Magnadyne M4 Radio Reception

[paulmlac]

For others that have this model, how is the radio reception?

Ours is pretty poor.

We live in suburban Cincinnati.

One of the bigger FM stations in town has a lot of static even when driving on the highway bypass loop around town. As a contrast, this station comes through pretty clearly in my Ford Fusion daily driver in Columbus which is ~ 90 miles away.

The big AM station is town in 700. I pick that up best when the tuner says 690. Actually, all AM stations come through better 1 number down like that. I've tried tuning FM statons 1 number down & it doesn't work on that band. Generally AM comes in better than FM.

I am getting some warranty work done. One of the items was fixing the Magnadyne software (GPS kept shutting down). I'm hoping that somehow has a positive effect on the radio too but not sure / doubtful.

Just curious if others have the same type of reception issues.

[RvBill3]

I don't use the radio much for AM or FM. I installed the XM module and listen to it or iPod. I do note that the FM has a setting for "local" and "distance". It is suppose to help you tune in urban areas with many channels. If you are having trouble with reception, set it to distance.

One of the problems with any class C is the antenna is partially blocked by the cab over area. It's never going to work as well as a car.

[Don Wills]

I had the same experience.

Answers like "don't bother trying to make AM or FM work well, it's just the way it is" are not acceptable to me. (That reminds me of the rationale for continuing to use Microsoft Windows.)

I had the Magnadyne and replaced it with the top end Pioneer unit. Couldn't be happier.

FWIW, the antenna on my 2012 Solera is a whip antenna on top of the cab-over area just above the passenger seat, so that isn't the problem. The Magnadyne is simply inferior.

[ATVer]

It seems there are a lot of posts about problems with the optional Magnadyne radio. I have the standard Jensen and it works well.

[Don Wills]

I believe that the Magnadyne is the only radio/media device installed in new Soleras.

[ATVer]

Since this is a Sunseeker forum I assumed that was the vehicle he was asking about.

[MKM]

The reception on our unit is very poor as well. We usually bring the ipod with us and use that. I don't find the unit very user friendly as well. The systems in our Ford vehicles is much easier to use.

[paulmlac]

Don Wills & ATVer - Yes, it's a Sunseeker, not Solera.

Sounds like I'm not alone!

[KQ2N]

I've had 2 class C coaches, including a 2011 Sunseeker 2300, both had horrible AM reception due to the antenna being under the front end nose of the coach. FM is fine, but I'm a talk show/sports show radio listener and generally AM stations carry that type of programming. At the Hershey RV show, I ordered and just yesterday, picked up my new Sunseeker 2860, my third class C. As my unit was ordered, while it was being built, for a nominal charge, I requested the cab radio antenna be placed on top of the coach, as the Solera has. Forest River honored my request. My 2860 came with the Magnadyne M4 cab radio.

I have to say, putting the cab's M4 radio antenna on the roof of the coach made a world of difference on AM! FM and WeatherBand reception are also improved since both of them operate on essentially line of sight propagation and a roof top location helps in that aspect. The M4 with roof top antenna now has equal AM performance to any car radio that I've ever had.

[ATVer]

Originally Posted by KQ2N

I've had 2 class C coaches, including a 2011 Sunseeker 2300, both had horrible AM reception due to the antenna being under the front end nose of the coach. FM is fine, but I'm a talk show/sports show radio listener and generally AM stations carry that type of programming. At the Hershey RV show, I ordered and just yesterday, picked up my new Sunseeker 2860, my third class C. As my unit was ordered, while it was being built, for a nominal charge, I requested the cab radio antenna be placed on top of the coach, as the Solera has. Forest River honored my request. My 2860 came with the Magnadyne M4 cab radio.

I have to say, putting the cab's M4 radio antenna on the roof of the coach made a world of difference on AM! FM and WeatherBand reception are also improved since both of them operate on essentially line of sight propagation and a roof top location helps in that aspect. The M4 with roof top antenna now has equal AM performance to any car radio that I've ever had.

Good to know. Since most every Sunseeker has an Outside entertainment center with a coach roof mounted antennae it wouldn't be too hard to put a splitter at the back of the entertainment center and run an antennae wire up to the chassis radio. Since I rarely listen to over the air radio anymore, spoiled by having Sirius satellite radios, I probably won't go through the trouble.

[johnhh]

is the reception bad with the backup camera on or it doesn,t matter. my reception was bad only when backup camera was on.called the backup camera in brooklyn and they sent out new parts .it was the mirror part that attaches to the windshield and module under dash that was bad replaced and all was good.