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2012 Ford Focus Car Radio Report

B

BobOnTheJob

I was leery of this radio with HD built in and with a roughly 8" long rubber antenna. My 2007 Honda Fit's 6" rubber antenna was so bad that I drilled a hole in the roof & installed a 31" whip with much better results. The new one is a whole different story...the FM performance is somehow at least equal to the Pioneer SuperTuner IIID on FM (it doesn't overload whereas the Pioneer does) and isn't far shy of it on AM! And while the AM HD has that tiinny, phasy sound that comes with it, 700 WLW at 90 air miles is in HD during the day pretty consistently as is WNDE 1260's 5KW at 35 air miles. If you're interested in this model of car, don't let the radio scare you away.

As a side note, the first AM HD I heard was breathtaking...it was at the NAB in Las Vegas in the 90's, was on 1630 or 1640 and it was HD only--no analog. It took up at least 5 full AM frequencies but the sound was at least equal to FM stereo & probably better. For obvious reasons, that version didn't pan out, but it sounded amazing.
 
I've noticed newer cars coming with shorter FM antennas, but I think they are sort of a coil on the inside so the full length of metal is still there. I always thought antennas performed better spread out straight.

I'm surprised the FCC or EAS haven't had any conflicts with how AM HD works during a thunderstorm. In a world of non-hybrid AM IBOC signals, it would be near impossible to get emergency information from an AM station when severe weather is approaching because the lightning strikes would keep knocking the signal out. Granted lightning does a lot of damage to analog AM signals as well but they don't go silent for several seconds afterwards.
 
I rented a 2010 Toyota Corolla in August for a trip to Yakima. Absolutely excellent performance on FM and even AM (with the in-glass!) Got stations on the other side of the Cascades on FM in Yakima (KMPS, KPLZ, KBKS, etc), excellent sensitivity to first-adjacent channels on FM, and AM I was getting CHMB 1320 w/ an OK groundwave signal at the Hertz rental dealership in Kirkland, where I got this at. NO engine noise at all on AM.

-crainbebo
 
The Rav4 must have the same or similar radio in it because AM is like that as well. It doesn't have very wide AM bandwidth, but thats part of the reason its selectivity is better and noise is lower. I drove one of these down the Outer Banks in North Carolina listening to WCBS 880 during the daytime, which isn't that hard to pick up near the ocean but the radio helped make the signal crisp sounding.
 
BobOnTheJob said:
I was leery of this radio with HD built in and with a roughly 8" long rubber antenna. My 2007 Honda Fit's 6" rubber antenna was so bad that I drilled a hole in the roof & installed a 31" whip with much better results. The new one is a whole different story...the FM performance is somehow at least equal to the Pioneer SuperTuner IIID on FM (it doesn't overload whereas the Pioneer does) and isn't far shy of it on AM! And while the AM HD has that tiinny, phasy sound that comes with it, 700 WLW at 90 air miles is in HD during the day pretty consistently as is WNDE 1260's 5KW at 35 air miles. If you're interested in this model of car, don't let the radio scare you away.
Click to expand...

Is HD *standard* in this car now?
 
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