Radio reception Diff or better antenna
 

I am curious if there is a easy solution for my reception issue. My 87 appears to only have this built in windshield type of antenna. And yes it does work because I pick up nothing if its disconnected. All my other vehicles pick up stations as far away as over 100 miles. But my 911 will only pick up one local station, others if I might be within 25 miles. I do have memories of old American in-windshield units also not being so good. Is this just a case of nature of the beast? I really do not want to drill a hole and mount some gaudy external unit and deface the car. But, I also would like to listen to something from time to time when I drive. Any simple suggestions?

Mike,

Windshield antenae are a notorious compromise between aesthetics and signal detection.

Our '86, as your car, has a small pre-amp which offsets this deficiency to some degree.

You may want to check the connections from the antenna to the pre-amp, and the pre-amp to the radio.

However, typically, if the connection is not clean or secure, you would get very little, if any signal.

What is the Mfg & model of your radio?

We have a Blaupunkt Aspen in our '86 which will pick up the SoCal stations up to about 75-100 miles depenting on the station's power output.

Good luck,

Gerry

not sure but one of the previous owners had a fender antenna installed in my car. not too happy as I am generally not a fan of holes in the bodywork but you might have found out why they did it.

If I recall the antenna pre-amp is an "in-line" device located under the passenger side windshield/cowl, and I am pretty sure the pre-amp has a power conductor that follows the antenna line to the radio. The pre-amp power conductor requires a 12volt power source. If you have an after-market radio it may not have been connected. If radio is original it may have come loose. When I installed my radio I connected the pre-amp to the "antenna power" lead on the new radio. It made a big difference in reception (like from one or two stations to all stations).

Thanks for the replies guys.

Yeah I was thinking it might have had some sort of preamp, but just not sure.

PO had just recently installed an upgraded stereo system. It is possible he might have not known of the preamp and forgot to reconnect. Or as AJ88 put it, left the power to the preamp disconnected. Will take the time to look around under the dash today. A bit of dielectric grease on all the connectors never hurts either.

I do live in rural central Al. But even here we usually pick up local as well as Montgomery and Birmingham stations. All I can get right now with the 911 is the two local, which just so happen to be less than 10 miles from my house.

My bet is going to be on the previous owner not hooking up the pre-amp power wire. Common mistake. Look behind the radio for a black wire that is not hooked up. That will be it.

Mike,

Please give members feedback on your solution.

Gerry

Well I took the time to look at it today. Ends out the factory antenna wire coming from the amp was not even connected at all, but rather disconnected and tucked back and covered with tape. The power wire for the amp was however connected to a 12v switchable source.The antenna wire that was connected to the radio, goes to the shifter tunnel and backwards to where, I don't have a clue. I took the original wire coming from the amp and reconnected it to the radio. Immediately reception got better. I then removed the amp power wire, to prove or disprove that the amp does actually work, and with no power reception got worse. For now, Ive got the factory amp setup hooked up and all seems to be better.But I do have to scratch my head on that other antenna wire. One day when it warms up I Plan to trace it down and try figure out why there is this other antenna wire.

Mike,

Pleased to hear that we were of some assistance in
the resolution your technical conundrum.

You didn't tell us how long you've had your '87.
Your issue sounds like a previous owner "fingerpoken".

As of now:

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Best regards,

Gerry

Gerry,

Thanks for the help and input. Ive had the car now for going on 3 months. Had wanted one for many years, and shopped for quite some time. Biggest problem was finding unmolested original ones here in the southeast. Found mine by using Pelican. Have been very pleased with the purchase so far, just minor things trying to perfect. One having been this radio. Not sure if the PO did the work or if he had another do it. I do know he had most of his work done by local Porsche dealer. As he lived in a Major city, radio reception was probably never a problem. With me being rural, I soon found something was not correct. But, looks like that now is fixed.