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GeorgeMJ

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    2016 Silverado, 2007 G5, 1964 Cutlass

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  1. You might want to check the antenna connection, though, as there are situations where the FM would work well but not the AM. A poor connection would cause that, allowing the high frequencies of FM through the small capacitor created by the bad connection but blocking the lower AM frequencies.
  2. World666, I have a 2016 Silverado. The Mylink AM radio has always worked well in this truck. The FM was a little poor when I bought it but I think that was taken care of when they did the "Android Auto" update. The FM is reasonable now, just a shade worse than the best out there but the AM didn't seem to change. I would tell them to fix the radio, or maybe try the "Android Auto Update" before I bought the truck. The replacements for the system are too expensive and you have too much to lose if you change it. One option, though, is to mount an aftermarket stereo either on the center compartment next to the power outlets, or remove that fold down compartment and mount it there. Wire the new radio "preamp outputs" through an adapter to the existing system through the "Aux In" port in the center console. This way the only thing you lose is the voice commands for the original radio.
  3. KCG, is there some way to contact me directly? If so, I can send you one of each of the boosters as I don't use them. I will also check to see if the one in the small plastic box actually passes AM. It is a little cloudy right now and I would have to look at them again. Yes, it is the one with the switch that burns up the resistor when you apply power, easy fix though. Funny, that is the type I used back in the late 60s with my first under dash FM radio! I've been working 12 hour days this week and haven't been looking at emails.
  4. KCG, on the boosters, this type works well but has no bypass switch and may block AM. I forget so I'll have to check it again: http://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-CAR-TRUCK-STEREO-ANTENNA-FM-AM-RADIO-INLINE-SIGNAL-AMP-AMPLIFIER-BOOSTER-/381665641317?hash=item58dd0b8365:g:o3IAAOSwqBJXWmI9 It is an amplifier on a small board with a band pass filter, not bad and lots of gain, like 20 to 30 dB. This type works well, less gain, 12 to 15 dB, but has a switch to bypass it, necessitating that cables reach to the bottom of the dash, not a real problem for the cables that I used: http://www.ebay.com/itm/AB150-Anti-Static-FM-Radio-Signal-Amplifier-Antenna-Booster-15dB-Gain-Auto-Car-/331612371926?hash=item4d35a33bd6:g:YYoAAOSw4CFYrjcH&vxp=mtr There is a way to snake the cables down to the switch and back up through holes in the front of the dash behind the dress plate. Look at my post of 4 July 2016 on page 81 for a description of cables and how it is done, (video from YouTube of somebody else). Be advised that there are some boosters that are not boosters, the cylindrical ones especially, they do nothing but put DC voltage on the cable to the antenna. Two of my switch types had a solder blob in the wrong place making a connection that burned up a resistor. There may be a worker making a mistake soldering these so if you get smoke, let me know and I'll tell you how to fix it. Now, be advised that the poor sensitivity is likely not the only problem. Part of it may be, as with the LG radio in my truck, that there is very little or no "noise reduction" as was applied in the old Delco designs. If you look at my other post, 18 September 2016, page 83, I rambled a little bit but I tried to explain noise reduction. The LG radio in my 2016 Silverado LT could definitely use some noise reduction. Of course I could be wrong, (disclaimer), but those folks with the Bose systems are complaining of the "static" sound and I believe that is a combination of poor sensitivity and little or no noise reduction in the radio. Delco radios would attenuate the high frequencies in weak signal conditions so you wouldn't hear the static. Not the best fidelity but didn't get on your nerves either. I wonder how much money they saved by not using quality Delco radios any more? When you saw the Delco name, you knew it would work and work well. I only spent a little time on the HD radio but it is cool, and this is something that should be in a vehicle as expensive as a truck with a digital type radio in this day and age. Nice feature, sometimes there are AM stations put on the FM subchannels and sometimes lots of desirable music with no commercials! I understand that 2014s may have had HD but many of the 2015s don't, maybe they turned it off with programming due to sensitivity problems. Good luck!
  5. KCG, please refer to my post of 29 June, 2016. It is on page 81. The best radio that I tested was the Sony and it had a rating of 7dBf sensitivity. This is dB above a femto Watt. Strange measurement but some kind of standard, but they don't tell you what you get at that level so I just compared against FM quieting. I would imagine that most radios with a rating of 7 or 8 dBf would be OK. There are some other receivers that I tested there and how I tested them. You'll find that most manufacturers don't even publish their sensitivity specs. I got inside the Sony radio and cut the tracks supplying power to the audio output chips to save power and cut down on the heat. I operated with this radio for a while but again, after the Android Auto upgrade, the FM performance was somewhat better, still kind of sucks but works out good enough for the stations that I use. I plugged the audio from the Sony into the truck's aux input and all other functions of Mylink stayed the same. I mounted the radio on the center hump back near the dash. The adapter antenna cable fit just right. If you look for my other posts I believe I gave model numbers for the adapter cables.
