Where is the 2005 RL radio antenna located?

I got my RL last week and I've noticed that the FM sensitivity is about the worst of any car radio I've ever had. When I drive from the city out to the boonies I loose the city stations much sooner than with any other car radio I can remember. What's that all about?

Peter

 

On the rear windshield as other car does?

 

yeah it is in the rear window and I find the reception to be about avg based on cars I have driven...then again, I havent gone to the boonies so it may totally stink if I were to do some country driving.

 

Where exactly on the rear windshield is the antenna located? I just looked at it and all I see are those horizontal lines which I assumed were the rear window defroster - or are some of those the antenna?

The exact trip I was referring to in my original message wasn't really to the "boonies." It was from the Philly suburbs to the Atlantic City area (a trip I do frequently). In previous cars I've been able to receive most of the Philly FM stations fairly well until about 2 miles out of AC. In my new RL the Philly stations start to fade more like 5-7 miles out of AC.

This is the first car I've owned in a long time that does not have a telescoping radio antenna. I vaguely recall that many years ago I had some car where the radio antenna was built into the front windshield. I thought car manufacturers gave up on them when they realized they're less sensitive and somewhat directional. I'm happy with my new RL overall but given that the radio is a "big deal" to me I'm disappointed with this feature.


One other question - what are those round metallic-looking dots in the FRONT windshield around the point where the rear view mirror attaches to the windshield?

Peter

 

Listen to XM when you go to the boonies. I didn't know you had any boonies in NJ - I thought they were all in Tennessee.

 

The are some people here in NYC -- not moi, mind you, I like New Jersey -- who believe that NJ is a synonym for boonies. It's not true, of course. They grow som fine tomatoes over there.

 

I am surprised to hear of FM problems. My FM and XM are close to perfect everywhere. My last car, a Cadillac, had the worst FM of any car. I thought it was a ploy to make you pay for XM!

 

the antenna is embedded in the upper postion of the rear winshield. all hondas/acuras have had this for a few years now, it started with the 98-2004 honda accord series and moved into the 2nd generation TL's. i haven't had problems with the FM at all. i live out in the boonies of northern va, 40 miles outside of DC and i get all dc stations clearly. i say just listen to xm.

 

Peter, those I am pretty sure are just to block the sun from around the mirror.

 

Thanks. I was just wondering if there was any reason not to mount my EZ Pass transponder there.

Peter

 

E-ZPass is working great if you put it there... If you're not sure, try to hold it there by hand next time while passing through...

 

Mine is there, it works fine.

 

What's an EZ Pass transponder?

 

I rarely use the radio in my CL but there used to be settings to filter out all but the stongest stations, does the RL have one of these setups.

 

Kidding, right?

To go through tolls without stopping. Payment automatically added to a credit card (probably other payment methods too). It's great on the east coast, cuts way down on toll lines, don't have to worry about digging for change.

Not as good as not having tolls, but the next best thing.

 

E-ZPASS...

http://www.ezpass.com/static/info/index.shtml


NY/PA/NJ/MD/IL/MA: E-ZPASS (due to the great populations use this system, it's prolly the most popular electronic toll collection system in US)

MA: FAST LANE

Chicago: I-PASS

SFC: FasTrak

LA: SunPass

Seattle: ...

 

No I wasn't kidding. We don't have any toll roads in Tennessee or any of the adjoining states that I know of. Kentucky did have some toll roads, but I think the tolls have been eliminated on the Kentucky roads.

BTW, a couple of years ago the truckers voted TN as having the best roads of any state in the country.

 

I love TN roads. On my semi-regular trips from Chicago to parts South and back the TN portions are always great. It's further enhanced by TN's much more reasonable speed limits, too.

 

And I believe they consistently rate PA roads as the worst. No wonder my RL has so many freakin' rattles.

Anyway, I didn't mean my comment in a mean way, I was just surprised. But then again, I should have figured that tolls weren't so common outside of the Virginia to Maine corridor.

 

I live in PA as well (Pittsburgh area). I agree the roads couldn't be worse. The rattles are driving the dealer nuts...Are you in the same area?

 

No, I'm from the East Coast of PA, otherwise known as Philly.

From Overdrive Magazine
http://www.etrucker.com/apps/news/article.asp?id=42743

WORST ROADS
1. Arkansas
2. Pennsylvania
3. Louisiana
4. California
5. Illinois

BEST ROADS
1. Texas
2. Florida
3. Tennessee
4. Georgia
5. Ohio

PA roads suck really bad

 

Bah, I see your crappy PA roads and raise you my Illinois roads! I'm all-in, baby! Plus, living in Chicago I get to pay the highest gas taxes in the nation. Why? Well pot holes like that don't come for free! Premium is running around $2.60/gallon, more in the 'downtown' area.

Oh and do we have toll roads here, you betcha. Our governor (my neighbor) recently doubled the tolls for people that don't use I-pass devices. So if you are just passing thru you get to pay double and, soon, you will even be diverted off the expressway onto a by-way interchange for the opportunity to pay your toll as they are re-working the toll plazas to no longer accept cash. Enjoy your summer vacation waiting in line to pay Illinois tolls to drive on crappy roads. I've lived all over and, by far, Illinois roads are the worst I've ever seen. It's amazing that driving north to Wisconsin, which has worse weather than we do, it's immediately noticeable when you transition from IL road to WI road - so much smoother.

 

um, Georgia ajoins you and we have a toll road. BTW our pass is called a "Cruise Card" Maybe you should take that nice car on a road trip and explore some! j/k

Also, in most of California it is called Fasttrack. I think an earlier poster called it sunpass? That sounds like more of a Florida thing.

Whatever they call it, get used to it. More and more areas will be using toll roads to pay for highways. Was just in Dallas for business and they are building toll roads like crazy. Also talking about doing more here.

 

The EZ Passes and Cruise Cards and Sunpasses and so forth really should be integrated so that any one transponder will work on any collection system in the country. Coast to coast with a single transponder.

 

wrong. first gen tls 96-98 had this. Being a proud 1G owner, i had to point this out.