Antenna Booster for 2002 Golf

My 2002 Golf has a factory radio (non-Monsoon system). It works fine, except some nearby stations really fade quickly as I leave town. I drive 45 miles to a nearby town a few times every week and these stations are nearly gone after about 20 miles. These are both AM and FM stations with talk radio programs that I like.

I suppose the problem could be that these are just low-powered stations and I am out of luck (can't amplify non-existent signals).

Anyway, I visited a local car stereo place today and in a moment of weakness I bought an AM/FM antenna booster for $20.

I've never installed any kind of car audio equipment. Is this sort of thing easy to do? Will I need to remove the radio? If so, will this cause problems with the radio (password/whatever)? Do I need special tools?

Also, someone told me my car already has an antenna booster. How do I check for this? If so, I guess I should get a refund for my booster (unless it's okay to use two boosters).

I appreciate any help anyone can send, as I am clearly a rookie and need help!

Thanks.

Reply to
swangdb
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There's a amp built into the factory base. Also, power for this amp is sent down the OEM ant cable. Don't think adding an amp will help.

Reply to
Woodchuck

Possibly worse than that. It may not pass the power through to the antanna-base amplifier so the AM stations would become even weaker.

Possibly worse that that. It might even short the power, possibly with unpleasant results.

You can download my display software and a listing of all the US and nearby Canadian/Mexican broadcasting stations from

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The listing includes power andantenna directional patterns. You can plot transmitter locations onStreet Atlas maps.

Reply to
R J Carpenter

My reception sucks too. I just bought a new antenna from VW for $75. and it did not cure the problem. I also have a new Sony Radio so I am at a loss as to what teh problem is. I toyed with the idea of just installing a regular antenna on the fender or something but I wanted to try the booster deal first. I think it is simple to install but you have to open your dashboard and grab the radio. The plugs are inline but you may need to grab a hot lead to power it.

I would be curious if it worked before I do it on my 99 Jetta

Reply to
Mike Smith

I would suspect that the Sony radio does not superimpose the power over the coaxial cable that the amplified VW requires.

Reply to
Tom's VR6

I would suspect that the Sony radio does not superimpose the power

Yep, you got it all figured out.

Reply to
Woodchuck

None of my recent VWs had a working radio in them, but here's a thought that used to apply to some radios, and all old ones.

There was a small trimmer capacitor on the radio that was adjusted when the radio was installed and connected to the antenna (and power, ofcourse). If such a capacitor is there, adjust AM to the highest frequency station at the

1600 kHz end of band and adjust capacitor with small flat-blade screwdriver for best signal. I was "matching" the radio to the antenna installation and it usually made a big difference.

If there's no trimmer capacitor, you might want to check that d.c voltage is getting to the antenna base. If d.c. is present the amp may be dead. At this point you're going to have to get a Tech to help you with the radio itself -- new or used, the connector on the cable, radio or crimp/solder points might be bad -- ofcourse there are always semiconductors to mess with too, but since you're getting some stations, I'll bet the amp isn't working for one of the above reasons.

Reply to
Jim Lacko

I will keep this short, I know of NO aftermarket radios that work on AM with the factory radio!

Reply to
Woodchuck

If using an after market head unit (that does not put power on the antenna cable) you can use on of these:

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that link does not work, search for part number 097DIN12 at
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Reply to
Randolph

That's to the point!

Reply to
Tom's VR6

Reply to
Woodchuck

The problem is probably the antenna base is not properly grounding to the roof metal, a bit of rust etc. This ground is very important for the antena amplifier to function. Dc power is injected at the antena jack inside the OEM radio. If you want an aftermarket radio to work, an inline DC injector device is needed. Basically a coil capacitor combination. coil keeps the electical system form shorting the RF signal to ground, Capacitor passes the RF signal to the radio antenna input but keeps the DC form getting into radio and smoking components. DC lead of of inline device is normally connected to the power antena lead of radio or the amp turn on lead if no power antena lead. These inline RF amps are pretty reliable but they need good power and bad ground is normally the problem. However it means removing the head liner to access, unscrew the base and file the metal chassis to get at good clean metal. A normal antenna with no RF amp grounding is not critical to function.

Password for radio should be good as long as radio is in same car as factory. I think the radio talks to the alarm system or cpu to know which car it is in. if different car a new password will need to be programed using key sequences. I think VW got tired of all the BS when customers disconnected battery or had a flat battery.

Reply to
fixit1

I had variable AM reception, and flexing the base would restore good reception for a only while. I tightened the big nut under the headliner about 1/4 turn using a ViceGrip. That fixed it.

Reply to
Tom's VR6

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