Radio reception with aftermarket radios.

[Craigo72 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Craigo72]

Hi, I did a bit of a search and didn't come up with anything so here goes.

I've fitted an in dash GPS/DVD/radio and have had radio reception issues ever since. The standard radio uses 2 antenna plugs, one standard size and a small blue one, ( dual diversity antenna ). The new head unit only has one connector on it. I've read forums from over seas about fitting other units with the same antenna set up with no issues with reception by just connecting the large one. Mine is at times unusable only 8 Kms from the city, out of the city, forget about it, it's iPod time. Has anyone else fitted an aftermarket head unit to their Prado 150 and had any issues with reception?. The suppliers keep telling me they have never had any issues and they have never seen a dual diversity antenna on a Prado. I'm thinking they haven't powered up the antenna amplifier in their wiring harness ( was all plug and play ). I'm interested to see if anyone has had the same issues.

Craig.

[baggs71 Inactive member. Find all posts View Profile Close baggs71]

Ummm spoke to my in dash gps rep..he said go into the menu and turn on the radio gain....it works a bit better now..hope this helps

[Craigo72 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Craigo72]

Don't have that option on mine unfortunately.

[baggs71 Inactive member. Find all posts View Profile Close baggs71]

You could buy an fm/am radio antenna....it goes on your bullbar and looks like a normal 800mm uhf one...as long as you have an rca input in tye rear of your unit it should work.

[baggs71 Inactive member. Find all posts View Profile Close baggs71]

The reason I say this is that mine also is not up to par....worse still when I have poor reception it gets better when I turn left to face the in glass antenna towards adelaide!...ive spoken to electic bug and it all seems easy fix supposedly.

Hope this helps as your not the only one.
Murphys law: when I remove the unit to check what's the bet the antenna is not plugged in?

[Bennlexx Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Bennlexx]

Watching with great interest as I have the same problem. Hopefully there is a solution. Have others have success with a different aerial?

[baggs71 Inactive member. Find all posts View Profile Close baggs71]

Ok...in the next few days depending on coin...im buying a am/fm gme antenne...looks like a uhf...but basically fixs.your Rx signal...I dont live near a major city and most weekends I go bush...so its a no brainer for me...hopefully ill post what happens...

[Craigo72 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Craigo72]

I'll be keen to see if that sorts it out.

[Andrew_C Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew_C]

I found out when I put in my aftermarket radio that I had no reception. After some investigation, I found the rear aerial on the window needs power. I just connected power to it and issues mostly resolved. The window aerial is not as good as a normal one in remote locations regardless of power or not. I will see if I can find the wiring diagram and see which wire it is.

See here http://www.supraforums.com/forum/sho...the-RIGHT-one)

[yowie Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close yowie]

When I fitted my Clarion after market GPS/DVD/radio etc two years ago, the AM radio was working OK, even a few hundred kms from Sydney.

Lately the AM has had a bit of static when not too far from Sydney, however, FM reception is still perfect a long way away.

Spoke to the installer and he explained that the AM output is decreasing in radius from Sydney, which is why the reception is not as good. Would be better with digital radio reception, or as others have suggested by fitting a decent aerial.

[baggs71 Inactive member. Find all posts View Profile Close baggs71]

Installed the gme am/fm antenne today...looks good...will hook it up to the head unit an see what happens tomorrow....I have to remove all the centre dash to get at the back...
GME Antenna $40
GME stainless 50mm mount $20
Hopefully this will work at least 50% better...
Want photos or have you solved your problem...?

[gxl_d4d Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close gxl_d4d]

Try one of these:
http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/sis.html?...d=370549256558

[baggs71 Inactive member. Find all posts View Profile Close baggs71]

Hahahahah splitter for mutant head units hahah
So it allows the window one to be used as well as the external one?.best of both worlds?

[Craigo72 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Craigo72]

They had sent me a splitter and an adaptor to fit the smaller plug which didn't fit anyway, when I had that fitted it made the reception worse again. I've removed the splitter and taped the other smaller aerial connector to the other aerial cable and it has actually made it better but even driving around the suburbs you can still hear a bit of static and the tone changing constantly. I didn't get to try the range over Easter ( my daughter wanted to watch DVDs all the way there and back ) so not sure about that. I pulled the unit out for about the 15th time last week and checked to make sure the antenna amp is getting power and it is.

They say they are still looking into it, I don't think they are.

I'm getting an auto sparky to look at it in a week or so so I'll see what he says.

I want to sort it out soon though, I'd like to have the issue sorted before I head up to Broome next month for a holiday, think I might just have to bite the bullet and fit an antenna to the bullbar to save my sanity!.

If you could get some pics Baggs that would be great. I'd be keen to see how the reception is with the GME. Ive been looking at all sorts of antenna, some up to 200 bucks!. I'll be picking up a replacement mic from the GME distributor for my TX3540 next week, I might have to hit them up for an antenna while I'm there if yours works well.

[baggs71 Inactive member. Find all posts View Profile Close baggs71]

Did not like the stainless look so hit it with epoxy.