Ever since I replaced my stock head unit. I plugged a cheap, standard antenna in the back of my deck today just to see where the problem might be.

I noticed when I unplugged the car's antenna from the back the reception (lousy as it is) got worse - just disappeared. When I plugged in the cheap antenna it came back and as soon as I touched it or stuck it the least bit out the window reception was AWESOME!

I actually liked how great the reception was with the stock deck. Anyway, my question:

I've removed and replaced the antenna over the black glass before with no effect. So I'm guessing my problem is before it. The antenna goes from the back of the head unit and becomes part of a 2-wire cable. One runs behind the passenger side of the dash (antenna?) and the other goes down behind the console with what looks like a connector on it.

Any ideas where that other wire goes and is it important? Clearly, the cheap replacement antenna didn't need anything else - is that wire perhaps for the wiper or something else back there?

Where is the likely problem with the stock antenna setup?

Has anyone experienced this problem before, let alone fixed it?

Has anyone installed a different antenna including the run of the wire before?

Thanks!

 

Sorry, can't help you out on this one. My reception has been the same with the stock deck and the 2 aftermarket decks that have been in the car. Have you tried putting the stock deck back in and checking the reception again? I can't imagine the deck being better then any aftermarket deck at receiving ota channels. What deck did you put in that made the reception get worse?

 

You don't understand the marked difference between the stock radio and plugging in a cheap replacement from an auto parts store. Night and day. I assume the stocker will react similarly. I believe it's in the stock radio wire or assembly somewhere ...

 

the factory antenna is a powered antenna. not mechanical power like the up and down ones that most people think of, but electrical powered. it needs a 12v signal to get full strength. on the radio harness, you want to hook up blue off the radio to blue on the aftermarket mitsu harness adapter. this will give the antenna 12v when the radio is on tuner.

on a side note, i had did a radio for this kid with an oz one day. then two weeks later he came back with his dad saying i screwed it up cause he was getting crappy reception. well turns out his kid tried to put and amp and subs in and cut the connection to use for a remote turn on for the amp. he was the one that created his own problem. i reconnected it and the reception went back to normal.

 

Sorry I was taking for granted that it was hooked up properly. Yeah if you didn't run the blue power antenna wire from the new head unit to the mitsu harness then it's obviously not going to work very well without power.

 

Wow! Great! I'll check into it!

 

I wonder if this is my problem. My car had an aftermarket deck when i got it. I can hardly get any AM reception. I'm a talk radio junkie
thanks, ed

 

probably. most people don't realized its powered. all the mitsu aftermarket radio adapters come with the wire in the slot, but not all mitsu's have a wire on the factory wiring end. the evo does. you can trace it a bit to a seperate plug. i believe its a yellow wire on the factory side. i don't remember off the top of my head.

 

That was it!! Man, I've been driving around for over a year thinking it was just a crappy stock antenna
Thank you Evilblue
ed

 

not a prob. what the point of having experience and knowledge if you can't pass it on.

 

Was it a yellow wire??

 

its blue on the aftermarket harness. i dont remember the factory color off the top of my head.

 

+1. I just went out and hooked up the blue wire and now I have AM .

Thanks

 

no prob

 

I also have lousy AM reception from my JVC unit. I pulled the stereo out to look. I have a blue power antenna wire from the adapter harness that is not connected to anything. But I don't see where I can connect this to. All the other wires that seem like they should be connected, are already connected. There is a blue wire from the DIN adapter, but that is connected to the blue/white stripe wire from the jvc unit labeled "remote on amplifier". In the picture, the blue wire on the left is the un-connected power antenna wire. Can anyone take a look at that mess in the picture and help me out?