Horrible AM reception with OEM radio

[J Tinsby]

Yes I have read most of the posts on the subject and there doesn't appear to be any one solution.

MY problem is that I hear everything electrical in the car when I am on AM. For example, I can hear the electric motors when the windows go up and down, I get ignition noise when the engine is running,. I can even hear static or hash when the dome light circuit is ON, once the lights go out that noise stops.
It makes me think a filter capacitor is bad somewhere either in the lousy radio or elsewhere in the wiring. The odd thing is there are times, although rare, that I can hear AM just fine, but that doesn't last very long sad to say.

I have tightened the antenna at the base and replaced the mast, that seemed to help just a bit. The stations are there but through all the BS I can't hear them.

Needless to say, FM is fine, that even works WITHOUT the antenna mast!

Thoughts anyone?

Thank you,

J T

[boogety boogety]

You didn't say what model you have, but if it's under warranty, you should go to the dealer posthaste, and let them deal with it.

In every AM reception problem I've ever had (this problem is far from exclusive to VW), a simple powered antenna solved the problem. Specify Europan or American connection, and your friendly neighborhood electronic or stereo install store will sell you the thing for your install, or even install it for you pretty rapidly. Just pull the radio, attach the adapter to the existing antenna input, install the adapter input to the back of your radio, and attach the blue wire to a switched outlet. Back to listening to the farm report and Rush live!

[DZLBUG]

The antenna base is also a likely culprit. They fail quite often due to the elements/corrosion. When replacing also make sure it has a good clean ground.

[J Tinsby]

Originally Posted by DZLBUG

The antenna base is also a likely culprit. They fail quite often due to the elements/corrosion. When replacing also make sure it has a good clean ground.

Today I took the base apart and found there was a loose connection where the antenna wire enters the base. Plus it was all corroded. Tomorrow I'll get a new one, I've already cleaned both sides of the roof with emery paper to ensure a good ground.

If that doesn't solve it then I'll look at an amplifier.. but the VW stealer told me there was one in the OEM base already. Maybe 1 will work but 2 is better?

BTW the car is a 99 NB with 61k on it so I don't expect a lot, as long as the engine and trans hold up!

Thanks,

J T

[langheldphoto]

i don't know about your local broadcasting stations but all the ones around me suck for a.m stations. i wouldn't jump to conclusions about it being the cars fault for not getting a.m stations well. a.m radio is transmitted completely differently from f.m. and without going into the differences between the two just know that am radio frequencies are typically (depending on which part of the nation you live in) much much less powerful than fm. As for picking up noise from working electric parts on your car, am radio works buy detecting differences in the amplitude of the wave produced buy the broadcaster. now since these wave are much weaker than fm, it means that they are much more susceptible to interference from an outside source. any drop in voltage (window rolling up, dome light on) can affect the radio's ability to interpret these already weak signals, which can translate into a number of odd noises that can possibly be output into your speakers.

now if that doesn't help you any and you are still convinced that it is still something in the car that is loose or malfunctioning, you should first check the grounds for the radio and the factory amp (if you have one) to make sure that they are not loose. also it may be possible that corrosion has built up in the base of the antennae. and be sure that it it is not crimped anywhere.

hope this helps

[LadybugEwa]

Funny that any other car radio picks up these weak signals so much better...