The radio reception on my HCH II has never been good, especially in AM. Now it's terrible. I suspect that the antenna wire got disconnected from the radio. Does anyone have a quick clue where to look, hopefully without ripping the whole car apart?

If it's not that, any hints about enhancing the reception quality?

2006 HCH Alabaster Silver w/Navi
2003 Honda Accord LX

Unfortuntely to check for poor contacts, transient or RF noise or simply bad groundings you are perhaps better off taking the vehicle in to the dealership. Checking for those things involves removing the Audio console dash panel which is a task not recommended for most DIY.

We should also keep in mind that AM is VERY susceptible to interference from natural and man-made sources (power grid distribution points, industrial areas, etc) ... and adding to the topography, atmospheric conditions and distance to the nearest broadcast point can make normal reception very unreliable.

However, since we talking AM you may want to do some simple tests. One of those tests is to simply bring another portable AM radio into the proximity of vehicle's then see if you can affect the reception by tuning the portable radio accross its entire band. If you can affect it then your AM reception is likely to be fine.

You may also try to switch a household light or electric motor on an off. If you hear a good click for each state change then your reception and antenna connection is likely to be OK.

Of course these are very crude tests. There are many other better ways of testing your reception but that likely involves the use of AM signal injectors, RF proximity/selectivity meters etc which is the kind of equipment that specialized shops carry anyway. So a visit to your dealership will likely be worth it.

Cheers;

MSantos

I tried looking for loss connection but did not have any luck finding anything. I also tried a ferrite bead and it made no difference.

Here is another post that I put some information on

http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/am-radio-sounds-terrible.5871.html?page=1&highlight=radio+static

I have taken it to the dealership twice. The first time they did not do anything and the second time they said they do no look at these type of problems on the weekend.

I have not seen any resolution to this issue yet.

I have been listening to more WMF files since I have the NAVI unit and given up on AM/FM radio.

When I first picked mine up, I didn't receive *any* radio signals. I took it back to the dealer and they said there were some wires that weren't connected properly. It might have been disconnected during the installation of the ipod adapter, but they weren't sure. If this dealer won't even take a look, maybe take it to another? Or at least ask them if the other Civics are receiving any better? The AM reception, no matter what, is very weak in these cars though.