Poor reception
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Post Fiend
Joined: Apr 2004
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From: Silver Lake Dunes, MI
Poor reception
I am getting poor fm/am reception in my 1997 F-350. its not the radio cause I installed a different radio when I got the truck and it was the same. Is there any way to test the antenna cable and antenna? Is there a resistance spec to them or any thing? Any thoughts would be great.
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Post Fiend
Joined: Apr 2004
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From: Silver Lake Dunes, MI
I just bought the truck in december. it had an older pioneer cd/am/fm in it when I bought it. then I put a Sony MP3/AM/FM in it. both radio's had the same reception. my 95 f-250 and my 99 superduty plow truck both had great reception in this area. but this truck will get the stations but not at the range as the others and not clear at all. not like static but jsut poor sound quality when it should be near crystal clear at just a few miles form the radio tower.
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Post Fiend
Joined: Apr 2004
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From: Silver Lake Dunes, MI
I think I might just do that. I will probably just un screw the antenna and remove the base to see what is there. I am pretty sure there have been front end body work done to this truck so we'll see maybe its as simple as bad connection.
any way to use a multimeter to test the cable while I have it apart?
any way to use a multimeter to test the cable while I have it apart?
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Joined: Jul 2005
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From: Millersville, MD
Once you remove the antenna stub, you can ohm out the antenna cable. Unplug it from the radio and test between the shell and the tip. Should read an 'open'. Connect the stub and it should now read 'short'. What you'll prob. find is a short with antenna stub removed. Most likely a shorted cable somewhere. Prob easier to go to junkyard and get another antenna WITH the cable out of a junker. Prob $.50
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Its probably a poor chasis ground at the antenna base. Clean it up and it should be fine. Keep in ming that NO aftermarket radio will have BETTER reception than a factory unit (unless you have a Rockford Fosgate Declo made unit)
And WTF is 'ohm out'?
And WTF is 'ohm out'?
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Originally Posted by cln2po
Its probably a poor chasis ground at the antenna base. Clean it up and it should be fine. Keep in ming that NO aftermarket radio will have BETTER reception than a factory unit (unless you have a Rockford Fosgate Declo made unit)
And WTF is 'ohm out'?
And WTF is 'ohm out'?
Last edited by SPL Tech; Feb 9, 2007 at 07:10 PM.
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Post Fiend
Joined: Apr 2004
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From: Silver Lake Dunes, MI
Well none of my trucks have factory radios other than the 99 and they all have better reception than this one does so I will check what you guys have talked about.
Ohming out is the process of taking my ohm meter and testing for resistance and/or continuity of the antenna cable. ie checking for open or short in the cable.
Ohming out is the process of taking my ohm meter and testing for resistance and/or continuity of the antenna cable. ie checking for open or short in the cable.
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Originally Posted by SPL Tech
That’s not automatically true. And Rockfords newer headunits suck. I speak from experience. In the past I used Rockford stuff on a serious SPL competition level in my vehicle and their headunits blow. This is because they don’t make their 2002 - 2005 headunits. Hunyda (the car company) does. Their 2001 and older headunits were made by Denon and they kicked ***. But the newer ones dont hold the same quality level.
Rockford decks were originally made by Delco - not Denon. Back then they were the only thing I would sell a customer that listened to AM because their tuner was basically a delco OEM unit. And yes they did switch to Hyundai in 02 - I know because I took part in a focus group at Rockford for their re-design. Denon did make 3 models for them for the Euro/Asian markets - basically re-badged hi-end Denon units that were a total flop when they offered them here in the states.
You can have 1 or the other when it comes to AM/FM reception - good reception OR good sound quality. Its a compromise between frequency response (SQ) or reception - if you increase the freq response you trade reception and vise versa. Ever notice you can hold a station longer if you put the tuner in 'mono'?
Last edited by cln2po; Feb 10, 2007 at 11:34 AM.
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Originally Posted by SPL Tech
Well I was told by many people that Denon made their headunits back in the day? I dont mean like one or two. I mean like 10+ people.
Last edited by cln2po; Feb 11, 2007 at 01:43 AM.
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