poor am reception ’09 honda civic

Hi, all - I recently installed a Chinese 2 Din DVD/GPS head unit in my 2009 Honda Civic. The HU has a standard OEM tubular female antenna in port. The Civic wiring harness has a grey rectangular plug. I purchased an aftermarket antenna adapter cable, which had 2 outgoing leads: a standard tubular male antenna plug, and a blue wire. According to Crutchfield and others, the blue wire has to be connected to the power antenna wire coming out of the HU harness.

Without connecting the wire, I get no AM stations at all.

With the wire connected, I get weak AM reception, even though I'm in a metropolitan area. Several AM stations cannot be found at all.

So, I dunno. The power antenna wire coming out of the HU is quite thin gauge - one of the thinnest wires I've ever seen. I'm wondering if it's not capable of delivering sufficient power to the antenna amplifier in the Honda.

Or, maybe I've got a defective HU.

Any thoughts on how to troubleshoot this? I'm kinda stumped.

Thanks, everyone - Charlie

Link to the HU I purchased:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/car-dvd-with-gps-for-honda-civic-3G-USB-host-S100-platform-A8-chipset-DVR-3/852061995.html

I know nothing about that head unit, but in general yes, you must power antenna amplifiers if they exist in your vehicle and yes, it is common for AM reception to be poor in after market head units in general. If you think the amplifier power output from the HU is insufficient you can try powering it directly from a 12V source other than the HU to test and see if the reception improves. But something tells me you just might be getting all you are going to get...

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if your reception doesnt get better you could try buying an aftermarket glass-mount amplified antenna.

Connect the blue wire of the antenna adapter to the same connection as the Radio's Switched power wire. This will power the antenna any time the key is turned on.

Thanks for the great feedback, folks. I think I'll try supplying the antenna booster from a hefty 12V source, just as a test. Failing that... well, I might pick up something like an external firestick antenna. Really ugly, but people say they work. Not my first choice, though.

This is a fantastic forum, with really helpful participants. Thanks again. Take care - Charlie