Lots of chat around here about different antennas and how they look, and most say "as good as stock" or "a slight decrease"... seems like most folks are focused on changing the "look" of the factory standard -- NOT upgrading the performance... I haven't seen any posts about an audio upgrade.

I'm not worried about the appearance - I'm just getting lower quality FM reception in the new MINI than I did in the '96 volvo with a "window tape" antenna. I'm in a target-rich area, metro NYC, and I'm always listening to the lower FM band (<93). too much crackle & drift. not enough to suspect a problem, just not up to par, especially through the H/K system (quite happy with that, btw).

Without getting too crazy, has anyone heard of a decent upgrade?

 

I have had just the opposite experience with the standard radio in both our MINIs - I get better FM reception than I ever have in central NJ.

 

MINI owners do not listen to radio stations. They listen to satellite radio or the supercharger whine

 

The MINI sans roof antenna still gets better reception than any other car I've driven. Are you sure the antenna's are properly connected, the whole rear widow acts as an antenna as well as the roof antenna.

 

I know you can get an antenna amplifier for your home stereo system through places like Crutchfield, made by Terk and such.

To all those mobile audio/ICE fanatics out there, is there any kind of booster available for cars?

I'm going to have to recommend satellite radio to you, if all other options fail you.

 

hmmm. maybe it's MORE sensitive?

what's bugging me is that I get a lot more static noise from power lines, more pops and "scratchies" when I'm driving thru urban areas (like Newark, the vaction destination of millions). There's no problem picking up any station I want, it's just that I get more "crap" interrupting the smooth delivery of content.

Perhaps could it be a "lower rejection rate" on the head unit circuitry of spurrious noise<?>

any good "car radio geek" web forums out there?

 

FM and AM reception on my oem hu outside of a 25 mile radius of New York City was always inferior. Most annoying was when my son's 2000 Sentra parked right next to mine pulled in stations loud and clear that were totally impossible to receive in the Mini.

When I installed my Alpine 9857, audio quality on the cd and iPod improved the stock speakers at least 100%, but radio reception is worse than the Mini's. I also had the same problem in my 99 Jetta.

I would say that as far as earth radio is concerned, German head units are totally lacking, but my other son just installed a Sony head unit in his Pontiac and the am/fm reception also sucks.

 

Anyone who replaced their head unit with aftermarket:

Make sure you supply power to the power antenna connection in the harness. If you skip this, your reception will be horrible. You can't rely on just the physical connection of the antenna being plugged into the head unit.

 

I'm not sure what to do about this issue, either. Since NPR is typically at the lower end of the FM band - I've also found that this MINI H/U in my '06 is really lousy at the lower frequencies, as well - compared to other non-MINI stock H/U's I've had in other cars.

I did try a Honda S2000 antenna and also an Alta shorty FM antenna. No difference in FM reception at the lower frequencies that I could percieve. I think that the FM in the stock H/U is marginal. I've had three different, recent, higher-end Alpine H/U's in other cars and the FM on those is lousy across the entire band, IMO.

If you do come up with a solution, I'd be delighted to know.

 

I've noticed that the antenna on the Mk4 Golf, GTi, and Jetta appears to be taller than ours although I've been told the VW antenna has longer threads so it may have some exposed threads when put on our cars. However, a larger antenna may give you better reception. I've noticed the same thing on some of the lower range of stations (including NPR) but it's not bad enough for me to want to spend money fixing it.

 

since I've been ruminating on this for weeks now, here are latest observations:
1. reception in the "not too far out" areas is fine
2. urban areas - pops and crackles and fizzes
3. in the boonies, not great.

It's almost as if they tried to make the best of a "reception curve" and kinda dialed in the middle range. Maybe we need different antennas for different environments. hmmm...

 

My reception is poor in Cincinnati area as well. In my other cars the stations are clear as day, but in the Mini - lots of crackles?
I'd be interested to know as well!

 

It's a conspiracy.

XM and Sirius have payed off the head unit manufacturers to make nothing but crappy am and fm circuits so you'll buy satellite radio.

 

I KNEW IT!!!!!!

 

Somehow, I think you may be on to something, here.

 

I always thought the radio reception sucked on my HK. I picked up a S2000 antenna on NAM for like $17 shipped. Not to mention the remote controlled car look is gone, but the reception is night and day different. The stock antenna = cassette tape like quality while the new S2000 antenna is much closer to CD quality reception. I'm in an area that's pretty much in a valley and 50+ miles from big city radio stations. Before swapping antennas I would hardly ever listen to the radio because the reception was so bad on the HK. Now I can listen to radion without pulling my hair out!

Might be the best mod I've done to my Mini. Especially if you're looking at the value per $ ratio.

You can probably find one on NAM or Ebay - at < $20 it's worth trying before pulling the head unit and then finding you still have an antenna problem.

 

well, after further digging and sniffing on this subject, methinks it boils down to this:

1. what you got is what you got.

2. truly excellent FM circuitry is complex and expensive. given that, reference point #1 above.

3. The crux of my issue is not about signal acquisition. That would be an antenna problem, and the performance of any antenna is mainly proportional to its height, given decent construction. I have a Fanfare FM antenna on my home stereo (see http://www.fanfare.com) placed in my attic. I get great FM at home. If you're reading this thread and you live far, far from transmission locale, then you might get better results in the MINI from a bigger antenna with a booster of some type, though I think boosters tend to introduce a lot of noise.

4. Most of my problem is about noise and trash coming through on top of the radio program. This is about the circuitry, its ability to reject non-program noise, its selectivity and sensitivity. Most people seem say that they're having problems with their "higher end" head units as well, and we sort of agree that a big part of the issue is that the radio spectrum is getting "trashy" -- more types of wireless everything, lots of devices spilling noise into other bandwidths. God forbid I leave my cell phone near my computer speakers at work - bat batttah bat bat buttba batt everytime packets fly through. Seems if you want really clean FM, you need equipment that's much more rare and expensive. I'm not sure what that is yet.

5. I guess the truly motivated motoring listener could put a high grade receiver + antenna elsewhere in the vehicle and jack into the AUX on the head unit. But, hey - at this point the Ipod is taking the Darwinian lead. And I'm getting some great podcasts these days from radio stations all over the country.

6. my view going forward, refer to point #1 above But I'm still listening -- to suggestions, and, of course, FM.

--tdm

 

Better late then never, I did this today and my FM now works perfect with the alpine headunit

 

Wow - glad my 4+ year old post helped!

 

That it did, as I finally had some free time and took out the panels and re did all the wires, been listening to nothing but my ipod and satelite, as I really could not get any good FM/AM. Now it works perfect,