FM radio reception F3L and RT 2018 models.

[billybovine]

I have a 2018 F3L. The FM radio reception simply sucks and is unusable. It's been this way from driving out of the dealers lot brand new. This is a big difference from my previous ride a 2013 STL. The radio reception was good on it. The dealer has looked at it once and agrees it sucks but was unable improve it.

So my question is. For those of you with a 2018 or 2019 models. F3 or RT. How is the radio reception. I am not interested in 2017 or older model years. Different beast. What I am trying to figure out is if there are some out here that are working fine and I just need to find out what's wrong with mine. Or maybe it's a F3 problem only. Because I have seen posts from RT owners that say their reception is ok.

Your answers and comments would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[Tango]

Billy it's an ongoing problem from the 16's on up. :banghead: BRP just refuses to fix it. :bdh: Just keep selling a defective unit. :gaah: My 16 F3L is awesful. And it's the same radio in all the bikes. :thumbup: Tom :spyder:

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

I realize my 2014 RT isn't something that you want to hear about , however someone else might ..... Right now I'm in Springfield Mo. at Spyder fest ..... my reception is approx 40 FM stations, that the quality is very very good .... ( not kidding ).... After I broke the OEM antennae, I replaced it with a Bosche retractable Auto unit ( e-bay $8.00 ) .... Yes I removed ALL the thread locker ( inside and outside threads ) and used a Star washer instead..... Even in Vt. I get a good amount of reception ..... What the issue is with the latest model Spyders I can't fathom ..... Even JBL speakers can't improve the Audio sound .... and this totally mistfies me as to Why .... good luck .... Mike hyea:

 

[ChicagoSpyder]

I have a 2018 F3L. The FM radio reception simply sucks and is unusable. It's been this way from driving out of the dealers lot brand new. This is a big difference from my previous ride a 2013 STL. The radio reception was good on it. The dealer has looked at it once and agrees it sucks but was unable improve it.

So my question is. For those of you with a 2018 or 2019 models. F3 or RT. How is the radio reception. I am not interested in 2017 or older model years. Different beast. What I am trying to figure out is if there are some out here that are working fine and I just need to find out what's wrong with mine. Or maybe it's a F3 problem only. Because I have seen posts from RT owners that say their reception is ok.

Your answers and comments would be appreciated, thanks.

I have a 2018 F3L and the FM reception is terrible, I'm guessing it's either a bad connection at the head end unit or the antenna, or it's a defective antenna.

 

[stmike 1800]

I can not get reception unless i am in site of a tower ,it is bad .I still have to take and clean the antenna connections .

 

[billybovine]

Billy it's an ongoing problem from the 16's on up. :banghead: BRP just refuses to fix it. :bdh: Just keep selling a defective unit. :gaah: My 16 F3L is awesful. And it's the same radio in all the bikes. :thumbup: Tom :spyder:

2018 is very different then previous years. The audio system except for the amp is in the gauge cluster. That is made by Bosch. With an antenna cable that runs from the rear to the front and is actually in the main wiring harness for a while. Previous years was an audio unit made by Radio Sound, mounted in the rear. With a short antenna cable.

 

[billybovine]

I realize my 2014 RT isn't something that you want to hear about , however someone else might ..... Right now I'm in Springfield Mo. at Spyder fest ..... my reception is approx 40 FM stations, that the quality is very very good .... ( not kidding ).... After I broke the OEM antennae, I replaced it with a Bosche retractable Auto unit ( e-bay $8.00 ) .... Yes I removed ALL the thread locker ( inside and outside threads ) and used a Star washer instead..... Even in Vt. I get a good amount of reception ..... What the issue is with the latest model Spyders I can't fathom ..... Even JBL speakers can't improve the Audio sound .... and this totally mistfies me as to Why .... good luck .... Mike hyea:

I should have mentioned in my original post. I have cleaned off the thread locker on the antenna and chased the threads in the antenna mount to make sure it's clean. Also found a bunch of molding flash on the antenna mount. Not allowing proper contact of the metal to metal surfaces. Filed that off. No improvement.

Just to explain how bad my FM reception is. I can remove my antenna and I can't tell any difference.

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

I should have mentioned in my original post. I have cleaned off the thread locker on the antenna and chased the threads in the antenna mount to make sure it's clean. Also found a bunch of molding flash on the antenna mount. Not allowing proper contact of the metal to metal surfaces. Filed that off. No improvement.

