I have read the FAQ, and verified that the tuner is hooked up correctly, the cable does not have a crossed line, and the power antenna line is hooked up, and the player is set to United States..

Now, the problem. When I'm using the tuner in FM mode, I get almost no reception. AM works fine, I can get every station that I've tried. When in FM mode, the audio is very quiet, it will show the Tuned in icon. If I turn it up about half way, I can hear the station but has a ton of static. Any ideas?

Thanks,

I have no answer, but it may help to tell us what car you have. Just in case someone with the same car has had a similar issue.

I knew I forgot something... It's a MK2a 30g installed into a '98 Chevy S-10 LS

Do you a good signal strength indication on the unit? Does the 'power antenna' line power just extension and retraction of the aerial or does that include anything else like an signal boosting amplifier. A lot of cars seem to have these as standard now...

Greetings!

This sounds like a problem that Joe D'Andrea has been having with his tuner module. I have paged him to this thread...

I *think* the signal strengh is very weak.. I have never seen it brighter the the grayed out color.

The S-10 does not have a power antenna, but I believe it has a signal amplifier (It has a wire wrapped around the entire length of the antenna). I will check the Owners Manual to see if it lists the antenna as amplified or not.

If it is amplified, is the "Power Antenna Wire" (blue off the tuner cable) the correct wire to attach to the "Power Antenna" hookup on the Truck? It's the only Antenna wire that I have in the harness for the S-10 (that I could find)

Thanks for the replys, I love the empeg so far, it would be great if I could get the FM tuner working correctly.

I *think* so, I helped a friend of mine install his stereo using an Autoleads convertor and noticed that the lead for his manufacturer installed aerial amp went to the ISO pin for the amp remote. I don't think there should a problem running it off the antenna remote line. Hopefully someone with more experience of you car may know.

Aye. To this day, I still have never been able to get the tuner module pulling in stations as well as my original headunit.

I've got an antenna booster connected in series between the antenna and the tuner module as well. The booster power kicks in off the power antenna wire from the tuner module, per a previous discussion elsewhere on this bb.

My wife (and I) will be extremely grateful if we can ever get this working properly!

If your original head unit was a Sony, chances are you'll never get reception as good as that. Sonys have the best FM reception by far. It's the only brand I'll put in my wife's car as she's a radio nut and mostly uses her stereo to pull in Boston, MA stations, which is about 70 miles from home. I asked a long time ago what the FM sensitivity was on the receiver, but don't recall if I ever got an answer. My BBS searches on FM, Sensitivity and dbF didn't turn anything.

Perhaps someone can fill in the blank for the record?
RioCar Receiver FM sensitivity = ____ dbF.

-Zeke

The tuner chip specification sheet is on the RioCar.Org download site, at http://www.riocar.org/download.php?op=viewsdownload&sid=5. Perhaps it has the information you need?

I'm not sure the tuner spec actually *has* the sensitivity in the units you're looking for. Everyone seems to spec tuners differently.

FM sensitivity is 1.4uV average, for 30dB S+N/N output. 58dB image rejection. 108dB IF rejection. 90dB selectivity. No mention of dbF at all. Sensitivity values *can't* be compared unless they also spec what the S+N/N value is that they measure it at. The european radios appear to just show sensitivity in uV (our kenwood manual does - sensitivity between 0.7uV and 1.6uV), maybe dbF is a US market comparison?

It's a *good* tuner module, though. It was at least as good as the sony head units we have in the office, and seemed to be as good as the kenwood too.

Hugo

I think he's looking for a comparison number to hold up against the Crutchfield catalog (they quote everything as FM Sensitivity in dbf).

My old head unit was a factory stereo. I'm not expecting the same reception, but I drove right next to the FM tower of a local radio statoin and I didn't pick it up any better. I hope I don't have to be "connected" to the tower to recieve the signal

Could I maybe have a defective tuner? It was new in the box, and was purchased direct from Empeg right before they ran out of stock..

My tuner module gets excellent FM reception, quite comparable to most aftermarket tuners (although I don't have one of the super-fancy new Sony tuners to compare it to so I don't know how it stands up to those).

So if you're getting really bad reception with the tuner module, as bad as you're describing, then something is wrong. Most likely a wiring problem, or an improperly connected antenna amplifier, as described in the FAQ. However, if you've ruled out those problems, then you should contact support because a defective tuner unit is not completely out of the question.

I found that my antenna plug didn't want to stay in the Motorola->Euro-style antenna adapter, even when it appeared solid before I put it in the dash. So triple-check your antenna connection. You might want to even hold it in your had while checking it, just to be sure that it's plugged in well.

I've tried holding the unit out of the dash, hooking everything up and testing it outside the dash.. Same result

What car have you got? Many cars nowadays have amplified antennas and the factory head unit supplies power (sometimes up the antenna cable - no extra wires). Without this, the antenna works very poorly - with any head unit, including the empeg.

