Poor Alpine radio reception
Discussion
Is it the factory radio? That year has the antenna mounted on the back roof hatch right? I would pull out the radio. check first of all to make sure it is plugged in all the way. I am not sure if you r antenna is powered. Some antennas on fiberglass cars have a built in amplifier. Reason being, antennas are designed to work with a ground plane, IE: mounted to a metal surface. The metal surface helps with the signal and helps keep interference out by grounding the shield wire. So I would check the following.
1) make sure its plugged in all the way.
2) Check for any blown fuses (if its amplified or powered)
3) Check the continuity from the center lead on the plug at the radio to the antenna itself (may need to unscrew the antenna itself to find a good paint free metal contact) with a muiltimeter.
4) Make sure the shield on the coax wire of the antenna shows a ground when plugged into the radio and when not plugged into the radio. It should be grounded at a place other than just by the radio.
You may also want to have a cheap, universal antenna handy (available at radio shack etc) to plug in as a test when you pull the radio to check that its plugged in.
Hope this helps.
John
94 S4
www.skynetworks.gotdns.com
1) make sure its plugged in all the way.
2) Check for any blown fuses (if its amplified or powered)
3) Check the continuity from the center lead on the plug at the radio to the antenna itself (may need to unscrew the antenna itself to find a good paint free metal contact) with a muiltimeter.
4) Make sure the shield on the coax wire of the antenna shows a ground when plugged into the radio and when not plugged into the radio. It should be grounded at a place other than just by the radio.
You may also want to have a cheap, universal antenna handy (available at radio shack etc) to plug in as a test when you pull the radio to check that its plugged in.
Hope this helps.
John
94 S4
www.skynetworks.gotdns.com
I have an Alpine in my car. I think it is probably the same one that Lotus put in the V8's. For an antennae, I have a wire running up the A pillar and across the top under the headliner padded part. It does OK on reception. Not as good as the actual metal antennae on my Truck, but OK. The Alpine on my Harley does very well with a regular antennae. I would say that you likely have antennae issues. Many people have had decent results with an amplified antennae mounted under the bonnet. An antennae on a fiberglass car has historically been a difficult thing to do well.
Dr.Hess
Dr.Hess
My Harley is a 1986 FLHT, "Dresser": Windshield, faring, tour pack, etc. Black with chrome. I bought it new and a radio at that time was another U$1K. I pulled the Alpine I had in my Europa when I sold it (couldn't afford to keep the Europa running when in undergraduate school) and put it in the Harley with an Alpine 18 watt/channel amp behind the faring. Still holding up after all these years and 70K+ miles. I have considered replacing it with a newer Alpine like I have in the Esprit with a CD/MP3 player, but I really don't use the cassette player in the one I have now anyway.
The Alpine in my Esprit is a CDA-9811.
Dr.Hess
The Alpine in my Esprit is a CDA-9811.
Dr.Hess
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