Does anyone know if different brands have better AM reception? I used to install for Best Buy. I have never had any luck with AM with any of these brands: Sony, Pioneer, Alpine, or JVC.

 

who actually listens to AM radio these days?

 

u'd be suprised, especially the older group of ppl likes to listen to talk radio or something like that, i noticed on some cars with glass antennas and those lil flat/round antennas mounted on the roof don't get as good reception either

 

???

They shouldn't, as they're FM only.

AM is medium wave, and a quarter-wave mast would be something like 450' in height, which is not practical in a vehicle. The AM antenna is always a ferrite loop-type antenna located within the head unit itself. Any improvement to the AM band by manipulating the FM antenna is coincidental to changing the size of the ground plane (unibody) and not from the antenna itself.

The only way to improve AM reception is to improve your head unit's grounding, replace the head unit, or step up to a communications receiver/HAM radio setup with an external antenna tuner and 10/11M CB-type mast.

 

My co worker is an older guy. He listens to talk radio on AM. But normally people don't listen to AM.

 

The best AM reception is with oem radios, aftermarket usually could care less about AM. Through the years, I have had on a few occasions not been able to satisfy customers after multiple aftermarket radios and had to return to stock units.