  6. KCG, the Android Auto update was something that was offered to earlier 2016 owners to match current production. I think it helped the FM poor reception somewhat but I can't be sure since I never tested it with equipment after that. My 2016 radio had poorer performing FM sensitivity, as measured, than other, older GM radios that I tested. From what I've read here, the 2014 and 2015 seem to be very poor. My 2016 Mylink radio has an LG tag on it, and evidently there are many versions if you research on line at resale sites. The AM is "different" than AM receivers that I've had in past vehicles. It seems that there is very little AVC, (automatic volume control), something that was developed in the 1930s, in my Mylink radio on AM. You have to turn the volume up considerably on weak stations. However, the power line buzzing seems to be handled better with this radio, almost as if there was some sort of digital noise reduction. If my FM was as bad as I've heard some are, I would install a modern, small radio for less than $100 under the dash or even hide it, they all come with remotes, and play it through the "AUX" radio input. You can get antenna connector adapters easily and do that since the other types of "add on" antennas are pretty crappy. It seems too expensive to change out the whole system, especially if you have or want the big display. This may teach us to take the vehicle for a good test drive and test the radio as well before we buy. I listen mostly to AM but do listen to FM at times and the HD radio feature in my 2016 LT is really nice. Just make sure to complain about the radio when you go for service, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.....
  7. I have a 2016 and reception on FM was poor. The Android Auto update fixed the FM problem, now about 95 percent of the older GM radios, hard to tell the difference. AM worked well before the fix, normal compared to older models. The XM can fade in smaller cities because there are no terrestrial "helper" transmitters located in small cities so buildings and trees will block reception. I live near Pittsburgh where ground based transmitters supplement the satellite signals in and around the city, but in my small town there is fading around buildings and trees, no ground based transmitters. From what I understand, 2013 through 2015 may have the most problems with FM reception, maybe others can help there. I don't recall hearing many complaints about AM reception. Maybe check the antenna wiring and connections if having difficulty with both.
  8. I've never heard a Bose system, just speculating. The static, is this the swishing type while you're moving and listening to a weaker station or is it something else? My 2016 I consider satisfactory now after the reprogram for the Android mobile app. They inferred that it would possibly fix some radio problems. I was ready to add an aftermarket radio for FM but determined that it is not worth it for the small improvement.
  9. Yes, my FM radio sucks with standard speakers. I believe the Bose speakers exhibit the problem more because they have better high frequency performance and all the "noise" is high frequency. Again, radio reception sensitivity is within bounds but there is little or no FM noise reduction so you hear all the multipath "swiching" and fade noise like a $5 radio. I believe the GM engineers blew it when they wrote specifications for the radios by other manufacturers than Delco or Delphi. The radio in my 2016 is an LG.
  10. XM will be bad in hilly terrain with lots of trees and small towns with buildings, anything that will shield the satellite. Larger cities will have terrestrial transmitters that will fill in around town to overcome the effect of large buildings and bridges. I live near Pittsburgh and I heard that the original plan was for 50 fill in transmitters in the metro area. Don't know how many they ended up with. I worked for a tower owner that XM wanted to lease space from for a transponder.
  11. OK, I'd like to make a correction to this post. Evidently OK, I'd like to make a correction to this post. Evidently the Android update may have made an improvement to my Mylink radio's apparent sensitivity in my 2016 pickup with non Bose radio. After driving for the last two weeks and comparing to another GM vehicle I would say that the sensitivity is there, now as good as the car, but still lacking in noise reduction on weak signals. Evidently GM has used DNR, (Dynamic Noise Reduction), for quite some time and I believe that is what we were used to. I finally found a site where the gentleman knows about the application of DNR on GM radios and I have found the National Semiconductor IC that makes it possible. I feel that this is what is lacking, in my 2016 Mylink anyway. The history of GM and DNR is, from the website Greyghost.moo.com: "General Motors (specifically, their Delco Electronics division) was one of the few companies to put DNR in a consumer product. Many of the Delco car radios produced in the late 1980s have a DNR circuit built in. It can be turned on readily with the push of a button. You might look at your own set to see if it has this feature. Some later sets (probably produced in the 1990s) have an "Auto DNR" designation on the front panel, implying that some circuit logic exists to enable the feature when it would help and turn it off when it would not." This dynamic noise reduction along with switching from stereo to mono on weaker signals, (some older folks will remember the "stereo" light on the radio flickering), and limiting the bandwidth, or cutting high frequencies provided 10 dB or more of quieting during loss of signal, weak signal and multipath. These were some of the finest radios ever made especially from about 1991 and up. My 2011 GMC had the best radio I ever saw in a vehicle. From National Semiconductors about the LM1894, (also see LM832), Dynamic Noise Reduction chip data: The LM1894 is a stereo noise reduction circuit for use with audio playback systems. The DNR system is non-complementary, meaning it does not require encoded source material. The system is compatible with virtually all prerecorded tapes and FM broadcasts. Psychoacoustic masking, and an adaptive bandwidth scheme allow the DNR to achieve 10 dB of noise reduction. DNR can save circuit board space and cost because of the few additional components required. Complete applicaation note available here: https://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/sites/default/files/ees/files/NI/pdfs/00/79/DS007918.pdf Now, 10 dB is not a whole heck of a lot but I feel that this is where the radio in my 2016 Mylink is deficient, and from what I am reading about the noise in some folks dash speakers, (my truck doesn't have those), many others may have this problem or perceive it to be weak reception. I believe either these radios have no DNR or very weak DNR. Mine is close to my 2007 Pontiac radio with Pioneer sound system, but not quite there. I think I'm about done as I even took the FM pre-amplifier out of my truck since it no longer helps, rather it makes the situation worse in reducing the effect of DNR by keeping the signal stronger. Another situation that makes it seem worse is quiet passages on FM and low modulation levels that make the difference between signal and noise closer. "Psycoacoustic Masking" is the key here. It "sounds" better! Any small thing can affect this. One suggestion to those with the dash speakers is to reduce the high frequency response of the radio by reducing the "treble" control to mid-range or less or the highs on the equalizer if that's what you have. We older guys have an advantage there since our ears already do this. Placement and response of speakers can mean a lot here as well. The door speakers down near your feet tend to mask some of the noise from poor FM reception. I believe one person also mentioned that his 2016 truck is better than his 2014, is that correct? Any others have a similar comparison? Also, do you notice any distant AM stations at night lighting up the HD radio indicator? KYW in Philadelphia does on my radio and I'm near Pittsburgh.
