[jasontiller]

Yo, All,

Hey, I'm glad I found you guys. I've had some questions since I got my beautiful new RAV in November. One of them has been about my sucky radio reception. What's up with how lame the FM side pulls in stations? My ancient, creeky 1991 Camry DX Wagon did a way better job of presenting FM.

Reception is OK, but it seems to fade out and get noisy much closer to the transmitter than did my old Camry.

I've ensured that the antenna is screwed tightly. What else can I do??

Thanks,

---Jason

 

[Slayer]

That's been an ongoing problem for some reason for the Rav4.2 as I've seen that complaint before. It gets ok reception but does tend to break up eventhough the station could be right in your own city. Some others have changed their antenna to no avail. Guess you have to live with it or do what others do and just listen to cds, mp3 diss or your ipod.

 

[jasontiller]

Yo, Slayer,

Good to hear from you again!

That's been an ongoing problem for some reason for the RAV4.2 as I've seen that complaint before. It gets ok reception but does tend to break up eventhough the station could be right in your own city. Some others have changed their antenna to no avail.

Have you heard if changing the radio HU fixes this? I mean, if it's not the antenna, what else would it be? Like you, I'm thinking about the Eclipse AVN2454 unit. A recent review praised the quality of its reception (read it here).

Just wondering if the 4.2 is a complete reception loser, or if it can be made to shine with a little work!

Thanks,

---Jason

 

[brianlj99]

Not in Australia where it comes with a roof mounted arial which goes into the door pillar. It works ok.

Brian

 

[Slayer]

Not sure if a new HU would fix the reception or not. Although you'll probably forget about that if you get the eclipse and start playing dvds, cds, or custom dmusic discs anyways. This situation kinda reminds me on KNTV 11. You probably know about that since its the new NBC affiliate in the bay area. For some reason, eventhough I'm in the same city as the station, I never get good reception quality from that station using the old UHF style roof antennas. (Don't have cable cause I don't believe in paying for tv. )

 

[jasontiller]

Yo, Brian,

Not in Australia where it comes with a roof mounted arial which goes into the door pillar. It works ok.

That's interesting, dude. Makes me wonder if height is part of the issue. My old Camry also had a pillar-mounted hide-away antenna and, as I said, didn't suffer from noisy reception problems.

You (or anybody else?) have an idea as to how I'd go about getting a longer (and thus taller) antenna that uses the same mount as my 2005 RAV4?

Thanks for the info, Brian!

---Jason

 

[jasontiller]

Yo, Slayer,

Not sure if a new HU would fix the reception or not.

Probably not gonna know until I get one, then! :? Ah, well.

This situation kinda reminds me on KNTV 11. You probably know about that since its the new NBC affiliate in the bay area. For some reason, eventhough I'm in the same city as the station, I never get good reception quality from that station using the old UHF style roof antennas. (Don't have cable cause I don't believe in paying for tv. )

Yeah, I begrudge even our basic cable bill ($13/mo. or something like that). It's as if they aren't making enough through their inane commercials. Well, as long as you're happy with your channels, more power to ya!

---Jason

P.S. - My parents are so funny. They have DirecTV and they were constantly dissing us for only have 25 channels! Ha!

 

[Jeff]

I upgraded my head unit twice, from the Toyota unit to a Sony for a few weeks and then to an Alpine. The reception still sucks, and I even tried XM radio for year but I ditched XM because it's not any better. Don't get me wrong, the XM reception was fine wherever I went, but the audio quality and programming sucked. I missed having the live DJ's and morning/afternoon radio shows.

The FM reception isn't too bad where I live now, because I'm near a few major radio stations that I like. When I was living in NY I was located on the fringe of every radio station around so reception would go in and out as I drove around town.

The best FM reception I ever had personally was on my VW which had one of those stubby antennas on top of the roof with a built in amplifier. However that car had horrible AM reception, whereas my Rav has decent AM reception so I can listen to ballgames.

In my experience GM vehicles have the best reception of any stock radio. My father's cars and trucks have always been GM vehicles, and they always had great reception. On the GMC Yukon that he has now, the FM reception is good, and when he is up here in New Hampshire he can pick up the same AM stations that he listens to at home in lower NY.

My parents have had cable tv since the 70's so I grew up on it. The only reason I pay for it now is because the only shows I'm really interested in are on cable tv.

 

[jen]

hi guys - first off this web site is sweet - just bought a 02 rav and one of my customers who also had one referred me here and im thankfull she did - anywho i work in car audio and i say ditch fm and go with xm or sirius radio. i have had customers complain of xm's programming and they have swithced to sirius (which is available for a number of different aftermarket radios including alpine using digital connections). the only quality problems ive heard of are from using the fm mods or cassette adapter on the portable units.
normally when u have reception problems it isnt because of the radio....unless the tuner is going bad and i dont think that would be the case on a brand new radio. i have heard of antenna boosters but i havent seen them in action yet so im not sure how well they work but it might be a start.

 

[EHinthe604]

Know what? I'm starting to think that there might be something wrong with the RAV4's antenna. With the Panasonic deck that came with my RAV4, and even with the Clarion deck that I bought last month, certain stations still have some static in certain parts of the city! I never had such a problem with my old Tercel (even when some punks broke it off a few weeks before I got my RAV4!).

Speaking of reception, AM reception was attrocious with my old Panasonic. Everytime I drive under big power lines (138+ kilovolt), I hear this unbearable hum. I do listen to AM radio on the way to work (for traffic reports, news, etc.).

