97 crv fm works fine but the am frequencies are very faint. any ideas?
Poor AM reception is usually an indication of an antenna problem. Could be a ppor connection at the radio, a cable that has absorbed water, a poor ground at the outside mount, a broken cable, etc. Chances are a new antenna and cable will improve things (assuming it is not an internal radio problem). Ed
"C. E. White" wrote If the AM antenna is one separate from the FM, and into its own jack into the radio, that sounds likely. The OP said FM works fine. But since it's one antenna working well on FM, then no, I don't think that's the solution. HOWEVER... ;-) If it were my car I would reach back behind the radio and jiggle the connector to see if something's come loose. If there is no change, then it may very well be an internal radio problem. I'd bang on it gently to see if the reception improves even momentarily.
AM reception is much more dependent on a good antenna than FM. A broken antenna cable can actually make a decent FM antenna while providing poor AM reception. I've had lots of practice with these sort of problems on my farm tractors. I mostly listen to FM, but sometimes a sports even is only on an AM station. More than once I've had to clean the outside ground connection in order to pull in the AM signal. I've never had a problem with the FM signal. Ed
"C. E. White" wrote Well, you're right. I was initially thinking of a broken connector at the antenna jack. Of course, then he'd get no reception at all. It can get a little tricky depending on where a cable might be broken (if it is) and we're just speculating anyway. Jiggling the wire while it's connected to the radio, and/or pulling out the connector and just touching the center tip to the center of the jack is also part of the diagnosis. If there's a bad/shorted ground, doing the latter should give an improved signal.
has to be something. I got in the car this morning and it worked fine. About an hour later same situation arose.
Are you even reading the replies you get? How about the one you just quoted, above? It's almost certainly a bad antenna/wire/connector. Figure it out and fix it. Sheesh.
go suck canal water, just lettin people know whats going on. if you aint got nothin better to do than dont bother
Posting to this newsgroup is not a magic bullet. While you will get some good direction here, it does not absolve you from helping yourself. Start by learning more about AM radio signals, what they are and how they propagate. See if the problem truly is random, or does it have any type of pattern, then try to clearly articulate the problem. We have no way of originally knowing if it used to work, what type of terrain, how far you are from the transmitter, and how many stations are affected (all or some). The better the description of the problem, the more likely you will get some meaningful help.
Any cell phone chargers plugged in? That would cause interference. Doesnt effect FM, but can effect some AM.