  12. I took my 2016 Silverado in the last week of August for what the service dept. said on the phone was the "1 hour Android update" to the Mylink system, that GM says on the paperwork would take 2 hours. I complained about the FM reception and was told that "this update might take care of some issues". Well it didn't. It may have made the radio a tad more sensitive on FM, (remember it was 6 dB less sensitive than most radios tested). However the noise has not improved. I think that without the Delco engineers' experience, the GM engineers that specified the radio system to LG or whomever were not very experienced in FM listening and just plain forgot about the quieting technology that every auto manufacturer uses in their radios. Sounds like a $9.95 portable FM radio. I rode in my friend's 2016 Malibu to test the FM and it sounds the same. GM may not realize how important this issue is and as I mentioned to my salesman, I wouldn't have bought this truck if I had known of the FM radio problem. The noise is just plain annoying. So, where do we go next?
  13. I would complain about any problem including radio, not sure what it will get you, but always good to be "on the books" for a problem just in case they ever decide to do anything about it. Who knows, it could be a problem with only yours? I noticed that the signal to noise on my 2016 Mylink FM never appears to get any better than 19 dB. That is horrible performance for an FM radio. You might be hearing the digital sidebands as well in the analog audio. You can't be sure what you're hearing, let the dealer figure it out. They may not be able to make it worse.
  14. I've looked around and the modules look the same so it is likely that the circuitry and software is changed so much that it wouldn't work with the display. You know, I believe the name on the module in my truck is LG, and the name on some of them on Ebay is Fujitsu. Maybe if the radio module still said Delco or Delphi we wouldn't have this problem. Hyundai and Honda radios seem to work OK, is it because of the specs that GM gives them or could it be radiation from the display? I wonder if they got rid of the Delco engineers and hired new GM ones to work on the "infotainment" system....if I wanted an Asian radio I would have bought a Toyota. I had a 2006 Chevy truck, WT, 4WD. After two years I started losing speeds on my heat and AC blower. It seems that some likely young and semi brilliant engineers put the blower resistors inside the cab of the truck but on the BOTTOM of the air plenum where all the water goes. Then they made the support posts out of steel and built a little lake out of epoxy potting compound to retain the water and make sure the posts rotted out. All they had to do was look at just about every car with a heater in it from 1950 through about 1990 to see that you install things like that on top of a plenum so it will avoid water or drain. Automatic transmissions have been around since 1938 but it seems they can't get that right either. I used to work in an engineering group at a large corporation and for some reason they didn't want the older more experienced guys working on the new designs and we had a lot of good laughs watching the young guys re-invent the wheel. I think they used the excuse, "we need new ideas," instead of the truth that they wanted some lower paid people....probably what happened to Delco.
  15. As a follow up, I feel a little stupid. My 2016 Mylink FM radio was performing worse in reception of stations than it was measuring on test equipment. The radio is 6 dB worse than normal GM radios, which means they only need a quarter of the signal power than mine for the same performance, actually this is not a lot and shouldn't be very noticeable. Well in actual use it appeared much worse. I don't drive the truck often and when I drove it over the last two weeks, it performed more like it should have being 6 dB deficient. The problem was I was testing during June and was getting atmospheric conditions that were bringing in more distant stations that made it sound like weak reception. (This happens the most in June, late May and early July, but can happen any time. There are two types, "sporadic E" and "tropospheric ducting"). From this, I would say that my 2016 Mylink FM radio is slightly worse than normal, but most folks probably would not notice it. I have to assume from what I have read here that the 2014 and 2015 FM radios must be much worse. Now, I wonder if the 2016 radio module is the same as the 14 and 15? Can they be interchanged? If anybody has access to parts books maybe they can look them up to see if they have the same part numbers?
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