I just completed the install of the RioCar player in my 99 BMW M3 and noticed that the radio reception is MUCH worst than with the factory stereo. I used to have the Mark 1 with the factory stereo going into the Empeg and the Factory stereo handled CD changer and Radio. I figured, I used the CD changer sooo little that I would just swap it out, and use my Rio to do it all. I am noticing that the strongest stations are barely coming in. I have noticed that the radio stations above 105MHz FM come in pretty good, but anything below that is very bad. Am I doing something wrong here?

I have told the Emplode that the Tuner is set for United States... Why would the reception be so bad? Also, if anyone else has a bmw and has installed this, do you know what that extra wire that is connected to the Antenna is? They both plugged into the back of the factory deck, but i am only using one of them. Is the other Ground? Should I ground it to the chassis?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Jason Sarich

Did you read the FAQ at riocar.org? Search for "tuner" - there are a few Q&A's that apply.

Rob

Odds are, the extra wire is the power that goes to the antenna amplifier. FAQ and you shall find. Also, check this entry right above it, but most likely your problem is the antenna amplifier.

Thanks for the insight Rob. I would assume that the extra wire would be for power or something. Do you or anyone else know this for sure for the BMW's? will this require and aftermarket adapter?

I'd say just try hooking up that extra wire to the blue wire and see what happens.

Tony, I believe you are most likely correct. However, I don't want to push 12V to the antenna unless it is designed for that. Do you know much about BMW antenna's? Can I use that blue wire from the extension cable to power it?

I would definately do that...but I was just thinking. The wire is actually a small plug. and the wire is thicker than 16AWG, so I am guessing that it is power and ground all in one. Do you think that will make a difference?

If the wire is literally attached to the antenna cable, I would say that the odds are extremely high that it's the antenna amplifier or (if your car has one) is the power to raise and lower your antenna. In either case, the blue wire is the correct wire to attach there.

Does your car happen to have a "Fuba"-style antenna? My '88 VW GTI had one of these. It's a short stubby black antenna with a cone-shaped base, slanted back at an angle to look like it's "windswept". These were sometimes referred to as "bee-sting" antennas. If you've got one of those, I would give you nearly 100 percent odds that the extra wire is the power antenna wire. Those bee-stings have their antenna amplifiers in that cone-shaped base, and my GTI had the single "twin" cable running to it, just like you described.

However, I do not know with absolute certainty that the wire is the antenna amp wire, and I will grant you that applying 12v to an unidentified wire could be dangerous.

You take a chance either way. I leave it to you. -Morpheus

This is interesting...I just found this excerpt from Antennaworld.com:
If the original BMW radio is replaced with an aftermarket radio, the computer defaults to one antenna, probably the largest array. The reception quality will become fairly poor using a single antenna in the rear glass. The best solution apart from re-installing the original radio is to install a single antenna in the rear fender, the old fashioned, old reliable way. Otherwise an aftermarket radio with 2 antenna inputs (diversity system) would be a near remedy: In this case use the default antenna in the rear glass plus an aftermarket small electronic antenna inside the front glass.

BUT, then in the NOTE:
Note: No reception on the AM band means the power is somehow disconnected from the antenna box in the C-pillar. Check for voltage at the box itself. Many times when installing an aftermarket radio the power lead to the antenna box is left disconnected. It should go to the power-antenna lead, (blue or green) of the aftermarket radio.

Very strange...

Good research. So the extra wire is either the power to the antenna box, or it's the second antenna in a "diversity" system.

Do you have full documentation on the factory wiring pinouts? When I got all my install stuff from Crutchfield, I got a wiring diagram for the factory connectors. Perhaps you simply need to locate the proper wires in the diagram.

FIXED!!! Ok, what I did is plug the blue wire into the existing wireing harness from the factory deck on the wire for remote turn on. That was the power for the antenna amplifier, and POW, I get ALL the stations again!

Thanks for the input.

By the way, that extra power is a diversity input??? and it is used by the factory deck to tell the Computer in the antenna amp to use 1 to 3 of the built in antenna's in the BMW's.

Thanks for your help!

I see. So the extra cable was not a single wire, it was a multi-conductor cable. If you'd said that from the beginning, I would have been able to determine that it wasn't the antenna power. The power antenna leads are almost always a single wire.

So it seems that second cable is some sort of a serial communication system between the antenna box and the radio. Makes sense in a diversity setup.

Glad you found the correct wire before trying anything. Plugging 12v into that line might indeed have damaged that antenna control computer.