Bad FM reception - can you help?

the wire in the headliner may be part of the ant

 

Aw gesh, that’s embarrassing! The HD was going in and out whenever I moved the truck- will have to retake that!

I use a Victory hood antenna mount now - passenger side next to the windshield. I slightly modified mine to fit over a ditch light mount also… they are simple but expensive, but supporting locals who are supporting Taco owners is a good thing too… anyway, look at this - it may give an idea as to how to maybe mount yours also.

https://www.victory4x4.com/product/VT3CB-BARE.html

 

Adding LED's anywhere can screw up FM reception. Not so much when they are new but as they age it can get worse and worse. The FM in my S10 drops down to almost nothing when one of my aftermarket LED headlights is burning out. The bad radio reception starts before the bulb actually goes dark.



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That is true, other brands certainly do it too. I’ve only really ever bought stuff from Rigid, VLEDS, DD, and very little from others. The stuff from DD had enough issues that I sent most of it back, and the Max fogs I tried were the final drop in the bucket for that problem. The other two brands I have plenty of with never an issue on any trucks I’ve used them on, so I tend to stick to them. There are also people who do not have issues with DD, so mileage will vary of course.

I do know when I had problems with DD, google brought up quite a few similar experiences across some Ford, Nissan, and Toyota forums. I was within the return period so it felt best to just get my $550 back and cut my losses.

I have not noticed any problems starting as any of the rigid or VLEDS stuff gets older but I suppose we’ll see as time goes on.

 

First off, if you want to listen to music or talk radio with any fidelity - do not use SiriusXM. Seriously.
Many many FM stations also have a streaming counter-part which you should be able to get to via TuneIn, or Radio FM (on Android). There are counterparts on the Apple App Store. Stream the FM station or podcasts from one of these. You'll be glad you did.

Bonus if you use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. On AA, so easy to hit the mic button on the steering wheel and say something like "Play xxxx on TuneIn", or similar. Spotify, iHeart Radio, or Pandora are great alternatives. Listen to exactly what you want.

 

I thought I was the only one that thought the FM reception was a little weak in the Tacoma. Being in the Susquehanna Valley some of the various FM stations are spread out across Harrisburg, Lancaster and York with me being in York. The Harrisburg ones tend have some static as I drive around. About the only clear one is WSOX, the oldies station. No so bad because music I like is now considered oldies.
I have Diode Dynamics fogs, interior LEDS and LED low beams. I know LED lights can cause problems with VHF tv reception at home from poorly made stuff that bleeds RF radiation. Makes sense that it could with FM too since FM radio is sandwiched between the low and high Vhf TV bands. cheap LED bulbs are often the cause of VHF TV reception issues.
I think mine has never been good even before I installed the LED stuff.
I feel like a good fender mounted whip antenna like vehicles used to have would fix that. Then that would disrupt the sleek lines designers want and they get broken in car washes.

I mostly have stopped listening to FM and mostly favor playing stuff from my music collection of CDs and mp3 files that I have on my Plex server at home. The Plexamp app works great with AA and Apple car play. It's like my own streaming service with no subscription fee and music that I've collected over the years.

 

To be clear, I only had issues with DD stuff when they were on. As soon as I turned the fogs off, reception went back to normal. So problems when they’re off would indicate something else is the problem. If they’re on, there’s a good chance they are the problem.

 

Right, I've experienced the issue even during the day with no headlights, fog lights or inside lights on. I just chalked it up to the newer more hidden antennas being less effective. I'm sure there's some more to it that I could dig in to. I'm not sure it's worth the effort since I mostly use my personal streaming thing and 3/4 of my driving is daytime.

The thing with LEDs causing radio inference definitely is real. I've seen at home with TV reception. We had some cheap bulbs at home and when ever those were on I'd see breakups on a station using RF channel 8 to broadcast. Replaced the light with a better quality one and the issue disappeared. The same would happen to FM since those bands are close.

Before this I thought DD was a good product too. They sure do have a nice light output.

 

Yeah, I had similar issues with Great Value LED bulbs in my garage opener making the garage door remotes no longer work if the bulbs were on. Had to go with garage door specific bulbs. Haven't had issues in the house with TV remotes but I also keep the inside lights off quite often.

 

Thats another option I've looked into as well (though indeed that is a bit rich for a simple little piece of aluminum, I'll probably drag out the plasma cutter to make my own). Haven't yet decided which way I'll go... Putting the FM antenna on the fender would look more "factory-like", but a hood mount like that certainly is simpler (as long as the grounding is good there anyway, maybe by use of braided ground straps if necessary).
Appreciate the link.