FM reception with aftermarket head unit...any fix?

Does anyone have a fix for FM reception with aftermarket head units? With the shark fin antenna, my FM reception is pretty much non-existent.

 

Did you hook up the power wire on the antenna adapter?

 

My 2020 with the stock head unit (not JBL) has the worst FM reception of any vehicle I've owned. That bothers me more than the sub par audio quality of the sound system.

I just don't understand why Toyota left such abysmal radio reception, and of course now no CD player either. I refuse to pay for satellite radio, also won't pay for television in my home either.

I have wondered if there would be any way to add an antenna to improve radio reception.

 

I did not try that. I thought it was just for power antennas. Just tie it into a 12 volt source from the radio harness?

 

Yup - from what I’ve seen it is a must since they when to the shark fin.

 

IMO with radio over internet there is almost no point to traditional radio broadcast. An inline signal booster may work but I suspect the sharkfin is the failure point.

I'm looking at subscription free internet radio that is also Carplay compatible, iHeart Radio and Spotify Stations are two options I've discovered.

 

Thanks. I'll try it when I install my USB retention cable and run my harness for my BD S8.

 

I will have to look into that idea. My problem is I'm not very techy, but maybe one of my kids can help me out.

 

For the signal booster or the stations?

 

Connect the antenna to amp power from harness. See my post here about the 4runner, should be the same.
https://www.4runners.com/threads/pioneer-dmh-wt7600nex-4runner-install.14392/#post-160846

(install tip one)

 

Thanks...I'll check it out.

 

The stations, iHeart Radio etc. I assume would just run the signal from cell phone to head unit?

 

Yes that is correct if your radio supports it. Either wired USB connection/Carplay or Bluetooth. I'm using a wireless Carplay module to run it (you need a Carplay enabled headunit to use this):

$50 Carlinkit 3.0 Wireless CarPlay Adapter USB for Factory Wired CarPlay Cars (Model Year: 2015 to 2025), Wireless CarPlay Dongle Convert Wired to Wireless CarPlay

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08P1GWQDB?ie=UTF8

 

@Saltyhero13 I got iHeart Radio on my phone installed (Android), and was only able to get it to work with Bluetooth. I have the Premium not JBL system. There is a USB option on the Source Select page, but it's greyed out and doesn't accept a touch command.

Unfortunately the sound quality is quite poor on Bluetooth so I won't be using that, any idea why USB won't work?

 

Thats unfortunate. I believe the USB on your version of the headunit is limited to support a thumb drive with music. Not 100% sure

Its possible the radio bluetooth module is of poor quality. Before calling Bluetooth a wash I would check settings in three areas first. First check the radio settings to see if it has it own audio settings for bluetooth connections. You can also check your phone under its bluetooth settings to see if there is an option there; this may require your phone to be connected to the radio via bluetooth. The last area I would check is the app itself; I'm not seeing anything on the IOs version of the app

 

Thanks for the tip! You are correct there are separate bass, mid, treble settings for the bluetooth input. Part of the problem I initially had was the truck was in my garage and volume was low so the system had the sound bass heavy, ie sounded like muddy crap.

After setting the tone controls and turning the volume up it sounds much better. Now if I can just figure out how to operate the iHeart Radio app better I think this will be a much better way to listen to music.

 

Awesome! So far I'm playing around with "Tune In" "Pandora" "iHeart Radio" "Spotify Stations" and "myTuner Radio", looks like they are all compatible with Carplay if you upgrade.

 

I copied my entire 7000 song music collection onto to micro usb drive. Always plugged into one of the ports. I figure it would take me about 1.5 years to listen to each song once. But given I “negotiated” SiriusXM for $59 a year, will be a couple years before I even get to that.

 

When I pulled the dash to install the USB retention, the blue wire on the antenna adapter was already connected to the red power from the radio harness.