I don't have an alpine, but I have to say, I find it hard to believe
that the FM reception should be that bad. It certainly sounds like
you've done everything right, but if you feel like pursuing it:
- did you confirm that power was actually getting to the antenna,
or only that the power antenna wire from the headunit was hooked
up to the right spot on the harness adaptor?
- how's your AM reception?

 

oth,
Yes, yes and AM reception is fine.
I see your from NJ too. I have a some stations come in fine, like 100.5, 95.5 but I dont listen to them... my classic rock on 104.3 has a layer of static on top that drives me nuts!
I was looking at crutchfiel's website and I saw the sensitivity on the Alpine was in the lower numbers.

 

wierd because reception with an eclipse cd8053 in my integra suckedddddd

i just put that same unit in my s2000 and reception with the stock antenna is 100 times better than the integra!

 

radio reception on my Alpine HU is perfect in the Metro NYC area.

 

I believe normally AM reception suffers even more than FM if
the antenna amplifier isn't powered, so it definitely sounds like
that's not the problem. I personally get 104.3 loud and clear
probably 50 miles east and west of the city, so that's pretty
strange.

 

I'm having the same issues with my Alpine unit. Both am & fm reception sucks. It's all been wired correctly, so not sure what else to do.

 

samething here although i have the 9857 in my daily driven civic. reception is crap even with the antenna fully extended. i think its just the radio with a poor fm tuner.

 

Yeah...the 9857 has a poor AM/FM tuner. Even with the power antenna wire connected, the reception is not nearly as strong as the stock radio.

 

So It seems like Im not alone in this poor area.

TriX and oth, It would be great if I ever get to a Metro Area Event to tune the same stations right next to each other and see what happens...

I should call Alpine...