Alright, I have an alpine CDA 9847 w/ ipod controler. The unit is installed in my 04 forester turbo with inglass antenna. I had the unit installed at Tweeter (which is a well known car audio place in the midwest). They said that all inglass antennas suck and you will never get a good signal. Well my signal is so bad I can't get ANY AM stations and the FM are real weak.

They suggested an external antenna but I don't like that answer. What have you guys done, who get this Alpine unit, to make the radio work better? I need the radio (I do local radio advertising...so its important to listen to the local radio)

Have others had this problem? How did you solve it? Am I screwed?

how was the reception on your stock radio ?

a metalic tint on the windows will hurt the reception

Reception was fine, no tint on the windows. STOCK car :)

Some where in the options there's a quality setting for the radio, depending on what that's set to can have a pretty big effect on how many channels you get/what the quality is.

return it and ask if they know about any models/brands that have a stronger tuner section of the HU.
When I used to sell 'em, Pioneer made strong tuners. Things change every year though and it's not what most customers ask about.

I would, but I got the setup to use the ipod via deck controls.

So before I return it and get rid of that feature (which is real nice when listening to cds and cds of talent readings). I wanna try to save on my investment I already made.

the installer probably didn't connect the antenna power wire on the wiring harness. try doing a search, it's been posted here many times. good luck. :)

antenna power wire? Well I know the antenna was pluged in although I am not sure if thats the same thing.

the in-glass antennas have a booster. the power antenna wire should be wired up to this booster or else your reception will suck. It's not the antenna being plugged in, it's a different wire that goes to the booster. It's probably blue where it comes out of the radio, don't know what color the wire in the Forester that it goes to is though.

Ah, thanks for the info.

Where would this booster wire get hooked into on the back of the headunit?

Im a real audio noob.

heres one for you guys. when my i pod is in the little tray by the radio, i get no am at all. when its out of the car, am comes in fine.... odd hun

This thread should help with identifying the wire to power the antenna amplifier-
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=464212

if ur reception was fine on stock radio, then the installer didnt hook up the power antanne wire up. Sure the antannae plug can be plugged in, but its not amplifying the signal to get the best reception, only getting the strongest stations

the installer probably didn't connect the antenna power wire on the wiring harness. try doing a search, it's been posted here many times. good luck. :)
Exactly my guess. Same thing happened to lots of my friends.

~v6

Hmm, well I am gonna print out this stuff and bring it over to the local tweeter. Previously they told me "in glass sucks" and "many customers don't use the radio, which is why we never looked into addressing this problem"

If I was gonna do it, am I just tapping the antenna power wire into the power wire for the head unit?

Usually, you would connect the HU's "power antenna" output lead to the in-glass antenna's power wire. That way, the antenna doesn't suck power when the HU is off.

^^^^^^ What they said. It happened to me when i installed my HU. I hooked the wire up and i had my reception back...

Question for anyone - for those who *know* they have the antennae hooked up to power correctly - do you get good reception or just so-so reception?

I looked at mine and everything looked OK so I printed out the picture with the explanation of how the power wire should be connected and took it to my local Tweeter in Delaware. The guy wouldn't even look at it; he said 'we hooked it up OK the first time (the did my initial HU install). I showed him the papers again, he listened to one local radio station and said 'it comes in fine, just get satellite radio'

Point it, I think my antenna is powered OK but I still get poor signal. The stations come in, but they are weak.

Is the stock situation, when working properly, a good antenna set-up?

u should be able to get AM reception with the power antannae wire hooked up, and no AM reception if its not hooked up

Hmm, well I am gonna print out this stuff and bring it over to the local tweeter. Previously they told me "in glass sucks" and "many customers don't use the radio, which is why we never looked into addressing this problem"

If I was gonna do it, am I just tapping the antenna power wire into the power wire for the head unit?
Hey Neal, if you don't want to take it back to Tweeter, come out to the house and I'll take a look at it for you.