Poor fm radio reception

[mattyp]

My x5 has rubbish radio reception. I have had the amp by the spare wheel repaired as there was sound only coming from 2 speakers.i have used contact cleaner on the connections in the top of the tailgate where the aerial wire connects to. Still no difference. Is there any other aerial boosters on the car ?

[Greydog]

Try Realoem.com put the last 7 digits of your Vin in and you will see where the antenna and antenna amps are

[AW8]

There is a signal amp in upper tailgate behind centre brake light & I am told this is the FM one.

2 other signal amplifiers one each side that connect to side rear windows - I am told these are for AM

Source of my info - ex master tech former BMW UK.

Realoem won't state which is fm and am iirc.

[X5Sport]

Sounds right.  Because the aerials are less than optimal, BMW (in common with other makers) use antenna diversity amplification.  If you have a bad FM signal then either the amp is faulty or you are tuned to a distant rather than local station.

My local VHF (FM) signal is very poor due to the transmitter being distant, whereas DAB is rock solid and gives no trouble - unusual for many I know - as it's less than a mile from home and gives very good coverage.

[mattyp]

I can only pick up 1 local radio station and that comes and goes, So the amp behind the tailgate brake light is the one I need to change ??

[ChrisLux]

Ah that's interesting to know, my FM reception is crap too, I'll have to investigate the booster.

[Turks]

Mine is rubbish - I thought it was perhaps that they were phasing it out without telling us so we all had DAB. I had a DAB receiver installed also by the main dealer (aftermarket retrofit kit they offered) which was a waste of money... worked great for a while but really cumbersome to use and had a remote controller rather than through the head unit.

I will look into this Amp and see if that's the problem... BMW Warranty calls.


Turks.