I recently installed an HD radio in my '79 C3 - It does not receive stations well. It works well in the driveway with the engine off, but as soon as I fire her up the HD signal drops out and if I go for a drive I lose all reception. I live 5 minutes outside of Philadelphia so distance from the broadcast signal is not an issue.
I previously installed a similar HD radio in my girlfriends 2000 Mountaineer - it really works great, so nice that I went and bought one for the 'Vette. So what's the deal with the poor reception in our C3's??? Are there any antenna upgrades or improvements we can make?

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Hi DeeVeeEight, on the side or the back of the radio there might be a small screw to "Tune" the radio in, PG.

 

Hey DeeVeeEight, Are your ignition wires shielded?
Had a bad plug wire cause static once in a old timey radio.
David

 

Make sure your antenna cable is connected securely to the antenna and the ground plane is still attached below the antenna mast w/ the ground strap fastened to the frame.

This is assuming that the '79s are connected the same as '73s.

Also check to make sure all of your braided ground straps are intact. May need an Assembly Manual to do this.

 

Update -

The JVC head unit was defective. I have another HD radio that I used as a substitute and it works great!

I bought the defective radio from Sonic Electronix - their service department and return policies are pretty bad, my experience with them left a lot to be desired.
JVC's service was poor too - they kept trying to convince me that I had wired the radio wrong. Accepting the idea that their product was defective was incomprehensible to them. They rather alienate their customers than assume responsibilty for a (defective) product that they mass produce in Indonesia.

I'll be going back to Crutchfield for my future mobile audio purchases. Crutchfield goes the extra step to make sure that you are a satisfied customer.

One thing my research into this problem did produce was this - if your radio is poorly grounded it will seek ground through the antenna, this can contribute to poor radio reception.

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