Bad radio reception

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srfairhurst

Senior Member
Mar 27, 2012
156
11
Hello i have a eonon car stereo running android 444 fuse rom i can only pick up 3 stations and they sometimes loose reception ive tried an amplifier and new eariel but with no luck any suggestions would be great.
 

Geekybiker

Senior Member
Sep 30, 2010
369
44
Chicagoland
I'd double check your harness connector to the oem antenna. Their was a pin loose on mine and once I bent the retention tabs back out and reinstalled the connection was much stronger.
 

srfairhurst

Senior Member
Mar 27, 2012
156
11
I'd double check your harness connector to the oem antenna. Their was a pin loose on mine and once I bent the retention tabs back out and reinstalled the connection was much stronger.

Its a Renault Megane and is just a standard connector.
Im now beginning to think its the components on the motherboard as the closer i get to the sauce eg: im from Wigan were Wish FM is broadcast if i drive past the studio its crystal clear same with Key 103 in Manchester. I think the radio chip on these is crap.
 

razormel

Member
Feb 7, 2015
15
3
Frankfurt
I think you need a power injector, because the antenna is active and needs power to work correctly. Just put the power injector between the radio and the antenna and connect the blue cable with the AMP or ANT cable of the radio harness...

Gesendet von meinem D6503 mit Tapatalk
 

markusmuster

Senior Member
Mar 5, 2008
94
12
I've had the same issue and solved it fortunately.
My Unit is a Joying RK3188 and came with a defect dual input power injector.
Easy steps to identify: At the output of these injectors (called 'phantomspeisung' in german) you sould measue 12V DC. These 12VDC sent over the 2pol antenna cable are for the antenna built in amplifier.

1st: I replaced the power injector with a diversity injector. Google for "Diversity Adapter 204.086-0) www.rta-online.com
2nd: Additionally to my amplified roof antenna I bought a second amplified antenna at amazon
http://www.amazon.de/Baseline-Conne...enne+AM,FM,+inkl.+Verstärker,+FAKRA-Stecker+F

Both together I've a really good reception now.
The diversity adapater really makes it's job. I is a littel high in price but worth at all.
 

pounce

Senior Member
Mar 15, 2008
205
30
Try putting some electrical tape around the Motorola male antenna plug at the head unit. What you are trying to accomplish is to insulate the area where the head unit housing may be in close contact with the plug. Takes a few seconds to try.
 

markusmuster

Senior Member
Mar 5, 2008
94
12
Try putting some electrical tape around the Motorola male antenna plug at the head unit. What you are trying to accomplish is to insulate the area where the head unit housing may be in close contact with the plug. Takes a few seconds to try.
...that's excatly what provided the very worst reception ever to me... So I looked around (tried a lot and spend some bucks on some useless amplifiers) and finally found the solution from my previous post. It works. ;)
 

pounce

Senior Member
Mar 15, 2008
205
30
...that's excatly what provided the very worst reception ever to me... So I looked around (tried a lot and spend some bucks on some useless amplifiers) and finally found the solution from my previous post. It works. ;)

If putting insulating tape just around the plug where it would touch the housing (and not where the actual plug needs to mate up) gave you worse reception... you did something wrong.
 

dazza007

Member
Sep 30, 2015
48
6
I was under the impression that these units had issues with the software ( or hardware) or this is what I am told.
See here or am I mistaken?
 

pounce

Senior Member
Mar 15, 2008
205
30
I was under the impression that these units had issues with the software ( or hardware) or this is what I am told.
See here or am I mistaken?

Its possible you are mistaken. The OP in this thread didn't provide any hardware specific details. Instead we know only version of android.

My units have no problem with radio reception, but I can simulate a problem if the connector touching the housing and impacting reception.

Other issues are not connecting the power to a stock antenna from the head unit when you install it. Even if you don't have an antenna that goes up and down you can have an amplified antenna. If you don't power it you don't get good reception. it can be something that is missed with wiring up the harness.

Yes, you can also have hardware problems, but its easy to rule out the external issues first before calling the unit the problem.
 

dazza007

Member
Sep 30, 2015
48
6
Its possible you are mistaken. The OP in this thread didn't provide any hardware specific details. Instead we know only version of android.

My units have no problem with radio reception, but I can simulate a problem if the connector touching the housing and impacting reception.

Other issues are not connecting the power to a stock antenna from the head unit when you install it. Even if you don't have an antenna that goes up and down you can have an amplified antenna. If you don't power it you don't get good reception. it can be something that is missed with wiring up the harness.

Yes, you can also have hardware problems, but its easy to rule out the external issues first before calling the unit the problem.

When you quote "my units have no problem," what software and hardware do you have in each, which motherboard, radio chip, etc etc
I part of me would like to believe that insulation is a problem here, but guys on the Russian forums have replaced capacitors to improve reception.
 

pounce

Senior Member
Mar 15, 2008
205
30
When you quote "my units have no problem," what software and hardware do you have in each, which motherboard, radio chip, etc etc
I part of me would like to believe that insulation is a problem here, but guys on the Russian forums have replaced capacitors to improve reception.

