I noticed when I put in my Alpine, that my Antenna for FM/AM doesn't pick up very many stations on its own. If you manually tune them, you can find most of them, but they still don't come in all that clear. Is it me, or does the antenna suck that much? It really isn't the WORST considering I'll be listenin to XM about 90 percent of the time but it's one of those curious things I've noticed in the last few days.

 

Maybe the antenna connector not plugged in properly? I have the stock HU and the reception isn't great, but it seems ok. Don't listen to FM much...

 

Adding aftermarket amps often makes radio reception worse due to the high speed switching circuitry used in the vast majority of amps.

 

I think it's important to note that I *suspect* the issue comes in converting the dual prongs into the single for an aftermarket radio. that adapter is my suspicion for being the culprit.. but I need the other Double DIN guys to chime in

 

Yeah, it does suck that badly. I got my Eclipse head unit installed last August and the FM reception was horrible. I had to get XM because I couldn't pull in any FM radio stations. But, like you, I'll be listening to XM most of the time, so it doesn't affect me anymore.

 

It's not horrible. However, typically you will notice a reduction in reception with an aftermarket deck. Unless the HU itself has a hell of a tuner built in, it will probably be slightly worse than stock.

At least that has been what I have noticed in several cars.

ECLIPSE hu's have excellent tuners though. Alpine, Clarion, and Pioneer are about average in that department.

Our antennas are average as well. They aren't any worse than other $30K car antennas.

 

Are there any antennas that are integrated into rear windshield that are higher quality/reception than the G35 one?Thank God for XM!

 

I used to sell and install car audio and whenver somebody would want to replace their deck to fix a radio reception problem, I would tell them to not do it. Probably 95% of the time it wouldn't help. Unless there is something actually wrong with the tuner itself (rare) it wont help.

The explaination that I heard and settled on was that reception is more of a relationship between the car, the antenna and the radio. This matchup is usually best found in the stock deck. Usually changing the deck will result in a decrease in reception on any car...though the difference ranges to big to hardly at all.

In my car ('95 Pontiac Trans Am...don't have a G35 yet but hopefully soon) I've always had poor reception. The stock deck wasn't very impressive, aftermarket decks only got worse. I also ended up shaving the antenna mast off my car (along with the handles) and put a powered antenna affixed to my windshield...still didn't help.

But you didn't buy that aftermarket deck to listen to FM radio did you? I think you'll be more than happy sticking to your XM. I know I am.

 

I have the Pioneer AVIC-N1 and have no problems with FM reception. Don't listen to AM however.

 

The antenna REALLY DOES SUCK! I'm about 50 miles out of downtown L.A. and I used to get lots of stations in my old car with its simple mast antenna. With the G35 sedan, most of the L.A. stations are full of static except for a few very strong ones. I suppose most of the people who don't mind the reception are very close to all the stations they listen to.

Yes... I need to order that Sirius receiver...

 

Yes it does suck... I use to be able to get stations in SF Bay area and also here in Vegas but when I switched my HU, I could barely get any stations that I use to listen to..