AM Signal Booster?

joeshmoe wrote:
Yeah, yeah, I know. AM radio. Why? Because I'm a knuckle dragging, stone age dweller, that's why.

Anyway, I enjoy talk radio and eveywhere we go, it seems ALL of our aftermarket head units (camper, honda, truck) all seem to to not pick up the AM band well enough to use it. I understand the limitations of AM, but is there any kind of signal booster or amplifier I can install?
It's really evident since I removed the stock units from both vehicles My wife complains that she cannot get her favorite stations where before, with the factory unit, it all came in clear. Same with my truck. Now, I get barely anything.

I really don't want to go satellite although both radios are equipped for it. $120+ a year doesn't appeal to me when I should be able to listen for free.

Thanks

My information could be somewhat out of date, but I don't think so. First, the antenna is very important for good AM operation. On RVs it is often very short changed. Make sure your AM radio antenna is not broken and in good working order, with a good coax connection to the radio.

More importantly, in my view, historically AM car radios always had an 'antenna tunining adjustment' ... usually buried in the back of the radio where you can't get to it. This adjustment was often critical in tuning the various vehicle antennas to the radio to get maxium reception and could make a HUGE difference in receiving signals. Not really sure if modern high tech radios installed in RVs still have this, but worth looking into. One thing on the tuning adjustement.... you often have to favor which station you are primarily interested in as the tuning is sharp and not equally distributed across the entire AM band.

Good luck.