Regarding Sirius vs. XM... I don't know why - and this is not based on any personal experience because I haven't listened to either XM or Sirius - but I like Sirius's choice of programming better than XM's. (Maybe it's because I'm a Clarion fan, and Clarion decks are Sirius-ready? )

I can't wait till XM and Sirius are legal in Canada. There are still some Canadians who subscribe to XM or Sirius, by registering with a US mailing address (usually a friend's or relative's address in the states). The CRTC is currently deliberating the Canadian XM and Sirius license applications, and the verdict should be out within weeks, hopefully. There was an article in Saturday's Vancouver Sun about the future of satellite radio in Canada. However, due to CRTC regulations (Canadian Content quotas, censorship, etc.), the channels available on Canadian XM and Sirius services will be slightly different than the US services.

 

[jen]

so are they planning to take out all the channels with bad words??? i have a lot of customers that get sirius and xm for canada and alaska...both companies say that they will not work in those areas but they do. i drove my car to victoria a while back and got ok reception there but i think sirius would have been better. their sats are always moving across the country as where xm's are pretty much stationary - one on the east coast and one on the west.

 

[EHinthe604]

so are they planning to take out all the channels with bad words???

Frankly, yes! And they'll add more Canadian content, so we have our share of Anne Murray, Celine Dion, etc.

i have a lot of customers that get sirius and xm for canada and alaska...both companies say that they will not work in those areas but they do. i drove my car to victoria a while back and got ok reception there but i think sirius would have been better. their sats are always moving across the country as where xm's are pretty much stationary - one on the east coast and one on the west.

XM and Sirius DO work in Canada. Victoria is close enough to the US in order to receive Sirius and XM clearly. Even people up in northern Canada and Alaska receive XM and Sirius. The question is LEGALITY. Sirius and XM say that they do not serve Canada because they are not authorized to do so yet. The CRTC has to regulate any organization that redistrubutes broadcast signals - cable, satellite, etc.

When direct-to-home satellite (Dish Network, DirecTV) first went on the market in the US about 10 years ago, Canadians drove across the border to buy them like hotcakes, but the Canadian government put an end to that for two reasons: 1) it competed against Canadian direct-to-home distributors (Bell ExpressVu and StarChoice), which did not go online for a few years thereafter, and 2) the US services did not provide the Canadian content that Canadians must receive from cable/satellite subscription services. :roll:

 

[jasontiller]

Yo, Jen,

...normally when u have reception problems it isnt because of the radio... unless the tuner is going bad and i dont think that would be the case on a brand new radio. i have heard of antenna boosters but i havent seen them in action yet so im not sure how well they work but it might be a start.

Yeah, I'm probably gonna look into an amplified antenna booster. I'm also thinking about getting a longer mast and tieing the end down to the roofrack.

Anybody have a suggestion as to a high-quality aftermarket mast?

---Jason

P.S. - Just like Slayer doesn't wanna pay for TV, I don't wanna pay for radio! I already donate to public radio, anyhoo...

 

[EHinthe604]

Yeah, I'm probably gonna look into an amplified antenna booster. I'm also thinking about getting a longer mast and tieing the end down to the roofrack.

Anybody have a suggestion as to a high-quality aftermarket mast?

---Jason

P.S. - Just like Slayer doesn't wanna pay for TV, I don't wanna pay for radio! I already donate to public radio, anyhoo...

I would definitely love to get my hands on an antenna signal amplifier too. I used to receive KUBE 93, a Seattle urban station, crystal-clear in Vancouver, but for some reason, I haven't been able to pull in its signal (on various receivers) for a few years now.

Many car manufacturers use a small "stubbie" amplified antenna for some of their cars (such as the Honda Element, I think, and the Australian and Japanese RAV4s) instead of a fixed-mast that we have.

Check this out...
http://members.tripod.com/ri_rav4/stereo.htm (scroll to bottom half)

 

[Oil Burner]

The reception on our NRG is very good, but I note that the US/ Canada spec cars all seem to have their antennas mounted on the front wing, ours is centrally mounted at the rear of the roof, and slopes back at about 45 degrees

 

[Stelly]

If you are thinking about adding a roof top amplified booster antenna you might check out
http://www.locustom.com/antennas.htm
I added the mdx to my 4.1 this weekend because of poor reception. A '97 I drove for a year had real good reception and my '98 was OK, but my 2000 is bad.
So far it seems to have helped but I will really know on Monday when I get out in the hills and valleys.
This is what it looks like........

 

[EHinthe604]

That looks pretty cool! BTW, is it held in place by adhesive, magnet, bolt or screw? Also, how did you route the wire to the receiver?

 

[jasontiller]

Yo, Stelly,

Dude, this is great stuff! I can't wait to hear how it does. And I have the same questions EHinthe does - how the heck did you install it?? All of the installs I saw on the Lo Custom site used the factory wiring and the factory fender cutout. Unless you've got a non-U.S. model, howd you get an antenna hole on your roof?

Do let us know!

---Jason

 

[Stelly]

I drilled a hole in the roof! 3/4 inch. And ran the wires behind the rear panel and along the floor in the same channel the other wires are in.
I used to install CB radios in cars and trucks and we always hid the cable.
The reception is about 50% better or more than with the stock antenna.

 

[EHinthe604]

I drilled a hole in the roof! 3/4 inch. And ran the wires behind the rear panel and along the floor in the same channel the other wires are in.
I used to install CB radios in cars and trucks and we always hid the cable.
The reception is about 50% better or more than with the stock antenna.

Cool, thanks for the info. I wouldn't mind getting my hands on an amplified antenna. Here in Vancouver, I used to pick up KUBE 93 almost perfectly, but as of a few years ago, all I get is static (but all of the Seattle stations sounded OK as before).

I'm still iffy about drilling holes in my almost-still-new RAV4... maybe I'll shake off my fear in a year or so.