Apologize if this is the wrong forum to post this in, but I just installed an Android 8.1 head unit in my car in the USA, and I get great FM reception, but I can't get reception for any AM stations. I disconnected the unit and reconnected my old radio to make sure nothing had changed in the car, and I still got good FM and AM with the old radio, so I know the antenna is good.
Is there a setting in the radio for region (USA, Europe, China, etc) that could affect this? When I scan stations, it seems to be in the right range of frequencies, but doesn't stop on any, and I can't manually force it to a station that I know (950). Instead I can make it go to either 945 or 954. I have searched through all of the menus that I can find, and can't find anything that would allow me to see or change the region.
Thanks in advance - Paul
Update on this issue - I was able to get to the menu to change the radio region:
Car Settings:: About the Device (passcode 8888):: Radio
It was defaulted to Europe - I changed it to America 1 and America 2 which at least allowed me to directly tune to a couple of strong AM stations that I know, but I still had no reception. Everything else about the unit works well. I am trying to get them to send me a replacement thinking it is something in the hardware, but please let me know if anyone has any other ideas on things to check.
I have this problem too. Great FM reception, VERY poor AM reception. I've tried all country codes (Australia is not available). I've asked vendor for a solution. Still waiting.
Did you get a solution?
I had this too until I realized that my car has a built in car antenna amplifier (most cars now do) and it needs to be powered. Without power to it, you'll barely get reception. So I connected the antenna amplifier to the powered antenna output from the head unit and that improved it some, but still it wasn't great. Then I checked the voltage from that wire I found that the head unit only puts out 10.6 volts instead of the required 12. So I hooked the power antenna to the same 12V power coming from the car that feeds the head unit and presto, now I get normal radio reception like I used to.
This constantly amazes me, why do so many people not understand about the aerial amplifiers used on most cars now? When you swap out a manufacturer specific unit, make sure all the wires are connected, they're there for a reason!
yes, but most people don't realize that the lead from the head unit that says ANTENNA is not suitable to power the antenna. You must use the 12V power supply coming from the car to power the antenna amp.
It varies with the head unit, many do put out the full battery voltage on the antenna feed wire (ours does) but obviously some don't, your fix is correct for those that don't. The issue is that everyone seems to just leave the amplifier wire disconnected and wonder why it doesn't work.
Mr.TT_NZ said:
This constantly amazes me, why do so many people not understand about the aerial amplifiers used on most cars now? When you swap out a manufacturer specific unit, make sure all the wires are connected, they're there for a reason!
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I know this is an old post but I'm having this issue.
I'm actually little confused as to how to remedy this.
Any help would be appreciated.
Should I splice the blue ant wire into the power wire going to the radio?
I was under the impression the blue ant wire was for people who had a power antenna that raises and lowers when the radio is powered on.
Here's the radio I got for a 2005 Corolla.
US $195.00 20%OFF | For Toyota Corolla E120 E 120 BYD F3 2000 2003 2005 2006 DSP 4GB+64GB Android 2 Din Car Radio Multimedia Carplay GPS Navigation
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mPnUCX6
jnotgsure said:
I know this is an old post but I'm having this issue.
I'm actually little confused as to how to remedy this.
Any help would be appreciated.
Should I splice the blue ant wire into the power wire going to the radio?
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The ANT wire of the head unit is intended as power supply for the car antenna. Not only the automatic extending antennas need a power supply, also active antennas.
So it depends on your installed antenna if you need to connect it.
Some active antennas doesn't have a separate wire for power supply. In this case you need a "Phantomeinspeiseadapter" (Google it). Espacially cars from VW group (Skoda, Seat, VW, Audi...) need such an adapter in combination with a 3rd party radio.
The idea is to power the antenna only if it's needed (your listening to radio).
Alternatively the antenna could get its power from the ACC wire. In this case the antenna gets power as soon as you turn on the ignition.
