radio reception

[icb]

Chimaera novice again - I know shouldn't be bothered about radio reception just listen to the exhaust, but being footy fanatic need radio 5. Is it possible to fit a small aerial in the rear body? Please don't all scream at me!
Thanks.

[Plotloss]

I am not sure that an aerial will help much. The reason you cant get very good reception is because they are fibreglass and as such dont shield the engine from the radio. When things like the alternator rotate when the engine is running they emit a radio signal that messes up broadcast signals.

You can suppress it but I think it would be more trouble than its worth as you would need to put a capacitor earthing the component to the body on every rotating enigne ancillary.

Hope this helps

Matt.

[philr]

Not trying to be smug or anything here, but I have never had a problem with radio reception in my Chimp.

I have seem a few posts on the subject so it must be a commonish problem - just not for me. So I can only assume that my aerial is somewhere clever, or maybe all the reflective heat shielding in my engine bay helps to hide the engine interferance.

[.mark]

My reception is good too, did I read somewhere you can buy a little wire aerial that plugs in the back of the set and lays behind the dash?
Maybe thats what ours have got. Although I've had mine since April and can count on one hand how many times I've put the face on the header unit.

[gideonr]

My radio reception is fine too, although the radio seems to beep at random when traffic information is turned on. This caused some concern first time it happened, I had no idea it was coming from the radio, and thought perhaps the car had entered a self destruct sequence!

I was wondering where the aerial is fitted, nothing visible and no heated rear window element to use either. Any ideas?
I suppose one advantage of the fibre glass bodywork is that the aerial can be hidden inside ( no shielding from metal body panels).

[gb61390]

ICB - same as you. No problem with any FM stations but try using AM (5 Live) and it's rustly crisp packet time!
Don't know the reasons or cure unfortunately?
Have you tried listening to an AM station with the wipers on? Mutiply the crisp packets by 10!!!
Cheers......Andrew

[andymadmak]

From memory the ariel is a strip along the top of the windscreen. Its fine for FM stations but a pain in the arse for MW stuff like channel 5.
On my 400 I have fitted a Zender short flexible unit on the rear wing (like the roof ariel on the golf gti) and it looks OK. (Cost a bit too, but it's worth it cos the cheap ones look crap) But although reception is much better it still loses the plot with R5 in poor signal areas. When this happens I just switch the radio off and hold on to 3rd gear a bit longer before I change up.
MUCH NICER SOUNDTRACK!
Andy