Anyone else have problems with the AM reception on your radios? Mine totally sucks...any ideas if these have an AM booster that may go bad?

AM reception sucked on the stock radio, and on the aftermarket one I put in.

Could it be an antenna issue? I'm not sure, but FM works fine.

Yeah, same here with regards to FM...I thought I had read somewhere that the AM amplifiers, boosters or something to that effect, had problems...my AM reception is atrocious.

The AM antenna is typically internal, i.e. ferrite bar w/copper windings so I don't see how it can be an external antenna issue. Alright guys, sound familiar to anyone else????

FWIW: I have the same AM issues on all 3 of my MB's. All still have stock radio's, so I can't tell you if it's the antenna or the radio itself but it is annoying during football season :/

My cheap Kenwood in my Toyota gets better reception....thanks SDR, I guess for the money the MB is better, what a crock!

You all can afford Benzes but not XM radio? What gives?

sucks on distant stations.

Thank God Neal Boortz is syndicated here in my local market. Otherwise, how would I get through my day without the TalkMaster?

I know what you mean...I'm getting a lil' tired of his rants with the loud Harley pipes though...blah...blah...blah....he bought a bland BMW (yech!) The syndicated station here, only carries two hours of him

...........sorry to say this has been discussed before. Its just that I have been on this forum longer than most, so I tend to see the same topics. The last time this was discussed, the general consensus was that AM reception sucks in MB vehicles of all makes. It gets even worse if you have Comand..............then it gets even worse than that if you have Euro Comand.

Ted

Hello Ted, I searched and searched not trying to find any consensus, per se...I'm trying to find a solution. It just seems that, at least with MY vehicle, that the reception is downright ****ty. Aside from the Becker products, many of these radios have Alpine head units, and they've made good radios for some time now.

My pop's ML320 gets substantially better AM reception than my C43.

It's not a matter of afford - I'm not paying for something I can get for free.

Actually, you can't get the content that comes with satellite radio for free, unless you download it I guess.

I've had Sirius for a couple of weeks now, and I think I've listened to free radio maybe once or twice in that time. Satellite just has much better music programming (more channels, every conceivable format), and with no commericals.

Also, uncencored talk is hands down superior to free radio, ie Howard Stern etc.

Sure, I understand that...not a Howard Stern Fan though. In fact, I love talk radio...and why pay for it. From what I have seen, and experienced, the talk radio selection is rather limited on the satellite radio selection (Sirius, XM).

Not that this is a Radio newgroups here, but there really isn't a comparison. We are all into Benzes, so we know quality. as far as free radio vs. satellite I think it comes down to the quality and listening to satellite, xm or sirius, is like having a good CD in all day, unlike radio which even in good reception still sounds like sh*(&^

by the way, Bortz fan, do you ever listen to Glenn Beck?

Sure do, he's pretty good as well....I listen to Savage, Boortz, and a few others, i.e. Armstrong & Getty, Prager and Jerry Doyle. Limbaugh and Hannity are tools...

Yeah, Rush is a little too Clinton conspiracy for me, hannity is alright, he is defintely the most one-sided. I like Beck because he is pretty fair and he doesn't dwell on the same stories all week long, more of a what's going on today type of show.

So basically I guess the only fix for this is to purchase a satelite radio system?

I worked for MB for 2 years back in 2001-2002. As a service advisor this was a chronic complaint. A quick google found this article which rung a bell with me as to what the shop forman use to do.

I belive this guy is pretty close to the cause for most of us. I remember it not being what I expected it to be.

"Mercedes-Benz Club of America Forums > ENTHUSIASTS GROUPS > ML and G-Wagons > AM Radio Interference Revisited

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Walrath11-16-2004, 05:48 AM
In the past we have had severe AM radio interference in our M-Classes. One of the preferred stations is a quality one about 100 miles from our home which puts us in a fringe reception area susceptible to interference. Other vehicles parked next to the ML did not have the interference, however, including our 1978 300SD. Our 1998 ML had the radio replaced and extensive diagnosis at the dealer with little improvement. The tech at the dealer said it sounded like a grounding problem. When we bought the 2000 ML320 we had the same problem and again the dealer did a lot of work trying to find the problem, including a new antenna amplifier in the cargo door and cleaning up all the connections in the door. None of it helped much. The interference was especially pronounced when accelerating or using power options like the windows or outside mirrors.

I have found what has worked the best and have delayed posting this until I had time to use the vehicle and verify the fix will last. Lately we replaced the battery in the 320. The negative cable is grounded to the chassis at a bolt on the firewall. There are two other wires attached to the bolt also. I removed the nut and cables from the grounding bolt, used jumper wires to maintain electrical connections, and burnished the bolt, contact side of the nut, and wire connectors. They were then coated with electrical conductivity grease and reinstalled. The result is that the radio is working at a very acceptable level now. It appears grounding was the problem and the fix was easy."