new daily driver i just got on the road, 03 H6 sedan doesn't get radio reception at my house....but all my other subaru's always have. about half way to work it starts getting reception, though crackly.

 

is this a stereo issue or........?

 

it also cracks out on CD's sometimes, just seems to cut out. might need to try another CD to make sure that's not the problem.

Sounds like your antenna wire is chafing somewhere and intermittently or party grounding out. I've never had it in a car, but I see it really commonly working on boats (where I get most of my wiring experience from) someone does a crappy job installing a sterio system

Hm...wasn't there a TSB about radio reception? But it might have had something to do with when the rear defroster was on.

 

Some of the radios have the 'local' and 'DX' settings for FM but I forget the details.

 

And....congratulations on your new DD, it sounds nice!

i've tried turning off and on everything electrical - defrost, heated stuff, seats, etc and no change at all so far. it's very consistent, does the same exact thing every time, just like it has really weak reception.

 

not even sure where the antenna is on these things, embedded in something? the glass?

 

thanks, got lucky. it is very nice and i like the H6. was fortunate the original local owner sold it cheap with a blown trans in great condition.

Antennae should be on the back of the roof.

 

ah gotcha, that little thing. the 03's have that goofy ONSTAR system and wasn't sure if that was dedicated to that or they shared, etc.

 

guess i'll swap stereo's first since that's easy and i want to anyway and then go from there.

pull an old style antenna from another car and connect it to your radio. i bet it works great. you may have to hang it out the window.

 

radios will pick up some stations with only the cable connected, no antenna. check the connections at the antenna.

You didn't state if the AM and the FM both are having trouble. If they are then hopefully the trouble is due to a loose antenna connection to the radio. Using a fairly long piece of wire touched to the antenna connection of the radio should tell where the trouble is at. If the signal gets a lot better then the antenna lead needs to be checked. The antenna is built into the rear window glass I think. The small antenna on the roof is just for the GPS system I believe.

If your car has the stubby antenna you may have an issue with the antenna preamp (I think you car has one). That would translate into poor reception, so the tuner would work only as you get close to the radio stations.

thanks guys, 'll try to take note of AM/FM. good call JCE, i'll just plug in another radio and antenna and see what's going on.

AM - no stations at all.

GAry: I have a 99 forester and y reception is poor too. It has the antenna in the glass and I was told by a subie tech that my preamp for the antenna is bad. You need to find out where yours is and replace it. First I would hook up a regular antenna and see if anything changes.

 

Cheers

To check the antenna connection for the radio out you can just use a 10 foot piece of wire and stick the end of the wire into the antenna jack of the radio. If you then have signal reception then the antenna system is bad. It could be a preamp issue.

Is it tinted?

 

Some people report poor reception after tinting in some cars.

 

just an idea.