I recently had a Sirius Satellite Radio installed in my wifes car made by Kenwood. The KCA-R70FM Modulator with the KTC-SR902 tuner and the CX-SR20 antenna. Now that the system is installed the reception of the FM stations is very poor and AM does not work at all. The installers said that there isn't anything they can do to make it work any better due to the vehicle using an amplified antenna. Some how I doubt this to be the case. I searched around the forums and couldn't quite find anything that gave me the answer to my problem but what I have come up with is this. The wire that powers up the amplified antenna has been disconnected and thus why the poor reception. My question is how do I enable this with the FM Modulator in line of the antenna? I've heard some talk about a different type of antenna adapter that has a third wire in it for the power up of the antenna could this be the answer to my problem? The sound quality of the Sirius radio is great and everything is working fine on that. Just the reception of regular FM and AM is an issue.
Specs and info:
Vehicle is a Volkswagon New Beetle 2001 using the stock headunit with 6 disc cd changer.
Installed is Kenwood KCA-R70FM, KTC-SR902, CX-SR20.
Thanks.
Ive never dealt with an amplified antenna but, if all you need is a 12 volt wire to turn it on then you should have no problem getting that from a wire in the car or Ive even found acc and ign ports in the fuse box itself that were unused and never had problems powering up other things.
one thing to check for...its there a toggle switch for the FM modulator? if there is..make sure u turn it off when u want to hear the radio..i have never heard of this problem and i have installed sirius radio in ur model vehicle before at my shop and never had this problem sounds like maybe the installers just dont feel like messing with it
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no it's a hard-wired FM mod and the problem is the antenna adaptor used was probably somethign that doesn't supply any power to the antenna....Metra makes adaptors that will power the antenna and that should hopefully clear up your problem....the model # is the MET-40VW53
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Thats the answer I was looking for! Thank you! Just called them to look into getting the right part. Let you know what happens with it.
The power for the antenna module goes down the shield of the antenna cable. SoundGate has a wireless FM modulator that I used on my Sirius tuner on my Audi, and I am very pleased. I don't think it is on their website though. They also have an auxiliary input interface that will allow you to use the CD changer input for the audio from your Sirius unit which will give you the best performance.
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Best Regards,
Rich