Hello!

New guy here I have a 2008 LT HHR which came with the Pioneer sound system. I just installed a Pioneer AVH-X8500BHS. The FM radio reception is not all that great. I installed a similar Pioneer (same model year radio, couple models down) in my brother's truck and he gets many more stations and clearer when we are parked in the same location.

I have read many of the threads here about what the problem might be. I have ensured the pink antenna/amp wire is hooked up. I have also installed an old powered antenna booster I had laying around which helped but it still isn't great. From reading here, it doesn't sound like the antenna base or antenna amplifier is bad because I can still get stations 30 and 70 miles away but they just fade in/out sometimes. From reading others experiences, it seems like if I had a failure, I'd likely get nothing because the closest station is a small one 20 miles away but that is not the case.

The antenna that is on my HHR looks to have a wire swirling up the antenna. Does it sound like everything is working OK and this is just the way the stock antenna setup performs or could there be something I'm missing? If it's just the way it is, can anybody recommend an aftermarket antenna that looks good but provides better reception? I've seen some recommendations on stubby antennas but the ones I read it wasn't clear to me if it was done only as an appearance mod or if they helped reception.

Thanks much!

 

Sounds like the antenna amp is not working.

The length of the WIRE is the important part of the antenna, in the stock antenna it is wrapped around the mast. 1 meter IIRC.

Not many mountains in Fla.

 

Most of the stubbies are more of an appearance item, from what I have seen in the comments here. But do see what some of the comments have been by using the search tool at the top of the page. You may find one that some have had great luck with.

Have you removed the exiting antennae and made sure it is clean and making a good contact?

 

Did you ever use the stock stereo? If so did it seem to work alright?

I have some experience working on all things electronic and I'm guessing the receiver in your replacement stereo is just not up to snuff. The antenna connector in the HHR's is quite small and may not be similar to the antenna jack on your replacement stereo so you may have had to use an antenna adapter for it. The patch cord {if any} may be poor or just plain bad.

If you have another antenna that will fit into your stereo directly you might try to temporarily attach that and see if it works better. Also signal boosters tend to go bad.

Inside the stereo there is most likely at least one maybe more trimmer capacitors that could be adjusted to get you better reception. But, there may not be. This is not a normal user adjustable thing and it usually takes an experienced tech to do that sort of thing.

The antenna that comes on HHR's is a fiberglass whip with copper wire wrapped around it then coated with plastic. They are usually a fine antenna for FM but not so hot for AM radio reception. FM is a much shorter wave length and AM is quite a bit longer FM is around 2 meters in amplitude and AM is much closer to 160 meters in amplitude.

Using a signal booster makes the antenna what they call 'active' which usually helps pull in weak or distant signals. But, {you knew that was coming right?} it can also overload the front end of the receiver if it makes the signal to strong, which makes it harder to keep stations tuned in. Most receivers are quite wide in reception to begin with. Filters can be added to reject the extra signal from being received but that also makes tuning problematic.

Anyway try a different antenna that plugs directly in to the stereo and let me know how that goes.
On my Clarion stereo there is a short piece of coax sticking out of the radio where the antenna goes in, the center conductor of that had broken somehow a few years back I was able to replace it and I use that stereo in my garage now.

 

Nope, not many mountains here in Florida... not even that many hills actually

I have not "modified" or messed with the factory antenna wire length.

Is the antenna amp in the base of the antenna? Do you know if there is a way to check it to see if it is working (like with voltage readings)? I read a few other posts where the amp was bad or not connected and they were getting nothing except every local stations. That doesn't seem to be the problem I am having but if there is a way to check the amp I certainly will.

Thanks!

 

I have checked the antenna to make sure it was secure but did not take it off and clean it... I will try that. Thanks!

 

It seemed to be better but only slightly. I did used to have to change channels because of static and then the ones I listened to often faded every so often. These stations were ~60 miles away and I'm in Florida so it is fairly flat. My other cars pick up these stations better.

The receiver is a near top of the line Pioneer for 2013 and in the online reviews I've read I didn't see complaints about FM reception. The connector is different and I'm using an adapter from Crutchfield. I have checked the connections and re-connected a couple times before I tried the power booster.

I do have some other cars and will try a different antenna. They always seems to be loose anyway so won't be a difficult thing to try. LOL

I had tried it for over a week without the booster I installed and with the booster it might be a little better so I don't think I'm experiencing the overload problem.

I'll try a different antenna and see how it goes.

Thanks much for the info and assistance!

 

The amplifier is under the headliner at the base of the antenna. Don't know anything more about it than that.

 

Thanks!

 

One way to tell if the amp in the antenna is bad is remove the radio, and with it powered up, disconnect the pink amp wire from the factory radio harness. See if it gets worse.

Secondly it is possible to get a bad GM ant adapter, I get one in ten bad.