Reboxing a RadioShark USB Radio for use in a automotive entertainment PC (CarPC)
this post is cloned from http://www.mp3car.com/forum/mp3car-technical-hardware/car-audio/72803-radioshark-to-car-antenna/page2
I’ve had good luck with this
I recently reboxed my radioshark as well.
The reception has vastly improved. I added a motorola connector to the FM and a new AM loop that I snagged from a indoor tuner.
I noticed some confusion about where to wire up the FM leads (AM leads are a no brainer). I found an alternate ground, the square hole open on the top of the board where it is labelled J9. So, the center pole of the motorola connector is soldered to the board where it is marked FM, and the outer ring of the connector to the new alternate ground I found on the RadioShark board.
UPDATE: I’m now wondering if using the vehicle’s ground might improve reception – maybe utilizing the metal on the car as antenna might not be a bad thing… of course, could add tremendous amounts of noise and interference…
I haven’t run the car outside of the garage with the RS hooked up, so I don’t know how reception is affected when the car is moving, but in my garage the FM reception is pretty good. I’m still fiddling with AM, as I’d like to mount the loop under my dash. Problem is that the station I listen to the most comes in best when the loop is standing up in a way that would be impossible to mount… maybe things will improve when I get fully installed and moving on the road. If not, I may look into wiring into the rear defroster for use as the AM loop.
UPDATE2: Do NOT ground the antenna to the vehicle’s ground. It won’t do you any good.
