florida john

Where is radio antenna for C6 coupe? I was hit in rear by a driver how passed-out in traffic. My rear tub was replaced from halo back during repairs. Now I have lousy radio reception for stations that were crystal clear before. Especially the strongest AM station in the area. Dealer's body shop says it is the station's signal, and I argue that all my other vehicles receive the stations loud and clear. Is the antenna in the halo or somewhere in the windshield as some have suggested. I welcome your input minus the wisecracks about AM radio.

mikeCsix

IT was in the back, a green wire that dead ended on the tub. You could pull a tail light out and see it.

Boomer111

There are two wires located each side of the rear in the bumper area.

Dcasole

Pull the rug back right where the hatch pull down is , you will see two plastic boxes with the "green wire " coming out of each . Make sure thewires are plugged in tight on each box . I had same issue ......

florida john

Thank you for the information! I will check out the wires tomorrow, or better yet revisit my friendly body shop and again ask them to check it out. Now that I know this it makes even more sense. Shop did a marvelous job on the repairs other than this radio problem.

florida john

Connections inside the rear compartment were okay, but dealer found a connector behind the rear panel (accessed by removing rear light) that was not connected. All is working now. I can again listen to Rush Limbaugh and AM radio! .

Thanks to all for their help.

florida john

Found an unconnected wire behind the rear lights and corrected the problem.

cessna10

FLORIDA JOHN
Smart move to warn about wisecracks right up front. The forum
has many, many wannabe comedians

ls1121

how bout this.

mikeCsix

Always nice to get all of the radios working, I just wish Rush was on satellite or at least FM.

1Willy1

do you guys notice you get less stations in your C6?

My car came with an upgraded kenwood deck and Jl aido sub set up in the back, sounds fantastic but gets like half of the stations as any other car I have had.

is it because we don't have a real antenna but some "wire" in the back? Or does it sound like somethings wrong?

Is there an antenn upgrade for these cars?

Thanks

LS WON

I do not get good reception on factory radio in 2005 model. I heard that all corvettes in general do not get good reception because of the non metal body. Would radio reception improve if a regular or some kind of upgraded antenna was used?

1Willy1

in my last two corvettes (C5) the radio reception was good until I swapped in a short stubby antenna for better looks

Now in the C6 there is no antenna at all so I seem to be getting worse reception then even the C5

Dcasole

It's your sub amp , do an experiment, turn your radio on to a fringe station , then unplug the power to your amp , I bet the station will come in better...... class D switching amps are very "noisy " and wipe out reception . There are very few that are shielded well enough not to cause a problem . I solved my issue by buying a Cheap Class AB amp .. ran hotter than hell but problem was solved

Dave

Dcasole

The FM antenna is behind the rear bumper and uses the cradle and torque tube as the ground plane , I never had an issue with mine until I installed a Sub Amp ... see above

Also check the connections to the two ant. modules located behind the rear plastic panel . pull one of the tail lights and make sure the ant is still stretched out across the outside back of the hatch area

Dave

Turbo6TA

I am confused ... When I installed my ZR1 rear spoiler on my GS, I had to remove all 4 tail lights. I never noticed any stretched out wire while looking inside any of the 4 tail light holes.

So, there is only one radio antenna wire that is in there?

Which of the 4 tail lights, would give me the best view of this laid out wire?

What do I need to remove in order to see if this antenna wire is hooked-up to the antenna module? (I guess that is what the wire attached to?)

Thanks,

Turbo6TA

See the red arrow .... Is this where you pull the rug back to gain access to the "two plastic boxes with the green wire" ?

Dcasole

In the illustration above look at #2 and #4 these are the Antenna modules that are located inside the hatch on either side of the locking mechanism. Each one has a wire coming out that passes thru a seal in the the rear tub and are attached across the back of the tub behind the bumper . Check the connections to these two units and then make sure this wire is still spread out on each side behind the bumper

But .... if you have an aftermarket AMP , any sub amp or other type, most are CLASS D amps as they are more efficient but because if their design they are high speed switching amps that create a ton of "noise" that overloads the front end of any head units RF deck making radio reception terrible . There are very few that are shielded enough to block this RF noise . I had a Fostgate 500 watt sub amp and lost the ability to listen to all my favorite stations and I am not in a rural area . I tried installing RF chokes on all input and output cables plus the power and ground cables , it reduced the noise but it still was not great
Since it was just a sub amp I switched to a cheap Boss 2000 watt class AB Amp , the wattage rating on some of these amps is overrated big time but ...) the amp ran hot as hell but I now had perfect radio reception . I orginally tried a 1000 watt Boss amp but it would constantly overheat and trip the protection circuit

Simple test If you have a sub amp , just unplug it while your radio is tuned to a known good station that is now giving you trouble...as soon as u unplug the amp the station should come in loud and clear . If that's the case your amp is a Class D ...
If you are using any other type of amp it's not that simple but a quick Google search on the name and wattage of your amp should tell you if it is a class D amp
Dave

Dcasole

Yep modules are behind that panel , check all the connections , pop them apart and reinsert just in case , you will see the wire coming out of each and passing thru a grommet ...

Dave

Turbo6TA

Dave ... Thanks for the info

My GS had the standard radio without nav ... That was replaced by a Kenwood head unit with built-in Garmin nav and an Arc Audio 5-channel amp (now located behind the passenger seat). The speakers are all aftermarket, including a sub woofer in the rear cubby.

My FM reception is terrible ... I am thinking the antenna wire in the rear might be unhooked from one of the antenna modules.

BTW .... Here is a photo of my 5-channel amp that powers all speakers, to include the sub woofer (5-channel amp)


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