bad radio reception from new deck

[jonnyz16]

Do I need to hook up some kind of antenna when changing decks? I just got a new head unit and the reception is crap. The stock business cd unit had a small antenna in the back right? what can I do to improve reception for FM. thanks

[bbaz_usa]

I'm not sure about the new bimmers, but in some BMWs they have a powered antenna. That's how they can get good reception with no external/telescoping antenna. If the blue remote wire was not connected to the wiring harness adapter when the H/U was intalled,the antenna may not be getting any power, thus it will not pick up anything. Pull the H/U and double check for a blue, or a blue with white stripe, wire and see if it's connected. If you have both, and you are not using external amps, don't worry about which one is used. If you are using external amps, make sure the one marked antenna is the one being used... Don't use the blue one marked antenna for the amps, or they will turn off when you switch to "cd" or "aux" etc. If it's not labled, pull the head unit and play a cd. while doing that, grab a meter and make sure there is still power on one of the blues. If yes, the other blue will be your antenna. double check it by switching to radio, and the other should show 12v.

[dahman45]

if tht didnt work post this at www.caraudioforum.com they could probly answer it for u.