F30 Radio Rececption

Hunted

Member
Hi all,

I have of late been having issues with my F30 radio reception. This is related to radio stations, that looses it signal easy. In my opinion it appears that in the F30 it looses its lock on radio stations easily.

Then again, I have also a suspicion that it might have to do with the TomTom Live 1005 GPS I bought a while back. It occurred to me that the problems with the reception started after I got the GPS unit. Well, that what I'm telling myself.

I have switched the unit off to see if it helps, but will have to do more testing with to really determine if the GPS is the problem. I also moved the unit from the center of the car to the drivers door side to see if that is better, but will have to do my normal driving pattern first to see if it does help.

Questions though:

Anybody else feel that the reception of the standard radio is not as good as it should be? My Chevy Cruze before the BMW didn't have the same issues according to me.

Will a GPS, like the TomTom have any influence on radios ability to have good reception?

Maybe early madness is setting in, but would like to test with the BMW community first before booking myself in in the "groen dakkies"

Comments most welcome.

I'm from Cape Town and commute all other the CBD and surrounds for work.
 
P

petrivanzyl

Guest
No problems with radio reception.

Drive around the province alot and also down to the cape listening cricket on R2000 no problem:thumbs:
 

cOlDFuSiOn

New member
Also have not picked up any issues in the JHB traffic.. I have a tom tom unit too and can't see them interfering, I have 2 phones bluetoothed to the car as well and no issues there either.. :thumbs: Never listen to radio on long trips so can't comment on other provinces..
 

Hunted

Member
hmmm... I normally listen to 94.5 KFM here in Cape Town, probably one of the biggest locally. I know that reception for that station is not good in Stellenbosch and in Paarl. But for other areas it usually fine.

Of late I have been having issues here in Uitzicht where I live, which was never the case with my previous car.

Maybe I need to take the car in for a checkup. Thnx for the replies thus far.
 

Hunted

Member
Hi all,

just wanted to give some feedback on this subject.

I was watching a youtube clip on nifty Inverter that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket on LinusTechTips and it dawned on me after a comment in the video that some socket chargers causes disturbances on "cheap" radio systems, that it might be the reason why I have issues with my reception.

I never used the car charger that comes with the TomTom, but a energizer one with two USB ports. One for the TomTom and one for my phone.

I can report after removing the energizer car charger that my reception has improved by 100%. Almost no issues. Just here and there it breaks up.

So, there you go... A simple solution at the end. Maybe someone else in the world also have a similar problem and finds this post as helpful.

Just in case someone wanted to watch the particular YouTube clip, here it is.

[video=youtube]
 

cOlDFuSiOn

New member
Awesome thanks for getting an answer! :thumbs: I actually use the same Energizer 2 port USB charger for my phones/GPS - it's used daily but as always I don't listen to the radio.
 

ASH M

Active member
Same problem as me. My M3 has bad reception from new. The rear glass needs to be changed as the antenna is built into it. Had a similar issue on my e46 M3. BMW changed the glass, had to wait a month for it to arrive and the installation wasn't great. I just learned to live with the problem on my current car.

Saying that, the reception is good when stationary, but gets very bad when on the move. Too much of an issue to get sorted.
 
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