Cars that have these include the new Civic, all VWs, all BMWs, etc.

It's very unlikely your tuner is defective, the actual gubbins doing the tuning is a sealed module we buy - *very* expensive as a component part and fully adjusted/setup/tweaked by the manufacturer.

Hugo

Does this mean that empeg tuner module cannot supply this power? If so, does anyone know of a unit that can be put 'in circuit' to supply the power to the aerial from the cars 12v supply?

The only reason I ask is that I have my eye on both a VW Golf and one of pca's tuner kits!

No fancy circuit needed. You would just need to use a relay. The antenna wire could trigger the relay, which could switch your cars 12V. It should be fairly easy to find a relay suited for this use at any auto parts store.

I would have thought that sending 12v up to the aerial would require some protection at the tuner end. So, what you're saying is that you need to connect 12v to the aerial feed from tuner module, sounds rather worrying to me...

Let me clarify, I'm talking about a power feed that is actually the central conductor of aerial wire, ie. there's RF AND 12v on it, not a separate wire to feed a box of tricks.

Hugo,

It's installed in a Chevy S-10 Truck

Ah, I see, sorry for the misunderstanding. You are right. If the antenna has an inline booster then this is not the solution. For some reason I was thinking that the booster was powered by the antenna/remote 12V signal line from the factory, but of course it is not this way. /Slaps self.
There are circuits like you say that block the DC power from reaching the receiver. My experience is more with active GPS antennas and they can use a little block which has 3 connectors. One to the antenna, one to the receiver, and one to the DC power source for the antenna. This is all pretty much useless to you though, as I dont have a link to a device that would work in your particular situation.
You could probably find a schematic that would use capacitors to block the DC from reaching the tuner, but I dont know how much it would change your signal. I would have thought there would be an aftermarket solution if there were so many cars that used this.

I'm not sure who makes the Honda Odyssey headunits, but it got terrific reception.

Right now, I'll get, say, 4 out of 5 on the signal strength meter. For FM, it's spotty. Sometimes the signal comes and goes as if it's playing hard-to-get. Sometimes it's good, until I go down a hill or make a wrong turn (well, at least for the tuner). Even then I always feel "I might lose it. Uh-oh. There it goes again!" That sort of thing.

Previously, that was never a problem, and certainly not 40 miles from New York City. You might think "is it the absence of a certain pair of tall towers?" Well, the Acura I own had comparable reception before, and it still does now (looks like a similar make headunit too, but that could just be the Acura-Honda relationship and not what's inside the headunit).

For AM, I usually listen to WCBS 880 or Bloomberg (forget the freq. at the moment). As an example, 880's signal strength appears to be borderline 5 out of 5 on the display, but I get an INCREDIBLY HUGE amount of static. Like why bother listening, that kind of static.

I did send email to Sonic Blue support, BTW. They recommend the following troubleshooting steps (some of which I've done already but will definitely do again):

1. Check that you have the tuner mode set to the correct region in emplode (File>Configure player>Tuner). By default it should be in US mode.

[It is.]

2. If you have the extension cable fitted, disconnect it and connect the tuner directly to the car sled.

[This I did NOT do. I read about the possibility of the crossed wires in the FAQ, but they did not appear crossed. Still, it's worth a shot.]

3. Check that all the wires on the car sled are firmly attached and not damaged.

[Wow, I hope not. I'll re-check, of course.]

4. Check that the antenna booster is receiving the required current.

[For that I need to measure it. Working that issue.]

5. If you have only ever tried the tuner with the booster fitted, try without it.

[Good suggestion. Actually, the signal strength issue is why I got the booster.]

6. If the antenna booster is factory fitted, check that it does not require an adapter to properly power it.

[It definitely requires power to its red line.]

7. If you have a steering column remote attached to the tuner, try disconnecting it.

[Already done, though I do intend to reconnect it someday.]

For those who are curious, here are the specs for the booster (posted elsewhere, but here 'tis again for context):

Booster body: 18mm; Antenna cable length: 300mm; Power length: 500mm;
Freq. Response typical for FM/AM/SW/LW frequency ranges; Voltage: DC12V;
Power Consumption: Less than 10mA; Electrostatic Capacitance: 80pf.

I have it connected to the blue power antenna wire on the tuner module.

Finally, here's what the booster looks like:
http://www.jcwhitney.com/productnoitem.jhtml?CATID=4916&BQ=jcw2

I would imagine there's an aftermarket solution, I'll go and have a look at the autoleads website.

I would have thought there would be an aftermarket solution if there were so many cars that used this.

For instance http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/SCOVWA2B

/Michael

It's a pretty simple circuit. A tiny capacitor from the antenna lead to the tuner and an inductor between the antenna lead and the power source. You need the inductor so the power source doesn't absorb the signal.

A unit made for GPS or even DBS TV may very well work although the optimal component values will be different.

Cheers,

Rex.