The B+ wire should never be used to power the antenna because this would drain your cars battery 24/7.
Related
Anyone else have poor radio reception with the Joying JL-UL135? Previous radios in my 2001 Suburban picked up local stations just fine. This one has a hard time picking up even local stations. I double checked my antenna connections and even bought an amplified antenna. No change. In fact, the radio reception is exactly the same weather the antenna cable is plugged into the back of the radio or not. Is it possible the radio antenna port is not connected internally to the radio?
For reference, this is my radio:
https://www.carjoying.com/android-5...0-radio-stereo-audio-16gb-support-revers.html
Are you certain that your car doesn't have a hidden antenna amplifier somewhere? If it does, it needs to be powered. Make sure to run the antenna power lead to the antenna amplifier.
I'm positive my Suburban doesn't have a hidden antenna amplifier. I recently installed an amplified antenna along with the OEM antenna and it didn't change. After a little more research it seems that the antenna ground internally to some of these radios never got soldered. I may have to pull the radio, open it up and inspect.
Before you go to that extreme, try hooking up a piece of unshielded/ungrounded wire to the center pin in the back of the antenna jack on the head unit, and hold it up. If the wire all by itself improves radio reception better than hooking up the actual car antenna, then you need to look into vehicle side. If it does not, then you need to look at the connection for the center pin on the head unit.
The antenna ground itself doesn't do anything besides shield the antenna cable between the head unit and the antenna base. So if the wire doesn't work, it would suggest that the main antenna pin (not the ground) is not connected.
MikeS1971 said:
Anyone else have poor radio reception with the Joying JL-UL135? Previous radios in my 2001 Suburban picked up local stations just fine. This one has a hard time picking up even local stations. I double checked my antenna connections and even bought an amplified antenna. No change. In fact, the radio reception is exactly the same weather the antenna cable is plugged into the back of the radio or not. Is it possible the radio antenna port is not connected internally to the radio?
For reference, this is my radio:
https://www.carjoying.com/android-5...0-radio-stereo-audio-16gb-support-revers.html
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I had the same issue and it turned out to be the radio app itself. The original app worked fine, then I installed a themed version and my radio just would not pick up any signals. Then I uninstalled that themed version and the previous app worked fine.
Hi.
My Skoda Superb has navigation from factory, including GPS antenna on the roof. Does anyone know if this antenna will work with an Android head unit (Joying)? I need an adapter from FAKRA to SMA to physically connect it, but I don't know if the antenna would be compatible with regards to voltage, impedance etc.
The built in antennas has normally power fed to it. You need to verify it still has power or utilize
the antenna power from the HU. Else it should work. I've Hyundai factory antenna that I'm using.
Adapters are available everywhere. I bought mine from Aliexpress.
halloj said:
The built in antennas has normally power fed to it. You need to verify it still has power or utilize
the antenna power from the HU. Else it should work. I've Hyundai factory antenna that I'm using.
Adapters are available everywhere. I bought mine from Aliexpress.
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Ok, I've got antenna power for the radio antenna from the HU, but I don't know if it's needed for the GPS antenna as well. I will try and connect it with a passive adapter and see if it works.
Seems to work with just an adapter. I'm getting around the same signal levels as with the included antenna mounted outside the car.
Recently got an MCTD unit, has a v3 mainboard and I am suffering on poor FM reception and non existent AM (not bothered about AM though)
Have read that sometimes the aerials are not connected internally so had a look, one of the earth points was a bit suspect so re-soldered that, but no improvement. If I am stationary I can get 3 stations, however when I start to move I lose the signal. Interestingly it does seem to improve if I leave the radio out (I.e. Not fixed into position in the car).
I think the unit is an A Media (will have to check later) but it is a Huefei variant (running Android 5.1.1)
I have bought replacement internal aerial adaptors that are boosted to no real improvement (although after doing a bit more reading I need to check if the booster power source (from the ANT wire from the headunit) is actually giving 12V
Any ideas / mods to help improve it? Aerial works fine with standard headunit.
