Useful Tips: How to boost radio in-vehicle signal

When driving a car, you may sometimes notice that the radio signal is lost or there is interference. The situation is not the most pleasant, as it may interfere with listening to your favorite radio station. There can be many reasons for this, perhaps you will not be able to influence some factors (for example, an increase in the magnetic field due to solar storms and flares). Nevertheless, let's look at how to improve the reception of the radio signal. Since there are a number of factors that directly affect the quality of radio reception, which every car owner can easily fix. They must be taken into account before taking drastic measures to solve the problem.

Tip # 1. Check if the mast of the radio antenna is extended

If you are using a manual or electric retractable antenna mast, then if interference occurs or the signal disappears, you should first see if the mast is taut. The thing is that often hand-held car radio antennas can suddenly fold, and the driver simply forgets to stick them back. Most often, this can be encountered after visiting a car wash, when service employees fold the antenna to protect it from damage during washing. And the driver does not notice that the antenna is folded, and does not pull it back.

The electrical versions of the antennas, which automatically turn on when the radio is turned on, also suffer from the low position that the reception of the radio signal is very weak. Since the antenna is usually located outside the driver’s field of vision while driving, he does not notice that something happened to the electric motor and it does not work, and therefore the antenna does not extend properly.

Tip # 2. Check how the car antenna is connected

Very often, the reason for poor signal reception is that the antenna is incorrectly or poorly connected. For example, the cable is loosely connected to the head unit or one of the connectors is worn, rusted or corroded-in all such cases, the driver may begin to have problems with the settings of the radio stations and the quality of signal reception.

If a similar problem occurs, then you must first check the cable connection on the rear panel of the car radio. If everything is connected correctly, then try to tune to the desired station and, carefully moving the antenna, try to adjust the reception quality until it gets better. If you find defects in the connection, then they must be corrected, after which you will need to notice an improvement in the quality of signal reception.

Tip # 3. Connect a signal amplifier to the antenna

Of course, installing a radio signal amplifier is not a panacea and may not always help with poor reception. However, this warrant should not be discounted; in some circumstances, it can help quickly solve a similar problem. It is useful if the reason for the decrease in the quality of the radio signal in poor reception. If the problem arises in a city where interference is often created from a high altitude or the signal disappears when driving in hilly terrain, the use of an amplifier may be ineffective.

Tip # 4. Replace the antenna with a new one

If during the inspection you find that the fasteners or the mast of the car radio antenna itself are damaged, for example, rust or corrosion is visible on them, then you most likely will have to replace the entire kit. This is due to the fact that corrosion can also reduce the quality of signal reception and transmission to the head unit installed in the machine.

Please note that if the car has a mesh antenna that is mounted on the rear window. Despite the fact that such antenna options have certain aesthetic benefits and are not afraid of damage to a car wash or vandal actions of hooligans, they have a problem with signal reception. This type of antenna is especially affected in a city where there are a lot of houses and other interference that reduces the quality of radio signal reception. Therefore, it is sometimes better to replace such an antenna with a classic whip, which can improve signal reception.

Council number 5. Replace the head unit

In general, the radio in all modern car radios and receivers outperforms any home devices in terms of its parameters and performance. Even in the cheapest model of the head unit, an FM-receiver is built in, which has great advantages in functionality compared to the radio or boombox, which are often used in apartments. However, there are some exceptions, too, and if you checked everything and attributed the decrease in the signal reception quality it doesn’t work out for other factors: bad weather, dense high-rise buildings, antenna malfunction, etc. That problem should be looked for in the head unit.

Unfortunately, old analog receivers can lose quality over time, and in their performance characteristics they are noticeably inferior to modern digital tuners. Therefore, if you like to listen to the radio on the road, we recommend replacing the radio with a more modern model. You will be pleasantly surprised not only by the improvement in the quality of radio reception, but also by the quality of playing your favorite music. Do not chase the cheapness, many budget models of unknown Chinese brands are often equipped with weak radio tuners, rather poor quality. It is best to buy car radios from well-known brands (Pioneer, Alpine, Kenwood, JVC and others) that value their reputation, then you are guaranteed to get good sound and stable radio reception.

In the 130com.ua online store, you can buy a new car antenna or head unit. We have a very large selection of radio tape recorders and receivers of leading brands in any price category.

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