boosting fm reception

FM boosters do nothing but boost the signal and noise along with them. FM reception has to do with line of sight from the transmission antenna. To get the best possible FM reception, make sure that you have a good antenna and that it has a good ground (less than 0.5 ohms resistance to ground. If your radio has a good tuner then you have done all you can do. If you think of FM in terms of a light located on the top of the transmission tower - if you can see the light, you will get the full signal. If the light is faint, reflected off something, or partially obscured, your FM reception will suffer. Don't expect a cheap booster to give better FM. They aren't worth the money as they boost everything including the static and noise. You can always switch to satellite radio, but understand that it to is limited by your antenna receiving the signal. Overhead obstructions will limit the receiver from receiving a clear signal. When all else fails, switch to CD's.sparky

Cool gang, that explains a lot, sounds like a better antenna, and a better receiver is a good place to start in my case.  I'm still using the factory stuff.