[jaycen29]

The murano's radio reception seems to be rather weak, I found this reception booster online, anyone know if they work? It' from JC Whitney and they are pretty reputable.

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/ProductDisplay/s-10101/p-159/c-10614

 

[hfelknor]

You may need a TSB to be performed (Or you can do it yourself)

TSB 03059
http://www.infinitihelp.com/Ownership/Bulletins/Nissan/2003/NTB03-059.htm

But even then you only have an 8" antenna which just isn't going to work as well as a 30" antenna.

I doubt that the booster would help.
I'm not the worlds authority on this but i did own and was the chief technician of a Consumer Electronics store after working at Bell Labs.

Homer

 

[jaycen29]

Thanks hfelknor...my reception isnt horrible, just not always clear... my previous car had much better reception, but it had a power antenna. I was just hoping this could improve it. I'll look into the TSB though. Thanks again.

 

[SugarRushMurano]

The TSB for sure helps...

Most of murano forum mebers had this complain about the weak radio reception of the murano when they got the car innitially.

Perform this TSB.
I di dthis in my first week of owning the car, solved the problem.

 

[jaak]

Unfortunately the antenna is a compromise as it's styled to be short and on the roof. The height helps slightly, the length more than makes up for any height advantage.

I haven't even had a good look to see if it's helically wound, and if not, it would be possible to build one that's better. (Time, who has time...)

There was a grounding problem addressed in a TSB, which may help, if your Murano's reception is exceptionally poor.

Since most people are in urban areas, the antenna gain, or lack of gain, won't be a big problem.

If you live in a rural area, you could try a preamp, but as soon as you get near any strong broadcast or private commercial transmitters, it's likely you'll have more problems as the signal levels get too high for the front end of the radio and create mixing products. In other words, you'll start hearing things on your favourite station, that aren't really there. Like pagers and other radio transmitters.

Make sure your ground is good as per the TSB and keep a good collection of CD's handy...

 

[SugarRushMurano]

Of course if you have XM,

getting good reception for the fm/am radio is a mute point.

 

[jaycen29]

Well i do plan on getting xm or sirius at some point, but I still would like to have better regular radio reception.

 

[jaycen29]

what about this antenna, you could install this one and leave the factory antenna just for looks. Anyone know if this antenna is any good, would it be an improvement?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7920764180&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT

 

[jaak]

Amplifier = Bad news....

The best way would be to replace it with a better antenna. It would be possible to even make one that screwed in the same mount.

Find something stainless or brass that fits into the same mount, drill a hole in it and epoxy some fibreglas shaft, helically wind some copper wire and cover it with heat shrink tubing and you could have better performance.

Haven't worked out what length of wire you'd need to make resonant in the FM broadcast band.

Sorry about the picture quality... Rush job.

 

[jaycen29]

So you couldnt just leave that antenna and run a different antenna like the hidden one from Ebay to the radio Jaak?

 

[jaak]

Yes...

As long as it's good antenna positioned in a good spot, that would work.

The radio has a standard antenna connection, from what I remember.

 

[hfelknor]

May I just warn you guys that "this" from the posted Ebay ad

"On the dashboard, rear dash panel, in the trunk, under the hood, in a door, in the headliner, in a wheel well, you can hide this antenna almost anywhere! "

Screams SCAM all over the place.

The best antenna ever made would not, and could not, work well in the trunk, under the hood, or in a wheel well.


The only thing that could work better than what we have IMO, is a full 30" FM antenna mounted in the same place as the OEM.
Sure would look dorky tho.

Amps don't work except in very selective instances.

Most amps are not tunable.
Therefore they amplify the noise along with the signal.

Amps are good when........
The signal at the antenna is sufficient, but the loss along the cable route is not acceptable.

So, let's assume you have a 0 db signal at the antenna.
This is good. Not great perhaps, but good.

Now let's further assume that the cable being used has a loss of -6 DB per 10 foot of cable. (This is poor. But the cable may have other redeeming specs..... such as being extremely flexible)
So that by the time the signal gets to the radio it measures -6 DB. Not good. Very likely static and hiss time.

If one was to place a 6Db amp (Pre amp for the purists) AT the antenna, you would then send a +6 Db signal down a wire that has a -6 DB loss and would arrive at the radio with a 0 Db signal.
Life is good.

HOWEVER. If the signal coming out of the Antenna was -20 DB (Really lousy) putting a Preamp on the antenna would just make the lousy signal louder. You cannot "reconstruct" a bad signal.

So do we have 0 Db at the antenna?
Sometimes, I am sure.
Unlike a TV antenna at your house, this antenna keeps moving.
And some stations are more powerful and/or closer than others.
Could we build a better antenna in the same physical size?
Doubtful.

What about a windshield antenna, cut to the proper wavelength?
That might be better. At least part of the time. (When the station wasn't directly behind you)

What if nothing seems to help?

