Poor radio (stereo) reception

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farmer.leo

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My reception of FM and AM stations is pretty poor on the boat, a Clarion "marine" stereo CD player. Relatively few stations are locked onto, and there is more static on some of them. In comparison, my car parked alongside the boat gets much better coverage.

Obviously, the antenna is the first thing to look at. I can see what looks like a fairly standard car type, loose wire antenna that is plugged into the back of the boat's stereo receiver.

Any recommendations on antenna placement? Brand of replacement antenna, or just putting up some wires?
 
First thing to check is that all electrical connections (aerial and power) are clean and firm. Then make sure that the aerial is as high as possible.

Any reasonable brand aerial should do the job, but some radios are not as sensitive as others. You could try swapping the two radios round to see which is better, but how far do you want to go with it? :rolleyes:
 
uxb said:
A VHF antenna splitter might help?
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Sorry if this is a dumb question, but the am / fm signal also present on a VHF antenna? Just to be clear, I'm talking about the music radio, not the VHF. I think the VHF radio's antenna goes up the mast (not sure how far). That should be much better than the couple feet that the radio has.

I know what a VHF splitter (coax) would look like, but then I'd have to splice from a coax cable to the funky car connecter. Definitely doable but I've never seen that done before.
 
Car radios (from which I assume this is derived) are extremely sensitive. I found I could get perfect reception from the kitchen table using just a screwdriver stuck in the socket.

Suggest stuffing a metre of cable in the aerial socket. If this improves the reception then replace the aerial. I just use a length of wire running behind the head lining. Seems to work fine.
 
i find my car radio picks up things better than the caravan radio whihc has an amplified ariel so i agree with the post about car radios being more sensitive. however, i also agree with the other post about using a simple length of cable as the ariel.

on board i have an old car radio with an ariel that is simply a piece of old insulated wire led aft and up the backstay.
 
farmer.leo said:
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but the am / fm signal also present on a VHF antenna? Just to be clear, I'm talking about the music radio, not the VHF. I think the VHF radio's antenna goes up the mast (not sure how far). That should be much better than the couple feet that the radio has.

I know what a VHF splitter (coax) would look like, but then I'd have to splice from a coax cable to the funky car connecter. Definitely doable but I've never seen that done before.
Click to expand...

The equipment advised is one of these. I had one for years, worked perfectly well. Despite the concerns over a 'point of failure' I have yet to read of one that failed. I have read on a USA forum that there is nothing inside that could fail. There may be a slight loss of VHF signal strength but for most of us this is probably insignificant.

However, more recently I have had a single length of automotive wire about 2 metres long draped along a couple of lockers, it works perfectly well with excellent reception. Unless you have a metal hull, in which case you would need to get the antenna outside. Radio signals are not bothered by GRP, witness your portable radios, both FM and VHF, working below.
 
Check out eBay for power amplifier fm car aerials. They are basically a strip aerial that normally installs along the top of a car windscreen. Install behind the radio under the deck. They require 12v. Cost about $10.
 
Pye_End said:
You don't have any LED lights on whilst using the radio by any chance?
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Nothing more than one or two small indicators on the breaker panel. No LED lighting in the boat itself. But it would suprise me that they would interfere, unless there was a switching power supply or color control involved. But standard LED bulbs shouln't be a problem, correct? Getting LED bulbs to replace the cabin lighting is on my list of things.
 
farmer.leo said:
Nothing more than one or two small indicators on the breaker panel. No LED lighting in the boat itself. But it would suprise me that they would interfere, unless there was a switching power supply or color control involved. But standard LED bulbs shouln't be a problem, correct? Getting LED bulbs to replace the cabin lighting is on my list of things.
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One of my interior cabin LEDS plays havoc with the radio, and cannot even get a fix when using the search on FM. Turning it off and the radio is fine. Had several LEDs from the same company and this is the only one that does it.
 
Slightly off thread, the family has 4 cars two BMW` 1 Fiat Punto and a Peugeot van no older than 09. I have use all of them and only play Radio 5. 909 -693.
All work perfectly in the day time ,however as soon as it gets dark reception seriously deteriorate to a point when you have to change to a different channel
 
I use a VHF splitter and it gives very good reception on my antiquated car radio on board - I wanted to change it for a CD player type, but there isn't enough depth to the mounting for the larger case. The splitter is, of course, quite close behind the VHF set and I have left it accessile so if there were a problem, I can remove it to give direct connection from antenna to the VHF. I would consider doing this prior to a channel crossing, so as to get best VHF performance. The splitter is a passive filter device basically to prevent the VHF transmissions getting to the car radio and destroying it.

Rob.
 
rtboss1 said:
Slightly off thread, the family has 4 cars two BMW` 1 Fiat Punto and a Peugeot van no older than 09. I have use all of them and only play Radio 5. 909 -693.
All work perfectly in the day time ,however as soon as it gets dark reception seriously deteriorate to a point when you have to change to a different channel
Click to expand...

Medium wave signals bounce off the ionosphere once it goes dark, so suddenly every station in Europe comes into range, interfering with your signal. Reflected signals from the station you are trying to listen to can also cancel out the direct signal.
 
Pye_End said:
One of my interior cabin LEDS plays havoc with the radio, and cannot even get a fix when using the search on FM.
Click to expand...

Wow, hadn't heard of that before. I'll keep it in mind for when I try an LED conversion of the lighting.

Just wondering, is there a dimmer involved? Voltage conversion? Or active color regulation for an RGB type LED?
 
CreakyDecks said:
Medium wave signals bounce off the ionosphere once it goes dark, so suddenly every station in Europe comes into range, interfering with your signal. Reflected signals from the station you are trying to listen to can also cancel out the direct signal.
Click to expand...

You would have thought the BBC would have been able to rectify this problem

Thanks for the info
 
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