993Widebody

The reception in my 96 993 is pretty bad, much worse than a car with a standard antenna. I also have an S4 with an antenna in the rear window which is much better.

Is this the same for all 993s. It is getting pretty annoying. Can anything be done about it?

Steve in SLO

Rob,
One possibility is your antenna is unplugged...I had a windshield replaced and noticed abysmal reception on return of the car to me. They'd forgot to plug the antenna wire coming from the windshield back in. A friend of mine had his come apart without work having been done. The plug comes off the lower right corner of the windshield and can be accessed (if you're double-jointed) from the front storage compartment.
Hope this helps.

Anir

Rob,

My reception is absolutely horrible as well - the worst I've ever seen in any car. I have to creatively interpret NPR in the morning, since I can only catch every other word!

Steve, I'm going to check that connection, although my windshield has never been replaced to my knowledge. Hopefully, that's the problem.

Thanks,

Sean of NJ

Rob I'm pretty sure that the antenna is powered with an in-line fuse. Check the fuse.

Sean

E. J. - 993 Alumni

Guys,

I too had this problem and went round and round on it. It turned out that it was my connection at the windshield as described above. It is a HUGE pain to get to, my windshield installer had to use a long tool to actually reach it and push on the plug since neither of us had skinny enough arms to reach. You must use a flashlight to even see the plug. Open the front trunk and look at the very back of the compartment behind the fuse box on the passenger side next to the fire wall and you should see the connector. It is a round black plastic wire connector.

IF that is not the problem, there can be two other sources. The first is the worst and that is that when a windshield is installed the antenna cord is very easily cut or pulled out of the windshield at the connection point due to its fragile nature.

If that is not it and I am not sure how to check for that, there is a common oversight when stereos are removed and installed. The installer does not see a powered antenna so he does not hook up the power antenna lead. This is incorrect, as even though it is not a powered antenna, it is an amplified antenna and requires that lead to be hooked up. I think I remember it being a blue wire, but I am not sure. I recommend you go to the old board archives and look it up. It is a pretty common problem.


By the way, when working properly, the reception is quite good - so you should be able to tell right away once its fixed.

Good Luck,

[ 08-06-2001: Message edited by: E. J. - 95 Carrera - No. Va. ]

Ran

Anir,
I had to say goodbye to NPR and BBC though that same public stn after getting the TT. Reception is terrible but the CD stock sound system is pretty good. I guess I will have to live with the poor reception.

Robert Henriksen

I'll chime in w. the rest of the chorus & confirm the same problem. The New Orleans Porsche dealer had changed the windshield in my car (before I came into its life), and really botched the job. The glass sat about 3/8" too low in the frame, the rubber seal couldn't cover the gap w. the metal at the upper corners, it wasn't sealed against the wind! You could feel a draft & hear a BUNCH of wind noise at the base of the glass, and - oh yeah - the antennae hadn't been plugged in.

But Don McGill replaced the windshield for me, gratis, because it'd been a dealer that had botched the job so badly last time. I was very impressed, that was the start of a very positive relationship w. Don McGill in Houston.

E. J. - 993 Alumni

Ran, I have to say that that should not be the case. I am not sure why your (much higher dollar) turbo would have any different radio reception then my lowly Carrera. I would check the connections I mentioned above. You should not have to settle on no radio in a $100,000 car.

Where is Rick in Portland when you need him?

Steve in SLO

If the windshield connection is the problem, it CAN be manually reconnected, but is tough. I was able to do it by finding the plug and male connection on the window and stuffing my hand in there while facing front of the car with my hand facing backward and palm up (think backhanded waiter's tip position). It took me about 15 minutes, seemed like 15 hours, but I got it. FWIW, I'm a doc who does lots of fine motor movements with my hands, and it was a challenge for me. Alternately, a LONG set of needlenosed pliers with a 90 degree tip or some long surgical needleholder might work. BTW--Test-fit your hand before trying to get to the plug...it might be embarrassing if the fire department has to come extricate you.
Good luck

GeoT3

I think the plug might be reachable via removing the dash pad. I think this was posted by Ray Calvo. Have not done it but if my memories serves...

George

E. J. - 993 Alumni

If the dash pad is on the inside of the car, then I don't think so. I looked at it from every angle and determined that no matter how much of the dash I removed, I would not be able to reach it since it is on the other side of the fire wall. Of course I can always be wrong, but I removed a lot of the dash only to find out I could not reach it.

Fred 993C4S

My 96 C4S has a pretty decent reception and I do hear NPR every morning without any problems. It is not as good as most other cars though. I kind of remenber someone saying on an old post that the becker(german) radios work in frequencies that are slightly off from what we have here in the US, something like 1/2 KHZ or something? Does anyone remember something like that or am I just crazy? BTW My 1999 996 coupe was just as good(bad) as my 993 C4S

Fred

Anir

Great thread...I'm going to check out all the "leads" tomorrow (no pun intended!).

I'll report back if I find a fix, without getting stuck and having to call the fire dept!

Rick in Portland

I have owned two 993's, and both of them seemed to have good radio reception.

In earlier models utilizing the window antenna, there is an RF amplifier that increases the reception, and I believe the 993's used an RF amp as well.

I would first track that unit down and see if it's getting power, as that would make a considerible difference if the RF amp wasn't working.

If the 993's have them, the antenna would be connected to the RF amp, and then there would be a cable from the RF amp to the radio. Locate the antenna wire connected to the radio, and follow where it goes.

Rick

[ 08-06-2001: Message edited by: Rick in Portland ]

993Widebody

Thanks for all the great responses, now to go check after that damn hard to reach plug.