My wife's 2001 GS300 gets terrible radio reception, both AM and FM. It's only really good on strong stations, and then only within a fairly narrow radius. I don't want to replace the stock radio, so I was considering the various options:

1. Add an antenna booster - if such a thing exists.

2. Drill a hole in the fender and add a mast antenna (no, no, no!).

3. Add a little roof antenna like a VW bug.

4. Add XM or Sirius satellite to the existing radio - if that's possible.

So, I'm wondering if any of the above options, or even others I haven't though of, have been tried successfully by anyone on the forum. The key is that I want to keep the stock radio.

 

my gs is like that too. i get poor radio reception. i got an avn2454 installed and the reception was the same. i asked my installed if there was a way to boost the power of my reception and he didnt really know what to say... i dont know. i just listed to cd's/mp3s to take advantage of my system anyways.

 

Yes doable with FM transceiver. You will need to mount the XM remote somewhere however.

 

I'm leaning toward the satellite radio through an FM modulator. I'm afraid if I get an antenna booster for the radio it will just amplify the noise.

 

You can get a FM Modulator that is an adapter plug that goes into your existing antenna port from your radio so you get almost a perfect connection with it, no need to worry about signal issues since its directly wired into your car. My friend got one for like $60 and he said it sounds awesome with his iPod. So that might be an option for you too. In my SC I just hacked the cd changer wires since it didn't work anyways.