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Radio Silence


Zita

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My apologies if this is a duplicate thread but I cannot find answers after searching the site.  Has anybody solved the AM/FM reception problem with Malibu setups?  We have a 2017 23LSV.  I'm a simple, old school guy; and like to listen to a ball game or my favorite radio station.  We live in the Twin Cities and have lots of radio station options.  But we cannot find anything but static.  How many thousands of dollars is this "standard" audio setup with 8 speakers, two amps, sub, and electronic control?  It does give me some hi-fidelity static.  But that's about it.  Please don't tell me about Spotify and Pandora or adding a Sirius tuner.  I want plain, standard, basic AM and FM.  Sorry to disappoint.

I understand from MN Inboard (our dealer) that they have been wrestling with issue this for several years.  I spoke with Malibu tech support and was told that "we have our engineers working on this".  Was also told that because Malibu owners wanted bluetooth, and that bluetooth conflicts with AM/FM, we cannot have both.  Well, I play the BS card on that response.  Not only are they on different frequency spectrums, every other vehicle on the market from motorcycles to cars does't have problems with cohabitation of radio and bluetooth.  

I'm told that MN Inboard has tried multiple fixes on other boats ranging from power antennas to swapping amps.  I'm also told that none have solved the problem.  So now both the MN Inboard and Malibu are asking me to wait.  Crazy.  I will appreciate any constructive thoughts from The Malibu Crew.

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Appreciate your thought Minnmarker.  Yeah, not elegant and not satisfying.  Malibu's engineers haven't come up with anything better yet.

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@Zita, I haven't tried this myself, but a windshield mount antenna for $25 could be promising.  In my '16 there's nothing but a long passive strip antenna run down the length of the gunnel.  I pick up about 2 radio stations intermittently where I should have a dozen.  The connector is the standard antenna connector.  You can try a whole range of antennas pretty easily till you find one that works that should mount stealth.  The only pain is perhaps getting a power connection to the antenna for a test.  Most of the ones I saw were powered as you'd expect.  For just trying things out you could run a FUSED pair of wires to the batteries with some clips and see what your reception changes to.  Move the antenna around.  See how it is in the storage compartment versus at the bottom of the windshield forward of the glove box.

Edited by Slurpee
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Even cheaper window mount antenna here: http://greatlakesskipper.com/scosche-2046224-boat-amplified-window-internal-mount-antenna

Another more practical alternative might be to stream the terrestrial radio station over your phone.

I kinda like the idea of running one of those giant whip antennas from the tower like the offshore boats do.

Edited by shawndoggy
  • Like 3
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10 hours ago, Zita said:

that they have been wrestling with issue this for several years.

This is interesting as the new source unit for 2017 is by Medallion (or built 3rd party for them) where as the past number of year the source unit was a rockford fosgate unit. 

Sounds like the antenna is not plugged in or it needs a different/better antenna option. 

Edited by MLA
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I'm fortunate to get good reception. We're in an urban setting, with antennas close by. My buddy is chief engineer at a couple of them ! My boat has better antenna gain then my car does.

Anyway, I use my Ipod a lot and it has an AM/FM built in. So I can use either that or the head unit with no issue.

Steve B.

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I rarely use my terrestrial radio, but when I do, it works.

You said you didn't want to hear it, but I am going to say it anyway.  The simple answer is to use the bluetooth and stream it from your phone  iHeart radio will give you most of the games if you don't have a Sirius subscription.

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46 minutes ago, Cole2001 said:

And a giant phone bill for the data!

In my experience, streaming music has no effect on my phone bill.  I have 3 phones on the Verizon "large" shared plan.  I have never gone over once due to streaming music.

Edited by RyanB
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So got my boat back today after the break in maintenance work so could finally check radio reception.  To the OP I have no issues to get 94.5FM OR 1130AM - this one crackles but that's the same in the car.  FM comes then clear without issues.  So I wouldn't blame software - somewhere your antenna is failing but I didn't bother to check how mine is connected.  But based on another issue I had with connection I would start verifying all the cable connections to the precision control unit underneath your glove box.

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One big problem with RF reception in a boat is that boat are made of fiberglass.  This doesn't shield noise from the engines ignition system.    Older cars made of fiberglass or had fiberglass hoods (corvette, AAR 'cuda, etc) had the antenna at the rear.  This wasn't done for style, it was to get the antenna away from the noise source.

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My dad had a show truck with a hidden antenna . It didn't get and channels either. We added a antenna amplifier.  It solved our problem.

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On my '17 LSV, the antenna connection is behind the amp board into the Black Box. You possibly could get to it by pulling the wires through the wire slot for the black box wires but you may unplug it. 

The reception for am-fm radio has never been too good.

33815683762_43dfa28cec_b.jpg

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I'm not near the boat now and just got it.  I saw that diagram but don't know where things are mounted.  Is this under the dash or somewhere else?  Can I see the antenna or connection for it?

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The amp board is on the port wall in the observers compartment. Most likely 3-4 screws holding the amp board to the wall. You can possibly remove the screw(s) near the black box and pull the amp board out enough to look behind it. The antenna wire is the normal flat two wire antenna wire. It is routed along the wire harness on the port side. It probably doubles back over itself. 

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  • 10 months later...

old topic but if this of use to anyone, I found out from malibu that there is a solution to this....

Part Number: 6372012. Desciption: Antenna, Windshield.

This is for MY 2018 boats but will work on a 17 fine. 

Not expensive so worth a shot. your local dealer can supply this.

 

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In my 2018 22VLX I think I have that antenna above, but still get really crappy reception.  The antenna cable on mine says "Windshield Antenna" but is just the Antenna cable with a crimped eyelet on the end that wasn't attached to anything.  I want to say my 2016 A22 had better reception than my new boat.  If there is another piece to this antenna, where would it be, or has anyone found a good replacement FM antenna that works.  Ordered one of the Amazon Glass mount ones and it was almost worse than the factory one.  Just wondering if anyone has found one that works good.

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