Thanks
anyone any ideas?
ok if anyone is interested, I bought a cheap window aerial that has a power booster, can now get channels but still not great. My next step is to either replace the roof aerial on my car (or certainly the wiring), of take of the power boosting element from the new aerial and incorporate that into the car roof mount
Buy this (don't look to the price) and you will say thanks to me for long time
http://www.dabonwheels.co.uk/Kinetic_DRA-6005_GPS_FM-AM_DAB_car_aerial.html
I am not interested in making publicity of this product but even I would have been you will be as happy as I am. BEST!!!
You will need extra wire extenders as the product has short cables fitted. It's on that page the link of what you will need.
similar issue
Hi are you still having this issue or did you manage to fix it? if so what did you do please?
i am having a similar issue with mine and found that iv improved things by putting a cable to earth my head unit (cable from screw on back to ground on loom) and also i have changed the cable coming from the Headunit with one from halfords (at first glance i thought it was part of the unit as it had the black sheath and blue cable but it just pulls out)
not fully, I am going to look at the antenna wire from the headunit as I dont have that connected and that may help (from reading the pumpkin website).
I have good earths which I have measured with a multimeter so I know thats good.
If I cant imrove then I will look at an aerial from the above place
htt p:// www .ha lfords .co m/ techno logy/ car-audio/ stereo-fitting-acce ssories /aut oleads-pc5-111-fakra-to-din-aerial-adaptor
i used that cable from halfords to replace the one that came with the headunit. For me it was problem solved. obviously the one that came with it wasnt making a good enough contact.
sorry had to put spaces as im not allowed to put links yet.
Thanks for the link but I have about 3 different ones and they all make good contact (have checked with the unit taken apart and everything makes contact where it should)
I am going to check my installed aerial to see if I can work out whats going on with that. I can ge radio 2 now fully on my way to work (50miles each way) but I dont want to listen to radio 2
It is antenna wiring issue, not antenna itself.
I had the same problem in US with my A-Media unit. Initially the seller sent me a power cable and I had poor radio reception, FM working but not great, no AM at all. When the seller figured out wrong cable for steering wheel issues he sent me the correct cable and everything works great including radio FM/AM. My antenna harness has two wires but the first cable connected only one. The 2nd cable has both antenna wires connected, one to antenna socket and the other goes to power cable connector.
Sorted it out, the existing aerial on my car was a dummy aerial (sharkfin), turns out the aerial itself is on the rear windscreen.
Anyway, I got an DAB aerial off ebay (bee sting type) fitted that in place of the sharkfin and re wired it. Result now have perfect reception on both FM and DAB with no loss of signal at all. Only cost £29.99 GBP as well with all wiring extensions etc
jaytc2003 said:
Sorted it out, the existing aerial on my car was a dummy aerial (sharkfin), turns out the aerial itself is on the rear windscreen.
Anyway, I got an DAB aerial off ebay (bee sting type) fitted that in place of the sharkfin and re wired it. Result now have perfect reception on both FM and DAB with no loss of signal at all. Only cost £29.99 GBP as well with all wiring extensions etc
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hello, i have the same problem with my unit.
i wanna buy that antenna also on ebay. but the (bee sting type) you told about have a din style connector.
the original one that was by the radio is a usb type. how did you fix that problem?
I was able to solve my unworking AM Radio here.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/an...questions-development/radio-fm-radio-t3895859
New to this forum. Hope it is in the right place. I tried to search for anything that matched and did not find anything similar. I have a Tocado 7.1 Android Chinese Headunit I purchased from ebay. My FM stopped working a while back. There is static but no stations attempt to come in. Search just runs through the whole dial and then starts over with no stations found. I have tested the antenna with the OEM radio and it does work correctly. I can get AM but it is not strong. I have tried to change the region to no avail. If anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate it.
