Radio Reception

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(goody @ Jun 22 2006, 06:45 PM) [snapback]275531[/snapback]</div>

I can only tell you that I live way out in the boondocks and my Prius radio gets much much better reception than my previous Jetta.

 

Mine is quite sensitive.

You do realize you can take your Prius to ANY Toyota dealer don't you? You are not obligated to take your Prius back to the dealer you purchased it from. I personally have taken mine to two different ones depending on my schedule.

Have a close Toyota dealer check that radio out.

Cheers

 

It's probably your specific car. I get pretty good reception. I think our "fuba-style" antennas are amplified, since it's shorter than 1/2 wavelength.

 

You may have some sort of radio or antenna problem. Why not find a place where reception is poor and then have a friend put their car in the same place and see what difference there is.

I have found the Prius radio is about the same as the one in my previous car and it may be a bit better than the one in my pickup truck.

 

Is the external antenna installed? There should be 16" of black rubberoid-coated fat wire sticking up from a cone in the middle of the back of the roof. It can be removed by unscrewing it from the cone.

 

Not 100% applicable, but get a SAT radio and your reception will be perfect coast to coast (unless you park under a bridge.) XM has every type of programming you could hope for. (Sirius even has Howard Stern, but I never hoped for him!) You'll get NYC/LA quality programming in Butte, Montana. It's the future but available now for not all that much.

 

I get better reception in my Prius than on the radio in my house. Not surprising, since the Prius is out in the open. But still, it suggests that my Prius's radio is working fine.

 

The AM on my radio sucks. If I cruise along and get static I can shift into neutral and the static goes away. I believe there is interferance coming from the electric engine. I have brought it in for replacement which worked perfectly for about a week before it got just as bad as the original. I gave up.

 

I find my Prius gets about the same radio reception as my previous car, a 2000 Grand Prix. My 1995 Sebring got the best reception of anything I've driven; the antenna was built into the rear window.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(goody @ Jun 23 2006, 06:15 PM) [snapback]276050[/snapback]</div>

The above quoted comments give good insight into your issue. I live in the midwest between two high population centers, Milwaukee and Chicago. As you can maybe imagine there are a ton of radio stations around me. Therefore, anyone who listens to radio here shouldn't have a problem finding a good signal to listen to.

On a trip to Florida in the Prius, this situation isn't always true in many many parts of the country. In fact, quite the opposite was noted. The AM radio band is a total wasteland in mostly rural areas. The FM radio band is also devoid of choices of good signals. Who wants to listen to weak signals?

The comments you have received comparing the radio in the Prius to a different car or different radio is important. Before traveling an hour or two to a dealer I would take a few minutes to make that comparison. We would love to hear how it turns out. My guess is the other radio won't receive much better than the radio in your Prius.

My background is in broadcast engineering. I used to be a chief engineer of an AM radio station. So I do have some experience with this stuff. I could give you all sorts of engineering blah blah but unless there is some real problem with your radio in your Prius, my take is the radio is fine and the problem is merely the lack of good signal options in your rural area. The comparison check is the best thing you can do, however.

The XM Radio suggestion is a good one, I might add.

Good luck

 

On my '04 Prius w/AM/FM radio, CD changer, NAV: On the AM side of the radio, I get a static noise as I accelerate and also when I apply the brakes. The AM signal fades out completely when I go under an underpass on the freeway. In Jan 2011, dealer pulled MFD, and put electrical grease on the connections for the antenna wires. This solved the problem for about 4 months. The static noise & signal fade has gradually returned and is as bad now as it was before dealer put on the electrical grease. Now he tells me I have a short in the antenna wire, which runs under the headliner. He wants about $700 to remove headliner & change antenna wires! If I have a short, I wonder why the radio siginal does not cut out and in? Dealer couldn't answer that. This problem does not affect FM reception or CD playback. Any indeas? Thanks.

calmel

 

Hello, Comparison made! We have 7 people on a farm with multiple vehicles. We have a single 9 mile route into town. Our day for those commuting into town (for over 30 years) starts with the news from one radio station(not a station on xm). The station has come in crystal clear in every vehicle until we bought the 2005 Prius. Only in the Prius does this station come in barely audible. The other radio stations that also come in clear also have varying levels of static in the Prius.
The dealership has not been able to provide a solution.
The school year is starting and 72 year old teacher would really appreciate getting her radio station back. Do you know of any options to persue?

Thanks in advance,
Grey

 

That radio antenna on the top back of the car really does screw off with the bare hand (no tools required, you don't even have to have a strong grip).

Assuming you have a willing cohort on the farm, borrow the antenna off of one of the other vehicles and screw it on the Prius and see if it changes things for the better.

Even though the stock antenna is long I'm literally going to a Dodge/Chrysler dealer to buy a 4" antenna to put on my Prius. It's $4 + tax and if I'm lucky the reduction in drag might pay for the antenna in a few years but I won't hold my breath. Oh, and according to other Priuschat members it works better than the stock antenna. I live in a Metro area so I'm not worried about reception, better or worse I'll take the shorter mast.

My point is you don't need a Toyota in the mix to be able to swap antennas. Unscrew them by hand until you find one that fits your car and see how it sounds. If it fixes the problem you know you can go spend $5-$20 and get any antenna you like to screw into that spot and make your radio work better. Heck if you want to waste money you can spend more than that.

Bottom line if you need a quick fix one of those other vehicles on the farm might be the quickest short term fix.

 

Rankings of Radio Reception:

My girlfriends '97 Jetta < My 07 Prius < Almost every other car