2008 suburban fm radio issue

[Yjmoose]

I have a 2008 suburban 2500. It has terrible radio reception. It was previously owned by the federal government and they (or someone) didn’t do a great job of removing their lights and other electronics as I have had other issues. The dash was also replaced by the car lot I bought it from, it was cracked when I first looked at it and I had them fix it. I have read about the connector under the top dash trim and while checking that connection today I noticed that there is a green wire wrapped around the coax coming down the A post. On my suburban, that wire is not hooked to anything under the dash. Is this the power wire running to the antenna located in the right rear quarter panel area?  If so I can send power to it from the power antenna lead coming out of the new aftermarket radio I just installed to get better reception. Is the antenna supposed to have power going to it?  I can pull the plastic and check, but if this is the wire that needs power I see no reason to disassemble the back end too. 

[Doug_Scott]

The quickest and easiest way to check the antenna is to take a simple fixed length antenna from any vehicle, as long as the connecter is the same as what the radio wants.  If you can swap the antenna while the radio is giving crap reception you will instantly know if the antenna is the issue. 

Is the current antenna extended about 30 inches?  FM likes 31 inch antenna if I remember correctly. 

[Yjmoose]

To answer my own question, for anybody else who may search this issue, yes, the green wire coming down the a pillar wrapped around the coax is the power lead for the antenna. Once I sent power to it, the radio reception was greatly improved. My guess is when the dashboard was replace somebody got in a hurry and either cut the wire or forgot  to reconnect it. I was unable to locate the original power lead and ended up run in a new wire from the radio out to power antenna hook up.