Hey guys, i just got my Avic-n1 installed, and for some reason, i get like only TWO radio stations. All the other ones are extremely static. I used to have a JVC hu , and that had bad reception as well. Anyone else have problems with crappy radio in our cars and know what to do to fix it ?

 

CDs...

 

you can try a powered antenna booster, but you might check to make sure your antenna is plugged in all the way and that your antenna is connected to its feed wire..the power antenna feature might work even if the signal cable is damaged. If the stations you're recieving are fairly close, the antenna cable itself could pick up the signal without being connected to the antenna..lots of things it COULD be, its hard to tell for sure since I don't know what stations are close enough to be recievable..

 

Check the power antenna lead on the HU.

Otherwise its due to the fact that you went from Nissan Diversity (Dual) to a single antenna setup.

 

How do we know if we went from a Nissan Diversity antenna to a single?

 

Not that it helps you any, but stock head units usually have the best reception you can get. It does sound like your head unit is getting worse reception than I would anticipate even from aftermarket. I believe the diversity antenna is wired to two separate windows [looks like the rear defrost, only it outlines the window] as opposed to a regular antenna sticking up from the car.

dh

 

the diversity to single connection is very susceptible to noise interference. I'm trying to find out how to fix this. tried different adaptors, no difference. What I noticed is inside the adaptor recepticle, there are 2 holes and only one of them has a contact lead which is hooked up to the single pin into the HU on the same side of the recepticle. So far the only improvement I got was reversing the 2 pin diversity plug going into the adaptor, the noise level reduced and the signal got louder however, I still get static on stations that were perfectly clean with my factory stereo and the volume is still a lot lower compared to cds. This leads to me to think that only one of the 2 diversity pins is hot or maybe one of them has a loose connection inside the car somewhere or possibly with any connections going to the actual antennas on the back windshild. Got any suggestions cuz right now I just feel like smashing my HU eventhough it has a 120dB S/N for cds.

 

i solved mine by taking the ground wire outta AM HU and ground it to itself instead of the back chassis, this way there'd be a common ground with the power antenna. Since there's no factory ground wiring, the annenna is providing the ground! no complaints about diversity antenna now as it performs just as good as any other.

 

That's an interesting trick, since we know that the antenna lead can function as a ground (not recommended, but works). My advice is to make sure that your power antenna lead from the new HU's harness is tapped to the corresponding lead from the car's harness. That should solve the problem, provided all else is well. My old Alpine had almost as good radio reception as the factory, but TBH I dodn't go aftermarket for great radio reception.

 

if ya look at the antenna lead going into the HU, the center lead itself provides signal and the outer surrounds provide the ground and the 2 are isolated by plastic insulation, that's how it works!

btw, you don't need to tap into the factory power antenna power wiring as the factory harness with the green and white dot wire gets plugged into the aftermarket harness and the correct wire is connected b/t the 2 harnesses as every other wire, mine are blue from Metra. This allows the aftermarket HU to provide the switched 12V power for the antenna when it goes into radio mode(if your HU comes with this wire; labeled ANT REM). If the HU doesn't have the switched 12V out, connect the antenna power wire to the 12V constant(red; not recommended cuz it stays on obviously) or tap into some other switched accessory power elsewhere in the car. Hope this clarifies a bit.

 

i have a 3rd gen. and an eclipse head unit. I was thinking about listening to just FM radio. So you guys think that I'm gonna get crappy reception with the Eclipse head unit? If so, what should I do? Should I try to buy a 3rd gen. stock radio receiver? Or should I try to change my stock antenna and keep the Eclipse?

 

Have you even tried it yet? The problem these guys are having is with newer models. You shouldn't have any problem in your 92.

 

oh really? Cool, I hope not.

 

You do realize that the factory rtadio is grounded through the chassis, not the antenna right? You Can ground through the antenna, but thats not how it was intended.

 

my aftermarket sony is being grounded by antenna only since it had static radio reception from grounding the ground wire to back chassis. the factory radio is grounded by the 8 tightass screws but my sony didn't take those screws through the mounting bracket it came with.