Just got my F700BT today. First opinions on the HD tuner:

Signal Strength-How many bars? (the dish icon has bars) -- Mine fluctuates a lot! Analog to full bars. idk whats going on.

Is your HD radio truly working? (The D letter showing up all the time) -- NO, analog mostly... I'm pissed.

How close are you to the broadcast towers? (city/suburbs)... NW Chicago Suburbs... come on I should still have a decent signal.

Compare your stock analog FM radio to your Avic... did it sound any better on your factory receiver? YES, factory had better reception. I got some FM static but not as much as on the avic.

Would you buy again: NO. It kinda blows.

Just got my F700BT today. First opinions on the HD tuner:

 

Signal Strength-How many bars? (the dish icon has bars) -- Mine fluctuates a lot! Analog to full bars. idk whats going on.

 

Is your HD radio truly working? (The D letter showing up all the time) -- NO, analog mostly... I'm pissed.

 

How close are you to the broadcast towers? (city/suburbs)... NW Chicago Suburbs... come on I should still have a decent signal.

 

Compare your stock analog FM radio to your Avic... did it sound any better on your factory receiver? YES, factory had better reception. I got some FM static but not as much as on the avic.

 

Would you buy again: NO. It kinda blows.

Signal Strength-Well, I get one station darn near to central Missouri in HD from Kansas City. I get WLS 890AM-HD1 from Chicago in HD through part of Missouri. RSSI's sensitivity and overall radio signal strength depends on how good your antenna is.

Is my HD Radio working?-Yes. Everything that broadcasts in HD, I receive in HD. HD digital radio needs a stronger signal than analog; this greatly depends on your antenna quality.

How close are you to the towers?-It varies for me. 10-40 miles. Since you're in Chicago, you should understand that signal reflections off of objects (skyscrapers, etc) have a strong impact on digital signals, and there are a LOT of things that impact this, especially on low powered HD Radio.

Stock radio to AVIC.-My AVIC's tuner and HD Radio tuner both blow the stock radio's factory tuner out of the water for reception. The AVIC and HD Radio tuners have both better sensitivity and selectivity, which help.

It is very possible that your stock audio system has an antenna signal booster (amplifier) built-in. Have you looked into this? Some places sell these for pretty cheap. I've used one from RadioShack before - since it was such a low current device, I powered it from the remote lead, left the switch turned on - and called it a day. It was hidden, and automatically turned off and on when my radio was powered off and on.

I hope this helps.

Source: My college degree focus was in radio frequency (RF). Addendum: I also worked in radio as a station engineer. I am a network engineer at the nation's #3 wireless communications company.

Thank you for the reply! Could you post a link to a similar unit on radioshack.com that would work for this application.

IDK if I need this anymore, my F700BT is in a Honda CR-V which uses a http://www.crutchfield.com/p_12040HD10/ ... tab=review to connect my antenna. The blue wire was never connected.

The question is whether my vehicle has an antenna amp somewhere else being turned on by that blue wire.

i have the avic 90bt and currently using the gex p10hd and i cant stand how it cuts in and out. i too live in chicago (joliet to be exact) and 99.5 101.1 they both cut in and out constantly! its very annoying. it bothers me so much that i have the digital turned off all the time. im hoping maybe the new gex20hd will be better, but im not sure how much of a difference itll make. i heard that it only allows you to do the itunes tagging off the radio. once the new gex 20hd comes out, im goin to give it a try (buying it from best buy possibly and if its the same as the gex10hd, then ill return it).

Thank you for the reply! Could you post a link to a similar unit on radioshack.com that would work for this application.

RadioShack has changed their inventory substantially since then. Unfortunately, I cannot find it anymore.

It was a 12dB AM/FM Signal Booster. There are similar products.

That said, simply amplifying an antenna may not be the best solution - if you amplify noise - you just get a stronger signal with stronger noise.

IDK if I need this anymore, my F700BT is in a Honda CR-V which uses a http://www.crutchfield.com/p_12040HD10/ ... tab=review to connect my antenna. The blue wire was never connected.

 

The question is whether my vehicle has an antenna amp somewhere else being turned on by that blue wire.