Anyone else have an issue with an aftermarket deck? I did wire the antenna adapter to to power antenna lead on the radio, but AM/FM is pretty bad. Do we just have a really crappy antenna? Same setup worked great in my truck.

 

Mine works well except when I am in the parking garage then the reception is pretty bad.

Cat :X

 

there are 2 different antenna adapters that fit the fit. One does not have a blue lead. on the antenna adapter. The other does. Buying the antenna adapter with the lead works much better than pwering the P.ant wire in the aftermarket radio harness. That wire is for honda's with integreated antennas on the rear glass. If there's a an actual antenna like the fit it's a seperate circuit.

 

The adapter I used was the Scosche one, it has the blue lead. I hooked that to the power antenna lead from my Alpine. Is there a better way to hook that up? We did have really crappy weather today, but I still never had that bad of reception with this head unit before.

 

Get a Toyota antenna. the Matrix and Camry I think share the same one, I have the Matrix one, and OMG< I catch stations that I never caught before.

I lived in San Carlos CA, and I couldn't hear my favorite station in San Francisco, yes,.... the *** one... Energy92.7 Used to catch it in my teg, but in the fit, I only got static. The change was very noticeable, and I love the gift from SlimJim

 

As said by CuTeBoi a nw mast could probably help. I have Sirius so I never listen t local radio so I never noticed the lack in reception. Alpine as well over the last few years have put weaker receivers in their head units. For radio reception Sony/Blaupunkt seem to have the best receiver. But their other failings don't make them worthwhile.

 

I didnt have any reception issues with this head unit in my truck. I wonder if the antenna adapter is just junk. I listen to XM mostly also, but when I want to flip to something local its almost painful. Local news on AM is unlistenable there is so much interference.

 

Most trucks have a full mast. and get better reception in general. Hondas of late with rear windshield integrated antennas and short stubbies haven't been so hot in the radio reception department. I've have to add VW stubby amplified roof antennas to a few newer civics at my job because the AM reception was complete poo.

 

I noticed that today, too. Fortunately, I don't often listen to local radio; I have Sirius. However, I did notice my Sirius receiver is starting to act up. It's a shame the hardware for Sirius is such low-quality crap. I have the USB hookup, too, so worst case scenario, I just switch to USB and listen to music.

 

Just an FYI Sirius doesn't make any hardware. Most standalone units are made by Clarion and DEI.

 

I didn't think they did. Whoever does, the units suck. I'm basically pulling a MacGyver on the antenna. If I have time this weekend, I'm actually going to run the antenna to the outside. Right now it's sitting on the dash. You can see where the wire is starting to detach from the antenna. I think the next step is going to get the Pioneer receiver to go with the headunit I got.

 

KNow what, I just turned to tighten the antenna a bit, and I think it seemed to help! I'll give it a few days and report back if that really did it. I listen to regular radio so infrequently with the XM installed. Now only if there were room for the Apline HD tuner behind the dash. Not sure why they made that thing so damn big!

 

Hey everyone. my first post here. I signed up specifically so I could post on this problem. I got OK reception with the factory radio on my brand new Fit however I changed it out to a brand new Pioneer DEH-P980BT head unit and the reception was so bad I did not get even 1 station! The station I could get sort of was the local station broadcast only a few miles from my house and it still barely came in. So, determined to figure out what is going on, either bad car antenna or bad head unit I decided to buy an after market antenna. This helped only slightly. So for the last week I've been listening to a CD and it got old real quick. I went to Autozone today and bought an entire replacement along with the plug and everything. This time I took the head unti out and just ran the cable right to the antenna input bypassing all factory wiring. Lo and behold I got perfect reception on all the stations that did not even come in at all! Now I have to figure out how to replace the antenna on the roof and run a new cable all the way back to the deck. Long story short, the FIT has a badly designed antenna or is using very poor cabling. In either event, a recall needs to be issued and all fits should have these items replaced because it is ridiculous that I have to tare apart my brand new car to get a decent reception. If I take it to the dealership all they will do is replace the crappy factory wiring with more crappy factory wiring which will not fix anything. So, who do we send our complaints to?!

 

You'd probably go to the local dealer and ask for a regional rep, at least thats what I would assume.

 

Cool, I will do that. We should all do that. Recalls don't come easy, a lot of people have to chime in and complain to make anything happen. I suspect the factory stereo has some sort of special booster in it or something to get radio stations since my new head unit can't. I am not sure how that all works. Oh, and the adapter I bought does have the blue wire on it...did not help at all.

 

A friend of mine gave me his antenna off his Toyota and reception is fine now.

 

I tell ya I was out for a while tonite, and the weather is real crappy, but I think that tightening of the antenna did it, everything is coming in much better now.

 

Thought I would give you all an update to what I have discovered. I took the entire interior of my fit out today to install speaker wires and amp power cables and things like that. I also took the ceiling out. Completely gutted the entire car. I was determined to figure out what the deal is with the antenna and made a discovery. There is indeed a small amp box right at the base of the antenna. Guess what, it is the cause of all the problems! There are 2 wires that go to it, one is the coax cable that goes to the dash, the other is a power cable. All I did was cut the power cable and instantly all my stations came in clearer then they have ever come in on any of my previous vehicles. I ended up rewiring it to bypass the box completely. Here is the crappy part about all this. You have to take the ceiling out to get to it. If you only take the rear part out, you will not have enough room to see what you are doing. To take the ceiling out you have to take the upper molding off in the back and between the doors. Well guess what, to get those off you have to take off the lower molding! So basically you have to gut the entire car like I did to fix it which is LAME. I spose if you went to the dealership and told them to do this for you for free under warranty they might but I highly doubt it. Also, if you try to remove the ceiling only half way, it will cause it to buckle and wrinkle really badly. I didn't have that problem but there was one spot where it happened a little and it doesn't look good If someone can figure out where that wire gets its power from under the dash at the fuse box I'm sure you could cut it there and solve the problem a lot easier!

 

I also have bad FM reception , esp at 89 to 91 mhz? . My regional rep is of no help yet but he listens more than the dealer does. He's paid to do that. My dealer says "Bad reception is normal. They are all like that. warranty won't cover this , "listen to your CDs". He won't drive it around the block to check for loose connection static or pops. He disregards a log book full of detailed reception problems. My wife says she will no longer risk an accident through distraction related to stopping and noting problems. If enough of us complain, Honda might come up with a solution. Perhaps the Toyota antenna mast is the solution. I assume it is a 1/4 wavelength mast. We don't have a clearance issue with the hatch opening. A local installer said he cured one similar problem where a power lead to the signal amp was coiled about the antennae lead. Inductance issue? It may also be relevant if we have the base radio , sport model or an aftermarket radio? The signal amplifier may be tuned to the antenna and reciever. I'm almost ready to put a 37" mast on the front fender.

 

What do you mean by "tightening the antenna" ?