Ok, the past two head units in my car had horrible reception. The most recent head unit has a built in HD turner...same problem. A few weeks ago I took a different antenna cable, new antenna base, and new antenna. I assembled the three peices in my hand, plugged the end into the radio, and held the antenna outside the car with the cable stretched, simulating it being installed. No change in reception.
Today I decided to see if my radio ground was bad, so I ran a separate ground...no change in reception. So, for no real reason, I took a 2 foot piece of 12 gauge wire, stuck one end in the antenna input in the back of the radio (where the car antenna cable should go), and held the other end of the wire in my hand. Reception was perfect.
Short version: Multiple radios have bad reception in my car. Tried different antenna/cable/base, held it in my hand and it didn't work. But a simple piece of 12 gauge wire in place of the antenna worked perfect.
My thought is that the cable or base in my car is the problem....but that wouldn't explain why a new cable/base didn't fix the problem. Unless the new cable was bad as well.
Any thoughts on why a 2 foot long 12 gauge wire would get better reception than a new cable/base/antenna?
Today I decided to see if my radio ground was bad, so I ran a separate ground...no change in reception. So, for no real reason, I took a 2 foot piece of 12 gauge wire, stuck one end in the antenna input in the back of the radio (where the car antenna cable should go), and held the other end of the wire in my hand. Reception was perfect.
Short version: Multiple radios have bad reception in my car. Tried different antenna/cable/base, held it in my hand and it didn't work. But a simple piece of 12 gauge wire in place of the antenna worked perfect.
My thought is that the cable or base in my car is the problem....but that wouldn't explain why a new cable/base didn't fix the problem. Unless the new cable was bad as well.
Any thoughts on why a 2 foot long 12 gauge wire would get better reception than a new cable/base/antenna?