DWynne

I put my new Pioneer HU in the car this weekend. Works well, sounds nice, works perfect with the Modifry wired DCI. Then I try to listen to traffic and Paul Harvey over on the AM band and just about nothing but static. I know AM is a mere afterthough on most radios these days AND the S has a little stubby antenna, but I am thinking the HU is just bad on AM. I checked and the local mode is OFF on AM, so that is not it.

I know the antenna lead is properly connected since I can pick up the low power FM station I like - even when way out of town in the country driving around.

Anything else to check or try before I pull out the HU and exchange it? I was thinking I could unscrew the OEM antenna and clip a long wire on it to see if that helped

Thanks.

xviper

We have an "amplified" antenna system. Did you hook up 12V to the antenna?

DWynne

I had not heard that before, but I used an OEM HU in my 01 - so this is news to me. I used the wiring harness I got from Modifry with my DCI to connect the HU and the DCI to the car - so all original wiring remains in place.

You apply +12v to the antenna lead? That does not sound right - so there must be a connector someplace for the antenna amp? Let me try a search (I looked for "AM" and "A.M." and it would not work.

Thanks!

DWynne

I did some searches (on "antenna amp") and found the posts - man this would have been so much easier if I had known this up front

It looks like some folks are just connecting the power antenna lead from the HU to the antenna amp and others are just putting switched 12v on it. I never could get Macgyver's wiring page to come up, but the diagrams I did see show pin 1 as "power antenna" - which I though was strange since (clearly) we don't have a powered antenna. If the diagrams had been labelled "antenna amp" I would have figured it out before I wired it all to together and stuffed it in the dash.

Now that I know what is wrong, I will worry about it later - when I have more time to fool with it. I wanted to get my HU swapped out if it was bad NOW rather than having to send it in for repair later.

I did look through the FAQ sticky but there is so much wheat with the chaff that I gave up. One of the problems with those being message threads is other people post to them (and often non-related things) and it all ends up being a sticky.

Thanks again!
Dennis

xviper

Dennis, this is not an uncommon oversight. The OEM harness has a space for the power lead for the antenna. However, if you go to an aftermarket HU, some things get left out and the power lead is one of them.
Rather than going back in there to find it, you could also run a switched power wire directly back to the antenna amp that is directly below the antenna. You'll find this in the trunk if you pull the liner away slightly. Since our accessories plug is "switched", it's possible to take power from that, thus making the wiring run much shorter.
It's the #1 wire on the harness (YEL/GRN). It's the same color in the trunk. Apply a switched 12V to this wire and you'll be AMing your way down the road.

DWynne

If I am not mistaken, the Modifry harness does have a wire in the #1 slot - a blue one for the "power antenna". Not being one to connect something up that does not need to be connected, I did not connect the HU power antenna lead to it. When I get a chance, I can connect it up to the switched +12v I am using for the V1 and the hard-wired SkyFi2 power supply.

I am dreading having to get the HU back in the dash after taking it out, they don't leave a lot of room back there

Dennis

sctyboy

If it makes you feel any better I did the same thing. I wondered why my radio reception was so horrible. Then I, on a whim, remembered a lot of cars have amplified antennas, and something like that would need power. I was replacing my head unit anyway, and when I pulled out the old one and saw my nicely taped off blue connectors a light bulb most definetely went off.

In any case, you should be all set once you get that wired up, and indeed the Modifry harness does have that wire, so it's as simple as a single splice.

Good Luck!