Just to explain how bad my FM reception is. I can remove my antenna and I can't tell any difference.

Billy, I'll readily admit " Audio " isn't my area of expertise..... that being said, there are some basics that don't affect various parts of the system .... ie. the Head unit should be able to connect to Any type of ( normal ) antennae and get the same results .... the head unit shouldn't be able to recognize the antennae .... this goes for speakers also,... to the best of my knowledge all speakers use the same basic principles ..... Why the 2 ohm JBL's ( like I have ) Don't improve the sound volume and quality ( according to
" Rattlebars " who tried them ) completely Baffles me. ... It just doesn't make sense ..... Mike hyea: ................Back in 2017, I compared my system to one on a 2017 F3 - Ltd. ... I thought they were about EQUAL in quality of sound and volume .... I was very impressed and thought ... Well BRP has finally figured it out :clap:.... what I heard wasn't from the FM however it was either an MP3 or phone type device .....good luck

 

[Tango]

2018 is very different then previous years. The audio system except for the amp is in the gauge cluster. That is made by Bosch. With an antenna cable that runs from the rear to the front and is actually in the main wiring harness for a while. Previous years was an audio unit made by Radio Sound, mounted in the rear. With a short antenna cable.

Did not know they changed manufacturers. Guess it didn't help any. :thumbup: Tom :spyder:

 

[hardpaul]

My 2018 F3-T gets terrible reception also. When it autoscans for radio presets it only finds one station, and I live in the middle of DFW.

 

[stmike 1800]

I seen a vid for the 2018 antennae ,were to remove the antennae he tightened ( clock wise) it till it came off.What i do not know can i take the post off now and clean every thing up and reinstall .Or is this vid only to replace the antennae .

.

 

[billybovine]

I seen a vid for the 2018 antennae ,were to remove the antennae he tightened ( clock wise) it till it came off.What i do not know can i take the post off now and clean every thing up and reinstall .Or is this vid only to replace the antennae .

.

Have you got a link to the video you saw?

Standard right hand thread.

 

[hardpaul]

Have you got a link to the video you saw?

Standard right hand thread.

I saw the video. I'm pretty sure it is a video from Lamonster. I believe he said that is to replace the antenna and not reuse.

 

[woods]

I replaced mine (RT) with a longer one from HD. Better now but still not all that n a bag of chips.All the functions of this unit seem to frustrate and aggravate near everyone! Very poor product all around me thinks!

 

[billybovine]

I found the video that is being talked about. https://youtu.be/Ar9urt9YhTs

My antenna does not look like either one of the antennas talked about in the video. It is already short from BRP. I had no trouble taking my antenna off. As I talked about in a previous post. I have already taken the antenna off. Cleaned off all the locktite and cleaned of the molding flash on the mount. None of that made any difference.

 

[billybovine]

I can't get the antenna cable connectors apart. Is there a trick to this? Or is it a problem with my fat fingers?

 

[amkrat]

My 2018 RT-L had poor reception too. I started looking for a replacement antenna that might improve the signal, but all I could find were "shorties" that actually reduced the range. I had a factory stock Harley Davidson FM antenna from one of my previous Harleys and found that it had the same thread size as the stock Can-Am antenna. I had to fashion a 6 mm x 1 threaded adaptor cut from a metric bolt (both antenna and receiver ends are female, so I needed to go male - male). The Harley antenna is about twice the height of the stock one, and I have noticed a huge improvement in reception. Another advantage of the taller antenna is that it is now out of the "poke your eye out" range when working around the trunk. I know that a lot of folks don't like tall antennas, but it looks (and works) just fine to me.

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Antennea reception

I know this isn't very useful - however after my OEM antennae broke I re-placed it with a Bosche … collapsible ( the manual kind ) Auto antennae ….. I was just at Spyderfest in Springfield Mo..... I was able to get Good reception on at least 40 stations ….. I get pretty good reception in Vt also , depending on where I'm riding ….. hope you guys can work this out …..Mike hyea:

 

[Papa103]

Just bought a new 2019 RT limited. The only complaint I have is very poor reception with radio. If I hit the seek function it will only stop on 2 stations. All my other radios stop on many stations. I work in automotive and my thoughts are a p*ss poor antenna. Dealer is going to look at it Monday, but this thread doesn't give me much hope. If they change anything that makes it better I will post it here.

 

[stmike 1800]

I removed the antennae ,cleaned the treads ,no deference .