Car Stereos: poor radio reception, poor radio reception, antenna connection

Question
i have a 2009 silverado with a am/fm cd radio with somewhat poor radio reception. i don't have a constant strong signal. i had a winegard signal amplifier installed and it helped but very little. i live in south fla. where radio reception is generally very strong . do you have any thoughts on this problem. thanks for your help

Answer
Hi Gary,

I haven't worked on enough of these trucks to get a good idea of the antenna system layout, but I'd probably be looking for a junction at some point along the antenna cable that may have come apart.  It's very common for GM vehicles to have an antenna connection in the passenger kick panel area, or behind the glove box; and it's not uncommon for this connection to become partially or fully disconnected.  However, I don't know for certain that there's such a connection present in your truck, because I've never looked for one in the 07+ Silverado.

If I were troubleshooting this problem in the shop, I'd probably temporarily connect a new FM antenna to the radio, just to see if the reception improves.  If the radio works better with a different antenna, then it's clear you have an antenna or antenna cable problem; if not, then there may be a defect in the radio itself.

Hope this helps!

Brian