XG350 Radio

As a radio broadcast engineer, on of my greatest disappointments was the attention to detail in the Hyundai--despite all else that I liked/loved--in the area of electrical noise control. First, they handicap the radio by trying to press an FM antenna into AM service by mounting the head end (tuner) back near the antenna. But it doesn't have enough separation from the body to do well. And the electrical noise in the system compared to a GM is out of this world bad. I know they had to cut costs somewhere but with all the computers running around, you have a gigantic noise source in each computer that doesn't have noise suppression in the AM band. And the ignition system pollutes the entire wiring harness with noise that radiates throughout and near the vehicle. Take a portable AM radio and get near the car when the engine is running. Between the generator whine and the ignition noise, that's enough to defeat good AM reception. Add to that the clocks from all the computer modules and the noise spectrum is really astonishingly bad.

But AM is almost dead. All we have now is religion, right wing nuts and a few sports stations. I'm too lazy to take on a car with this many deficiencies so I just put in SIRIUS (and XM) and enjoy the miles the way I used to do with Bill Mack on WBAP--or WSM and the Opry.

The Hyundai XG300 I have has been a wonderful, comfortable car and the

4B warranty has been well worth it. Now, of course, I'm starting to have problems here and there besides the AM radio. Light bulbs cost a fortune to have replaced, like 50 bux to replace a reading light cuz, engineer or no, I'm a mechanical klutz. And the can get the right side wheels vertical so my car ate a set of Goodyear Accutreds while they were repeatedly trying to align it. And they changed out my remote control and it doesn't open the trunk and my wife's remote quit working cuz somehow the car followed the key code instead of the key following the car code. But, everything has been handled under warranty and I always get a N/C replacement car while they're fixing it so as long as I have a dealer like Huffines in Plano, I'll probably buy another one cuz it's been more car than I expected to get.

Even my ethnocentric brother bought a Santa Fe. (Of course, since he's in Houston (Katy), the miserable dealer he had sold him some dufus replacement for the 4B for $1800 bux that had a $100 deductable. Why would Hyundai even allow that is beyone me. But he got out of that and he'll go somewhere else and get himself a 4B at a reasonable price. And, hopefully find a dealer that's Honest.

Cheers. Forget about AM; it ain't gonna happen. And have a Happy and Prosperous New Year. You too, HT.

Fred, W8OY snipped-for-privacy@no.spam.airmail.net

Fred, Tnx for the info but I think I'll go with a high end Sony or Kenwood. Just don't drive enough to justify the 15 bucks a month for Sirius or XM. I perceived the W8OY as being an amateur radio callsign. I am WC0E and was WB0IJZ since 1969 or so before that. I like listening to the right winged nut jobs on AM radio when I want to puke to lose weight. Also around here they have a lot of "For Sale" stuff on the AM band. The FM is populated by religious crazies at the lower end of the FM dial and rap and heavy metal on the upper end. I listen to a lot od CDs

Happy new year to you too, es 73