I have Joying units. One of the 10.1" universal units with 3188 and a 7" universal unit with 3188. No idea about the specifics of the chips.

If you have a specific hardware unit that people are complaining about then you may have a problem with that unit from that manufacturer. That's realistic, but try the other tests first before performing surgery.
 

pounce

Senior Member
Mar 15, 2008
205
30
This is great. It really helps illustrate how people are interpret things differently.

You have put too much tape on the connector. You have essentially broken the connection by entirely covering the outer connector. It may not be been obvious to you that a motorola antenna connector needs contact on the pointy post and the outer shell.

What you wanted to do I carefully put just a little tape on the plug where is could touch the case of the unit in a circumstance where the alignment of the female connector inside the case attached to the PCB isn't perfectly centered for the case hole. When things are out of alignment there tends to be a connection between between case and the outer shell of the connector. When these things touch it can negatively impact reception.
 

markusmuster

Senior Member
Mar 5, 2008
94
12
Hehe... I made this photos this morning with an unused plug just to illustrate. I know that the connection is broken when insulated and also the it's impossible to work this way.
I also read several threads about that "put some tape on it" thing and heard dozens of interpretations.

A picture tells more than some thousand words.
To clarify that to all of us: Please be so kind and make some photos !

Thanks in advance!
 

pounce

Senior Member
Mar 15, 2008
205
30
Hehe... I made this photos this morning with an unused plug just to illustrate.

To illustrate how you did it?


I know that the connection is broken when insulated and also the it's impossible to work this way.

So did you do it correctly when you tried it on your unit or are you saying this now to show the mistake and now you understand you need just a little bit of tape like mentioned up thread?
 

jakejm79

Senior Member
Jan 29, 2010
1,053
152
To illustrate how you did it?




So did you do it correctly when you tried it on your unit or are you saying this now to show the mistake and now you understand you need just a little bit of tape like mentioned up thread?

You might have a grounding issue if you are having to do that. I believe another member noticed that the outer part of the antenna socket is internally grounded with a little bit of solder and some foil, he had noticed that the foil had become disconnected meaning the outer part of the socket was no longer properly grounded, insulating the plug like you have done would help in that situation, but it isn't the correct fix, regrounding the socket is.
 

pounce

Senior Member
Mar 15, 2008
205
30
You might have a grounding issue if you are having to do that. I believe another member noticed that the outer part of the antenna socket is internally grounded with a little bit of solder and some foil, he had noticed that the foil had become disconnected meaning the outer part of the socket was no longer properly grounded, insulating the plug like you have done would help in that situation, but it isn't the correct fix, regrounding the socket is.

You may have read up thread.

1) Check the connections like power for the antenna if you have that
2) check the plug to see if its contacting the case. Tape as needed.
3) Open the case and validate the connection to the female socket on the PCB.
4) Check your MCU firmware
5) Try another unit
 

hallo dare

Senior Member
Jan 23, 2012
833
281
This whole tape thing has me so confused. The outer shell of the Motorola plug has to touch the casing for earthing doesn't it? Yet you are saying to tape up only the bits that are touching the casing.

Totally confused.

Can someone put up a picture of what is the right way to tape it please.

I would have done exactly the same as markusmuster has in the pics.

Thanks
 

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    This whole tape thing has me so confused. The outer shell of the Motorola plug has to touch the casing for earthing doesn't it? Yet you are saying to tape up only the bits that are touching the casing.

    Totally confused.

    Can someone put up a picture of what is the right way to tape it please.

    I would have done exactly the same as markusmuster has in the pics.

    Thanks

    Case = Double Din aluminum case with all the electronic bits inside
    Motorola female plug = socket for the antenna that is attached to the radio circuit board inside the case (see above). You can see that there is a hole in the case (see above) where you can see the Motorola female plug.
    Motorola male plug = the pointy plug on the end of the antenna cable. It has a pointy end and an outer shell that is the ground for the antenna.

    Do this... shove the male into the female plug through the hole in the case do its firmly seated. Step back and have a breath and maybe a smoke or some ice cream. Now go back and look carefully at the plug still inserted through the hole in the case (see above) and see if you can spot any of the motorola male plug ground surface touching the case (see above). If you see any contact between the plug and the case (see above) note about where the motorola male plug would be touching the case and yank that sucker out of the female plug clearing the hole in the case (see above). Now that you know about where on the motorola male plug the case (see above) would be touching put some tape on the motorola male plug ONLY in the exact spot where the motorola male plug would be touching the case (see above). You do not want to extend the tape down the shaft of the motorola male plug in such a way that it would in any way interfere with the lovely fit that motorola male plug has in the motorola female plug socket found inside the case (see above).

    Better?