Do you have power injector adapter with the chinese head unit?
I’m a noob. Not sure what that is.
I had a similar problem on my Subaru
I didn't realize that there is a small amplifier connected to the antenna (probably very close to the antenna, which in my case is part of the rear window on the tailgate).
This needs to be supplied with 12V otherwise you get hardly any (or no signal at all) down the cable from the antenna.
I bought a Subaru to ISO adapter kit, and one of the wires in the ISO plug is the antenna power. However my Xtrons unit, just has a wire from its ISO socket which doesn't connect to anything.
So no power was going to the antenna amplifier.
The solution is to connect the Accessory power going into the head-unit, to the antenna power wire.
Ideally connect it on the side of the fuse that connects to your head-unit, so that the power is then protected by the fuse.
Warning.
Make sure you are applying the Accessory power to the correct wire, and that your antenna amplifier requires 12V
What I had to do, was to reconnect my old CD / Radio unit, and measure the voltage on the pin for the antenna amplifier.
On my old CD / Radio unit, when I switched to the radio, 12V appeared on one of the pins on the plug into the back of the radio.
I double checked the pin on that Subaru radio plug, against a pinout I found on the internet, to confirm it was what people thought was the antenna power pin.
Once I was fairly certain that I knew which pin it was (and that the wire from the ISO socket on the xtrons ISO socket labeled something like "Auto Radio" was the same connection), I applied 12V to that pin via a amp meter (actually a multimeter on its millamp setting), and I confirmed it wasnt taking loads of current.
As I'm an electronics engineer I have several multimeters including the old style analog meters which have a needle. The analog ones are great for testing this sort of stuff, as you can see by briefly tapping the connection if its taking a lot of current or not.
In my case the meter hardly registered, as the antenna amplifier takes less than 50 milliamps.
Anyway, finally checked that the radio was now working on the new head unit (Xtrons GS PX5 Oreo), and it works working fine both on AM and FM.
Thanks for the reply. I have a 2006 F 150. There is no amplifier on this vehicle. I should have shared that originally the radio worked fine. I usually just use the BT and stream music from Pandora. One day after several months, I decided to turn on the radio because I was in a dead zone. To my surprise, the FM just had static. Seek found no stations and I tried to manually tune to a known station and it did not come in. There is no change in the sound of the static when a station is at the setting. I also reconnected my OEM radio to the antenna to be sure it was not the antenna. It worked just fine.
OK.
I didn't think I my Subaru had antenna amplifier... But I does
So I just installed this unit in my 2002 sierra
https://www.joyingauto.com/joying-8...een-car-navigation-system-with-4g-module.html
AM and FM radio were working fine.
Drove around for about an hour. Came back to my vehicle later on radio worked for about 10 seconds and now my radio just makes a humming sound like something is turning off and on. I took the radio out, rechecked my connections (I connected the Antenna CONT wire to my blue antenna wire, and even tried switching it with the AMP cont wire). I have turned on the setting of ANTENNA ON in the unit options.
What could this be? My bluetooth and music work just fine, it is only the radio. My truck doesn't have a visually retractable antenna, but it does have an onstar antenna, so maybe it technically it is a "power" antenna. Regardless it was once working and now is not. I have emailed JOYING, and their help in broken english is useless. I have had this radio for 1 day and its already malfunctioning. I had a pumpkin px5 in my last truck that glitched here and there, this is just unacceptable on day 1. Not to mention this single din unit doesn't even click into place within the single din radio chassis/housing....
I am attaching a google drive video so that you can hear the humming I am talking about.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/117mP0K_OWPB_O4zjBE4Ur9HM95GJvJpy/view?usp=sharing
Any help is appreciated
As a guess, sounds like the tuner has failed.
marchnz said:
As a guess, sounds like the tuner has failed.
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Is that something I can fix through software or taking apart the unit? Or will I have to exchange for a new one?