I will have to check to see if I connected completely with a voltmeter.<br />
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I still do not understand your three wires being connected together that you mentioned. I have not found the blue/white lead. I have a blue wire with a white connector that I mentioned above and that is suppose to be +12 VDC to power the antenna amplifier.<br />
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I do know think that either of the antenna leads should go to ground, especially if the blue is +12 VDC.

[CAS]

I read my blue wire and it is +12 VDC and the connection that I made is good, so I will probably get the splitter next and install a small AM antenna or try to move the installed amplified antenna. <br />
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I would suspect that AM problems are related to the areas that have weak signals like I do.

[rwhite]

Living in the wilds of West Virginia we had trouble with AM-FM reception from the start until we installed a “Tune Trapper” Antenna by ECS Corp., <a href="http://www.ecshylites.com/page/page/603561.htm" target="_blank">ecs HyLites -StreetRod,Custom Lighting &amp;Electronics</a>. This antenna is designed to be installed out of sight for the street rod crowd who don’t care for the look of an external antenna, so we installed ours inside the trunk.<br />
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-Ralph