I have, from time to time, been whining about my fm radio reception here. I mentioned it to the service rep at Honda when I had my 5k oil change and he said that the E's FM reception was sub par.

Replacing the antenna with a longer mast helped some, but still not great. Well my recent road trip to Nashville was the first time I tried AM since purchasing the car last March. To my surprise there was absolutely no AM reception anywhere along the route -- not Nashville, not Knoxville, not Bristol, not Roanoke, not Lynchburg. So now I had an excuse to have it looked at. I brought it in yesterday and after a half hour they came out and said I'd have to bring it back when I could leave it for half a day. They had to run tests to determine whether it was the ground (part of the am antenna) the antenna or the radio. In the meantime they must have done something because FM reception increased significantly. I'll keep you posted.

The radio powers the antenna: perhaps the power connection was bad (bad pin or split cable)?

-brendan

I've given up FM. I'm stuck on XM.

sure. cant think of anything better than spending 10.00 a month so i can listen to radio. they even took BBC world service off shortwave and put it on XM.

not now. not ever. radio shouldnt be a pay service.

blah
D.

It isn't "radio" for which you are paying $10 a month. It's crystal-clear satellite broadcasts anywhere I drive (and in my office, since I've got a Delphi Skifi). Without XM, I would have a choice of less than 10 local stations, only one of which carries music I like.

I like the idea of XM but like Blackdog I can't bring myself to take on yet another subscription service. BTW foxtail where in the Old Dominion are you?

My mailing address is Catawba, but I actually live in the mountains about 15 miles from Catawba. I work at Virginia Tech.

You're in Lynchburg, aren't you?

[quote:8fae1127df=" "]sure. cant think of anything better than spending 10.00 a month so i can listen to radio. they even took BBC world service off shortwave and put it on XM.

not now. not ever. radio shouldnt be a pay service.

blah
D.[/quote:8fae1127df]

Same thing I thought till I heard it. There's now 1.2 million people who are paying (XM + Sirius) Oh, BTW I bought XM stock at 11.86 and it's around $25 now. My profits will pay for a few decades of service.

Foxtail,

Lynchburg is right. I get down to the New River Valley for different photo and video projects occasionally. I'll be at New River Community College Monday afternoon. I really like that part of the state. Keep an eye out for my Silver E! :wink:

And I get to Lynchburg occasionally (and Roanoke more often). Mine's the SOP with the ORNGE BX license plate...until I get my new ORANGE E plate on. Decided on a change when my renewal time came.

Also, on another note, the E performed well in our 6" of snow. I would recommend cleaning the roof off though, not just the hood and windshield, when there's snow. Half way to work today, all the snow on the front of the roof slid forward onto the windshield!

[quote:393063c18e=" "]Also, on another note, the E performed well in our 6" of snow. I would recommend cleaning the roof off though, not just the hood and windshield, when there's snow. Half way to work today, all the snow on the front of the roof slid forward onto the windshield![/quote:393063c18e]

Yeah, I did a dunkin donuts run at 4:30 this morning (hey, I was still working from yesterday), saw all that snow/slush piled on top and cleaned the 80% near the front off (couldn't reach all the way back due to an overhanging tree). That's a *lot* more surface area than I'm used to...

-brendan

After leaving the car for a day before Christmas they said it was the radio and they'd order one and call me when it came in. Well today was the day. A "45 min service" was going on an hour and a half when the tech came in to tell me it wasn't the radio and he wanted another 1/2 hour to do some additional tests. After grumbling a little I said ok and 15 minutes later he comes back to tell me the antenna cable behind the glove box wasn't connected. So what was the full day of testing for? Any way when I got home I remembered about folks here complaining about scratches after similar services. Sure enough there they were. Now I can't decide whether to let it slide or hold their feet to the fire. I'm posting some crappy photos here to get yall's input.
http://www.lppvideo.com/Images/honda1.jpg
http://www.lppvideo.com/Images/honda2.jpg
http://www.lppvideo.com/Images/honda3.jpg

HOLD THE FEET TO THE FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ouch. If I did that to my car, I'd hold my own feet to the fire.

-brendan

Forget holding their feet to the fire... hold their neck between your hands until they fix your dash... All too often people are willing to just "let it slide" and believe me im usually one of them but when it comes to MY vehicle that I paid for ill stand and get what i deserve!

Well, I dropped by my dealer the other afternoon (that doesn't sound so good), showed them what happened and without batting an eye they offered to replace the offending parts. There's a little glitch on the actual rubberized part of the dash that they believe they can massage out so it's just the center plastic pieces being replaced. That's fine with me as replacing the dash would probably lead to more headaches. While I'm glad they're taking care of it I'm less than glad that an antenna cable that was never connected right at the factory will take five trips to resolve.