Radio reception

shimmy · August 28, 2020

I live about 25 miles from a major metropolitan area and all other radios either in a car, battery operated, or stereo have no problems picking up strong radio signals. In my 2020 Silverado HD with the Bose audio system I have poor reception of stations I typically listen to. Using the HD Radio seems to be worse where the station will cut out for 10 or more seconds, the alternate selections for HD Radio won't come in at all. Turning off the HD Radio function seems to help a little bit but I'll still loose the signal for 5 seconds or more.

I've never had this problem with other car radios traveling near my home but this truck drops the stations regularly.

Has anyone else noticed this, if so, is there a fix? Thinking a new antenna may help but wanted to see if there was anyone else with this issue.

Thanks,

Shimmy

unit · August 28, 2020

The radio antenna on my 2020 2500HD is shorter than the one on my 2008 2500HD and I think that's the problem. 25 miles is a long way for FM signals that are line of sight transmissions. Shorter antennas are less efficient and aren't going to pick up a strong signal when the distance to the transmitter is near the reception limit. I have a 2019 Ford F150 with a longer antenna and it does significantly better receiving distant signals. It does, however, scrape my garage door when passing under it - the Chevy does not. It's a kind of trade-off.

shimmy · August 31, 2020

On 8/28/2020 at 4:27 PM, unit said:

The radio antenna on my 2020 2500HD is shorter than the one on my 2008 2500HD and I think that's the problem. 25 miles is a long way for FM signals that are line of sight transmissions. Shorter antennas are less efficient and aren't going to pick up a strong signal when the distance to the transmitter is near the reception limit. I have a 2019 Ford F150 with a longer antenna and it does significantly better receiving distant signals. It does, however, scrape my garage door when passing under it - the Chevy does not. It's a kind of trade-off.

Thanks, a replacement antenna is a pretty inexpensive test. I'll report back

shimmy · October 9, 2020

I tried using the antenna from my 2002 truck that is around 6" longer with no real change in reception. The 02 truck has no problems pulling in the same signals/stations that the 2020 has problems with.