Car radio reception

[CPA]

Bought a 98 Isuzu Rodeo from a guy I work with a few weeks ago. Runs great for 98 and only cost my $2K 🙂.

Any case, there is a replacement radio (not factory) in the car. FM reception is decent, but AM reception sucks and I like listening to talk radio. In fact, when I hit the turn signal the static is in tune with the signal. Lots of squeeling and sqwelching.

What is a simple fix to this problem? Can I get better reception with another radio or is it a matter of my antenna? The antenna, btw, is not built into the rear glass, it is a normal antenna on the front of the car.

 

[franksta]

Is the antenna connection OK? Maybe the replacement radio installer got lazy and didn't reconnect it.

You may have a lot of interference from the wiring itself if the turn signal has that great of an impact on it. It's fun riding in my father-in-law's truck for a similar reason, when he accelerates there's a whine from the speakers that increases in frequency with the speed of the motor.

 

[LTC8K6]

Could be your alternator making a lot of electrical noise, and/or about to quit.

 

[zoiks]

Could be either the antenna or the radio. My mazda6 had atrocious radio reception. It was a flaw that everyone on the Mazda forum complained about. I switched it with a Kenwood and the difference was like night and day. I used the same antenna.

 

[Jugernot]

Pull the unit out and check the connection... if that is fine, try a new antenna.

 

[Black88GTA]

Some cars (esp Japanese) have a "diversity" tuning system on the factory radio. Basically, the car has two antennas - one in the glass, and a mast. There are connections for both on the factory deck - the idea is that whichever antenna is pulling in the better signal for the station you are tuned to at the time is the one that will be used.

When an aftermarket deck is installed in place of the factory unit, there is only room for one antenna connection, so the other one usually gets tied out of the way and left unused. On both cars that I've run into this diversity thing with (a Honda and a Subaru), the glass antenna had a male plug (the kind that all aftermarket radios have a socket for) and the mast antenna had a female socket. So, it was far easier to hook up the glass antenna, rather than futz around with locating a male ==> male antenna adapter to use the mast.

With all this said, it is very likely that the installer used the "easy install" option, a.k.a. the glass antenna. The thing is, the glass antenna is shit for picking up AM stations, since the AM signal is far more directional than FM. It doesn't bother me, because I never listen to AM anyway.

So, IF your Rodeo originally used a diversity tuning system, this could be causing it. To fix it, all you'd need to do is locate the unused connection likely leading to the mast antenna, find the proper adapter, and plug it up.

Of course, if it uses a standard type system and the mast antenna is connected already, then disregard this post 😛