Poor radio reception

Well it only took me 10 months to finally find time to diagnose why I have no radio reception. Anyway, after removing the radio, I found the antenna lead was disconnected. Upon reconnecting it, I am getting only poor radio reception. I would rate it as a 3 out of 10.... 10 being crystal clear. I live in the inner suburbs of Brisbane, so reception is never an issue with my location.

What other possible issues could be occurring that I can check to get this working a bit better?

Here's a photo of the connection. I assume this all looks correct. It doesn't feel overly stable and secure once plugged in though. It only felt like it wanted to push in to maybe 90% of the depth of the plug on the end of the lead.

Thanks for your help guys.

Cheers, Brett

Originally Posted by brett05

Well it only took me 10 months to finally find time to diagnose why I have no radio reception. Anyway, after removing the radio, I found the antenna lead was disconnected. Upon reconnecting it, I am getting only poor radio reception. I would rate it as a 3 out of 10.... 10 being crystal clear. I live in the inner suburbs of Brisbane, so reception is never an issue with my location.

What other possible issues could be occurring that I can check to get this working a bit better?

Here's a photo of the connection. I assume this all looks correct. It doesn't feel overly stable and secure once plugged in though. It only felt like it wanted to push in to maybe 90% of the depth of the plug on the end of the lead.

Thanks for your help guys.

Cheers, Brett

AM or FM Radio ? metallic tint is known to cause issues with reception.

The only other thing I can think of is the check all the connections on the amplifier that sits behind the passengers C pillar.

Originally Posted by CortinaD

AM or FM Radio ? metallic tint is known to cause issues with reception.

The only other thing I can think of is the check all the connections on the amplifier that sits behind the passengers C pillar.

It's both AM and FM which is poor. I'll do that and check the connections on the amp tonight.

Not sure on whether the tint is metallic or not.... Declan, where are you???
It's a pretty dark tint... I think 5% from memory.

Cheers, Brett

Brett
That pic looks to me like you have an updated head unit with a single Fakra antenna connector and you're actually plugging in the 'power' or ZF signal lead that connects the antenna amplifier to the older head units, which have 2 connectors.

There should be another lead in the dash somewhere that is the actual antenna lead and you will need an adapter to connect this to the newer head unit.

Have a look at this thread for some excellent info:
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=396343
The first pic in the thread is the adapter I think you will need.

If you find this other lead, don't whatever you do try to connect this directly to the black Fakra connector on the back of the head unit or you will likely break off the centre pin (ask me how I know). Hopefully it's not already munted by plugging in the ZF signal lead.

If you just get the adapter, and don't replace the amplifier with a newer unit as per the above thread, you will likely get quite reasonable reception in and around a capital city. My reception in Adelaide has been acceptable for quite a few years now to the point I have only just replaced the amplifier with a newer one a few days ago but I haven't been out of the burbs yet to see if it's any better.

See post #67 for a description of how the older antenna amplifiers work compared with the new ones.

Also, if you want to know what frequency your car is without pulling off the C pillar trim, plug your VIN in here:
http://www.rubmw.ru/vincode/eng/

Thanks Uber. Great post. I'll pull it apart again and take a look behind the head unit to see if I can find another lead back there somewhere.

I just spoke to the previous owner (DeclanM3 on the forum) and he mentioned that to his knowledge, the head unit is original and that it used to work prior to having a bluetooth install.

I've opened up the C Pillar and all the connections to the amp appear to be fine.

Cheers, Brett