Alpine Radio

Submitted: Wednesday, Aug 24, 2005 at 22:43

ThreadID: 25857 Views:2171 Replies:9 FollowUps:3

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Catchy snr

Hi one and all . How addicktive is this site , went to Perth and couldn't wait to gte back to the putor to see what every one had been up to does that say something about what our live revolve around .Recently I wrote that I was looking for an eighty series , well I managed to get hold of one , done a few Ks but been well maintained , now for my problem , it has an Alpine radio, casset,and six stacker CD player in it and it can pick up the F M channels as clear as crystal but cant get a bloody thing on A M and that is in town , anyone with any hints as what the problem maybe , the previous owner said that it has been tyhe same fom when he put it in the car , any help would be appriciated as I have had enough of that crap on F M . Thanks in advance for those that reply . In WA there arguing about road funding wont be long and we wont need it cause the price of fuel will clear the streets . Cheers Catchy Snr

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Reply By: Member - Jay Gee (WA) - Wednesday, Aug 24, 2005 at 22:53

Wednesday, Aug 24, 2005 at 22:53

FM doesn't need much of an aerial for reception - but AM definetly does. It sounds like something is faulty in the aerial. Either not plugged in the back of the radio properly - coax lead is faulty somewher along it's length - or the aerial itself is not properly earthed to the body of the car.

Jeff

AnswerID: 126713

Follow Up By: arthurking83 - Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 00:04

Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 00:04

I always thought it was the other way around!
As I can pick up any AM station on the home radio, but only static on FM until I hang the aerial up!

Been so long since I tried AM, I never really thought about it before!
But ABC national on FM is always good listening when out of town.
Only silence will do when around town :)

to check the earth connection........
have the radio tuned to a station you know.
With the volume up loud enough to hear, step out of the car, and grab the aerial. Maybe try to place one hand on the car to see if that helps.
I had this problem on my Rangie, bad conduction to the aluminium body!
I got a glass mounted type, as surprisingly it works well!!

FollowupID: 381298

Follow Up By: Member - Jay Gee (WA) - Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 00:12

Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 00:12

AM use lower frequencies - therefore longer wavelengths - 1/2 wave for AM broadcasts is several tens of metres. All aerials used on cars are a compromise.

FM use higher frequencies - therefore shorther wavelengths - much shorter antenna needed

(Wave length = speed of light / frequency)

FollowupID: 381299

Reply By: RobEG - Wednesday, Aug 24, 2005 at 23:54

Wednesday, Aug 24, 2005 at 23:54

Not much help but none of the am gear works like the yuised 2. I had an mgb in 63 with an astor 11 transistor rangemaster radio and it would pick up nsw and vic in qld at night - no troubles. In day 4wk warwick in Brissy. My 100 series radio is flat out picking up brissy am in brissy! guess they are putting all the money into the cd and 6 stacker and thinking only neanderthals hook into am! But ion the bush it means no radio for miles compaered to the old days when u wer never out of range even if it was yr abc. Would hope a good aerial makes the diff but i doubt it.

AnswerID: 126724

Reply By: Catchy snr - Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 00:36

Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 00:36

Thanks for the replies I think the first thing will to be replace the aerial and and check to make sure the lead is plugged in . Thanks again for your help . cheers and have a good night Catchy Snr

AnswerID: 126729

Reply By: Alloy c/t - Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 08:12

Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 08:12

Catchy snr ,I too had the aerial problem ,you realy want to be sitting down if you get a quote from toyota for a replacement ,, if interested in going back to the original am/fm radio cassette player[double din] No cd give me a member msg as have 1 for sale.

AnswerID: 126742

Reply By: Bullwinkle - Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 08:49

Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 08:49

When I originally bought my GU ute it had the standard Nissan radio in it. Installed an Alpine cassette/CD/the works and could never get AM more than 20 Ks from town. It eventually packed up and I scored another Nissan one from a mate and it picks up AM anywhere I've been so far. I just think the brand names are more interested in cassette/CD stuff than radio reception.

AnswerID: 126747

Reply By: Carl & Kaz - Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 11:00

Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 11:00

SIMPLE SOLUTION (maybe)

I had the same problem a while back. Make sure the CD stacker is not playing a CD when you have selected AM radio!!

The stacker interferes with AM reception, but not with FM.

Try this before you do anything else!!

AnswerID: 126774

Reply By: Mal58 - Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 13:08

Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 13:08

Catchy,
I am not familiar with the radio, but "in the old days", when I fitted radios to my vehicles (cayse they didn't come with one), there generally was an antenna tune screw on the back of the radio that had to be adjusted to get the maximum signal in AM.

It may be that simple to fix.

Cheers,
Mal

AnswerID: 126788

Reply By: Utemad - Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 14:53

Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 14:53

I'd put money on the antenna not being earthed properly. Remove the radio and check that the outer conductor is earthed with a multimeter.
If it isn't, remove the antenna and it should be fairly obvious how it earths. Give it a clean and put it back together.

AnswerID: 126807

Reply By: Catchy snr - Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 21:34

Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 21:34

Hi all Just an up date to what the problem may be with the Alpine radio after phone calls to three radio experts ig our little city of Geraldton the general concentious is that the tuning whats it has blown up and it will cost more to fix it than what the set is worth apparently it is a common problem and all you do is through it away . I am going to get it into a tecs business in the next couple of days hope to give a diagnoses if I can still afford to stay on the net . Thanks to all that replied , cheers Catchy Snr

AnswerID: 126874