poor reception

[VR6child]

My mk3 has a pioneer headunit which does alright running of auxiliary input and from usb, however my radio gets very poor reception. On FM it is passable and can pick up most stations but with a bit of interference. On AM its a whole different story and gets pretty much nothing but crackling. It's been looked at by the place that installed the headunit and they failed to pick up the problem. I was wondering if anyone else has similar issues in a mk3? Any hints as to where to start looking for the problem would be much appreciated.

[HOLEIN1]

may be way off, but i once found that my last HU had some reception issues as well... nothing major, just would get some static every now and again etc etc

was fortunatley lucky enogh to get it fixed under warranty, and it was fine after that

just thought id give a heads up as sometimes people start replacing aerials etc etc to no avail when its not actually the problem...

best of luck :)

[boyracer1973]

yeah my current mk3 vr has the same problem - with the orginal headunit and aftermkt. I've owned two mk3s and they suffered the same issue. I was fiddling around taken the original head unit out one day and i think i discovered what seems to be like a powered amplifier unit box which connects to the original aerial - i've taken a photo of it and will post up soon in the next few days to see if anyone can identify it. my understanding is that some mk3 golfs have an amplified aerial unit (powered) to it to help radio reception. I have a feeling that mine has been disconnected in some way or is faulty. i have also heard rumours that you can by the amplifier aerial kits through VW as a genuine part.can anyone confirm?

[boyracer1973]

ok i have uploaded the images has anyone any idea what this is? does? i'm not sure if its 100% connected in my car as there is a black wire which goes somewhere behind the dash and my reception is poor (it could also be faulty), the coaxial wire obviously connects to this box from the back of the orginal radio and the coaxial coming out of the box goes to the aerial on the roof. the vw part number is 1H0 035 551. is it an amplified aerial unit to help with radio reception?

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu213/nils7/golfstuff/IMG_1156.jpg

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu213/nils7/golfstuff/IMG_1154.jpg

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu213/nils7/golfstuff/IMG_1150.jpg

i'll try and post in another thread to get feedback.

[VR6child]

I still have this problem.

[JCM308]

I'd be saying that you have a problem with the antenna booster. Quite possibly the thing that you took pics of.

[gavs]

I have the same issue in my MkIV.

I have put it down to the antenna becoming an earth for the head unit. I still haven't got around to fixing it yet, but i'm guessing that my problem is at the antenna fixing area due to playing with the wires ther and fixing the reception issues.

Hope this helps:)