Then maybe, just maybe, the radio is a POS.


Homer

 

[jaycen29]

well I know the newer honda civics have no visible antenna at all cuz my girlfriend has one, and it gets way better reception than my MO.

 

[BARCODE]

I totally agree with HOMER. I get great reception. Have you taken it back to the dealer ?

 

[jaak]

Homer's right... Best antenna is resonant and on the roof. Actually the center of the roof would be even better than the front edge.

A preamp that most people would buy, will try to amplify everything it "hears" including television stations, pagers, trunked radio systems, cell phones, etc. So imagine taking all that, and putting it into an electronic blender. If the signal levels from one of those things, or the aggregate, is strong enough, you get a ton of crap out the other end... The name for this is Intermodulation Distortion or as it's commonly called "Intermod".

A proper system would have filters before the preamp, and would cost a few hundred dollars at the least.

A good roof mounted antenna can't be beat. I agree, first step is take it to the dealer and see what they can do with it, as there is a TSB to deal with it. If it still stinks and they can't/won't resolve it, then try other antennas, if you like.

Now, the other solution to the 30" whip antenna, is a helically wound antenna. This will be physically shorter, but not electrically, as the wire is wound in a coil. However, it won't cover the whole FM band as well as a whip would.

Most of the Amateur Radio operators out there, should be able to build one. Anyone want to try? (Yes, I could, no I don't have the time! )

 

[rjardine]

In addition to the 12000km (7500ml) service today, requested the dealer fix the weak FM reception by applying the related TSB and provided them with the details.

From there I drove downtown and parked in a multi-story parking garage. As I wheeled around the ramps, suddenly realised that the FM was not cutting in and out as it usually does at that location.
Problem fixed or so it seems.

Dealer did confirm they had to tighten the mounting bolt to meet the TSB requirement. So if your build date is before April (9th) 2003, and your FM reception is not what you think it should be, this appears to be the route to follow.

 

[EasternPA]

I could be crazy (and I'm certainly not a VE or radio engineer), but isn't the radiation pattern of a helical antenna, like, outward from the base? For the non-hams and engineering type, imagine taking a trash bag twistie and wrapping it around a pencil, starting at the eraser and working your way towards the point.

If I remember antenna theory, the largest beam lobe (where your transmit and receive power are best) is oriented towards the pencil point, not coming in from the sides. Take the pencil with the twistie wrapped around it and stand it up on its eraser like our rooftop antennas. The most efficient transmit and receive signal replicates the shape of the pencil and points upward, in the shape of a narrow cone, straight up towards the sky -- kinda like looking at the clouds through a paper towel tube. This type of antenna is frequently used for satellite transmit/receive pointed upwards towads the sky, or oriented horizontally for point-to-point links, seen here http://www.wireless.org.au/~jhecker/helix/.

The signal basically has to enter through the end, not the sides. It seems Homer was closest with his 30" radial, as approx. 29" is 1/4 wavelength of the center of the FM band, 88-108MHz. The more multiples of 29", the better your reception will be. Anyone want a 60" (5 foot) long antenna? Lower the frequency, longer the antenna. I've always said if I build one of the project kits at tremormuv.com, I want to find one of the stock antennas often seen on humvees that goes from the rear quarter panel all the way to the front quarter panel. The stock military radio can tune any frequency from 2 to 30MHz.

 

[venams03]

I have an '04 that was built in June of '04. My FM radio is one of the worst I have seen on an OEM tuner.

Is it possible that I also need the TSB?

 

[jaak]

If I remember antenna theory, the largest beam lobe (where your transmit and receive power are best) is oriented towards the pencil point, not coming in from the sides.

Nope... In from the sides.

If you have a vertical antenna, the pattern is like a big donut around it if you were to view it from the top. Better designs flatten this donut to ensure the most gain is out to the sides as you are trying to receive from terrestrial transmitters. (Not from space, or up in the sky.)

Best place is the center of the roof and pointing straight up. The roof acts like a reflector and creates a mirror image of the antenna so it electrically looks like dipole. What's a dipole? Well an example of a folded dipole is the antenna that comes with many Stereo home FM receivers. It's folded, because the wires go out half the way and then fold back into the center. Normally these folded dipoles are hung with horizontal polarisation, not vertically. Most FM transmitters have antennas that are curved to accomodate both, as there's roughly a half power loss when moving from one polarisation to the other.

The least sensitive area of these antennas are off the ends. So much so, that you can use this "null" for direction finding transmitters, by pointing the end and trying to find the minimum signal level.

Trust me... I know antennas...

 

[GripperDon]

The helicalwound radio stub is depending upon the reflection from the roof as it's ground plane. I have found that even a slight (10 degrees) tilt from stright verticle will effect stations that have strength below the AGC cutoff point. We have a weak station that I like to listen to and have really good reception If I am very particular about antenna position.