I have a 2007 LS Coupe, bought it new in October.

It has the "black tie" radio with the auxiliary input. Anyways, the FM reception is pretty bad. Already the dealer has taken the radio out to make sure the connectors were snug, and when that didn't help they replaced the head unit. Neither of these have improved reception any.

Any suggestions on an aftermarket antenna that might improve reception? Most of the antenna posts around here are about improving appearance

Also, How does one test the antenna or the antenna wire?

Thanks!

 

no idea... if your current antenna is bad then no aftermarket ones will be better. Check the connections in the back

 

aftermarket antenna's reception will be worse..... but ark perfromance sells one if you want to try it, they are a supporting vendor here.

 

could always just run a new antenna line in case the stock cord is back or shorted somewhere

 

I have had the same problem since new (also 07 2.2) and i thought about taking it to the dealer but usually thats a waste of time so i said screw it. I have an after market H/U now and it still does the same thing. I don't even listen to the radio anymore, i only listen to CDs and my Ipod.

 

Well that doesn't sound promising. I was thinking an aftermarket head unit might fix things. I was wondering if the spoiler on my LS was a source of multipath reflection interference; a quarter-wavelength antenna like the stock antenna makes use of the trunk lid, fender, etc. as a ground plane. But I see from your profile your cobalt lacks the spoiler, so there goes that theory

This post is kind of interesting:

http://www.chevroletforum.com/archiv...e-49354-1.html

It looks like the antenna wire doesn't run directly to the back of the head unit; there is some kind of intermediate connection by the glove box before it goes to the head unit. I wonder if the connection is loose here and the dealer has only been checking on the back of the radio.

 

thats an "official" gm document and all dealers should have access via their computers so unless they didnt look (which is very possible)

 

If you go to your dealer, they'll do a reprogram for the radio. Reason i know that is i work at a Chevy dealer and had to do it on mine. works fine now.
For anyone with login for SI:
Poor Audio Quality When Listening to AM or FM Radio (Reprogram Radio) #06-08-44-016C - (04/03/2007)

 

Reprogram at the dealer for this issue just did mine last week!

 

If this is taking care of it then how the hell can this still be going on with my aftermarket H/u?

 

Have you got the proper ant. adapter in?
Does it have XM radio, or should I say did the stock HU have XM in it?
Mine is an 07 w/the pioneer system and I had to use a chyrsler ant adapter to fit properly

 

I've had the same problem with my 2.2 at one point. For me it was the wires in the back, some how they got loose and the reception came in all fuzzy and it buzzed loud. So I just made the connections tighter in the back. Maybe this will help. Good luck.

 

Ooh, this sounds promising. I'll have to contact the dealer and see if they reprogrammed either the stock radio or the replacement.

Thanks for the info yellow_ss07 and LaserBlue07SS !!

 

i had the same problem the dealer reprogrammed it and "fixed it" not perfect but it was better.

 

Well, I had the radio reprogramed a couple months ago, and it didn't make any difference.

I recently had the pleasure of renting a 2008 Impala LS for ten days, and it had a similar radio. Looked identical to the one in the Cobalt, except the display was incapable of text - it simply stated the station I was listening to. I was unimpressed with the reception in the Impala, despite it using a rear-window antenna that I thought might provide better reception. Many of the stations I enjoy listening came in intermittently. I guess the head units just suck, which is kind of a relief. I thought the poor reception was something specific to my Cobalt LS.

Other cars in our family include a 1998 Acura CL (window antenna) and a 1997 Nissan Sentra (mast antenna) and I never had any problems with the factory radios. I live right in Cleveland, OH proper and can actually just look out and see the giant towers which have the antennas for some of the stations which come in poorly both on the Cobalt and the Impala I recently rented after an accident.