So I just installed my Pioneer 4400BH - took several hours and all went well - EXCEPT - no AM reception after I installed the radio. FM seems fine. Anyone have an idea what I may have done wrong? Two possible guesses: 1. Did not push the antenna connector in far enough? 2. Gen 3's use an antenna amplifier. I did not think that Gen IIs used on so I did not connect the Power antenna lead to anything. Should I have done so? The above are just guesses but if anyone with experience in installation of Gen 2's has an idea I'd love to hear it.
You're missing to power antenna lead turn on. I can look up the wire info tomorrow or you can test for it using a DMM. It will false a ground when you probe it. Do you have JBL or the base audio?
I have the base audio. Have you hooked one of these up yourself? If so do I simply splice the antenna power into the yellow ignition on wire?
No you don't splice it to the yellow wire. The yellow wire (from the Pioneer unit) is constant. The wire in the car that you want is next to the ground on the larger of the two connectors you used to connect the radio. Did you use a Metra (or similar brand) harness to install your radio? If so, it should be the blue wires. Feel free to call me if you need further explanation. 201-400-7833 Anthony
I'm sorry but your answers are just not making sense to me Hooking an amp wire to ground shouldn't do anything. Ground won't make a voltage flow to an amp on American cars. You said " I can look up the wire info tomorrow or you can test for it using a DMM. It will false a ground when you probe it." A DMM will either read a voltage or a ohms reading. It won't "false a ground" . I don't even know what that means. So I appreciate your input but let's give someone else a try here and/or I am going to directly write to one of the guys who posted write ups of their installations. Thanks for your time but I would like to get some additional input here.
Re: No AM After Install of Aftermarket Radio - SOLVED OK here's the thing: 1. You ABSOLUTELY MUST connect the power antenna lead (blue) on the METRA harness to a power source. Although there is no power antenna there IS an antenna amplifier and without power you get zero AM reception and reduced FM reception. 2. On my radio , a PIONEER 4400BH, connecting the power antenna lead to the metra harness blue wire did NOTHING . A led light showed that for some reason there was no power coming out of the Pioneer antenna amp connection - or possibly too little power. Connecting the blue METRA harness antenna lead to the RED ignition-on power did the trick and everything works as it should now. So hope this helps someone else.
Thank you for posting this. I just installed an Alpine W505 in my 2011 Prius II. Every function worked well except I can't pick up any AM radio stations. The problem was fixed after connecting the thin "TAN" wire in the Toyota harness to the power antenna 12v output on the Alpine. This tan wire is located adjacent to Toyota's "brown" colored ground wire. I had no idea there was an antenna amp on this thing!
