Just had the Pioneer AVICF90-BT installed by BestBuy - they did on the surface a pretty good job.

 

My FM/AM and HD Radio reception with the (Pioneer GEX-P20HD) is just awful. Vastly worse than my factory radio. Looks like the install-tech only wired the antenna into the HD Radio box, so my AVIC FM and AM options are non-functional.

 

Spoke to BestBuy today and they recommended, I get a Antenna splitter to re-enable the AVIC-FM and AM option. Also he recommended I get an antenna booster. He said it's quite possible my antenna has degraded. Is there any truth to this ? I have a 2005 Toyota 4Runner with an in-window antenna. I am hopeful this will help, but skeptical that it will be effective. Any opinions??

in glass antenna's suck, they suck even harder with aftermarket radios, regular am and fm reception usually is worse than the built in tuner, so i would reccomend a antenna splitter (i think pioneer is a bunch of f-tards for not including it with the HD add on, i guess all the people with 900's or 90's are gonna say who cares about MSN direct) with a lot of inglass antennas, they need an amp. the amp is usually either in the car near the antenna (you just need to power up a "power antenna" wire to activate it) or it is in the factory radio (in this case you will need to add one)

 

i doubt there is anything wrong with your antenna (other than the design being in the glass )

I have the exact same issue with my 900BT and 2003 4runner. MSN Direct was almost useless unless I was in the middle of town for extended periods of time.

 

Radio stations are decent with HD tuner but 20 miles outside of town, i get alot of Digital to Analog switching.

 

Just wondering if the booster helped.