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Anyone know how to boost AM radio reception in a vehicle? I tried replacing my antenna and that did not work.
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Try a powered signal booster. Readily available on ebay, Amazon and elsewhere.
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Stream it?
I stream Chris Plante and Bongino at work and it's very aggravating. The stations that air them as well as I Heart Radio constantly log out of drop the signal. So you're logging back in almost as much as you're listening.
I don't know how to improve reception in a vehicle but I do know that AM signals get stronger the higher you get the radio/receiver. But that's not much help in a vehicle.
A digital radio is crap for am radio.
Find an old analog radio with a knob to tune and put a good antenna on it?
Find an old analog radio with a knob to tune and put a good antenna on it?
In the current world of RF noise (crappy LED lights, everything has a Wifi Radio, etc...), it's difficult to get a decent AM signal in a vehicle. You have a slightly better chance of improving things, than a newer vehicle with a factory radio.
You might get some improvement by cleaning up the power with an isolator/noise filter on the 12V line. It needs to be large enough to match the power usage of the radio/amps inside. And you may also need to add one to the switched 12V if that's in use.
Next is to figure out if the AM antenna is internal (they're frequently an internal ferrite bar) or it use uses the external antenna jack. What is the exact model of the Kenwood (a picture might help figure that out)? If it's internal, messing with the external FM only antenna is not going to help. If it's external replacing the factory antenna with a longer one might help.
Adding an amplified antenna is most likely just going to amplify the noise and give you a worse listening experience.
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