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MS Radio Antenna Stinks?

While I don't listen to a lot of FM radio, I have noticed, that side by side with my wife's Mercedes, radio station reception is demonstrably worse for my Model S. I mean having the cars sit side by side in my driveway, one main radio station played in my MS is horrible and static while my wife's plays clear....anyone else notice this?

I couldn't agree more, FM reception stinks, And for that matter AM. reception isn't any better. And I thought it was just my radio

Everybody talked about it for months in a different thread. But nothing has changed and probably Tesla can't help it otherwise they would fix it. It's a problem for years even started in their previous model. Looks like it has something to do with an electric motor. Although I can be wrong.

Ylyubarsky, thanks for the update, As I've got my car but new to this forum.and trying to catch up.
Stayed up till 130 this morning and now I'm on it again so far last night I ordered a new front and back floor mats a new custom size windshield Sunscreen and considering CCI. Can hardly wait to see what today presents

The antennas (3 of them) are in the side view mirrors (per a service Ranger), not in the 17" screen. (nnt just makes this stuff up!). Seems like there should be lots of opportunity to upgrade the antenna characteristics with it being in a relatively accessible location.

I have seen this complaint on the forums since the first cars were delivered, and I guess I have been fortunate. My FM radio reception is really good. In fact it's noticeably better than my Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited. In the Jeep when I drive over a particularly large hill the reception gets worse and the volume drops noticeably. This does not happen in the Model S.

I think most owners will agree that the "radio" sucks. However, give "slacker" a try. Once you get used to the pristine sound, ability to skip forward to a new song, and the infinite choices, you'll never listen to commercial radio again.

In my first few weeks of ownership, I too couldn't believe how bad the radio reception was on both AM and FM. Then, I started exploring Slacker.... haven't looked back since.

One of the main reasons for listening to AM radio was for traffic reports. I've got that on my Nav screen. I'm just SOOOOO over the commercials. Try Slacker. You'll like it. radio (FM) seems fine. In fact, better than my 2012 Camry Hybrid. haven't tried satellite or AM.

Yes, it's strange. It's almost as though there's an assembly glitch, and some/many cars don't have all/some of the antennas hooked up.

@nnt. Yes, I think I own a Model S . That is what it looks like in my garage. How about you?

Would poor OTA reception make you more or less inclined to purchase the connectivity package when it becomes available? Hmmmm....

NNT get out of here. You are a liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. You have no reservation, brother or experience with this car. We called you out on the private side and you don't exist there. Get lost loser.

My AM/FM reception is terrible as well. The service center removed my back windshield to access and reconnect my GPS and Satellite radio antennas, since neither were working after delivery. While the navigation and XM radio are now working perfectly, unfortunately there was no improvement on the AM/FM radio.

I usually listen to music via bluetooth on my iPhone and via internet or XM radio so it is not a major issue. Nevertheless, I would like to have an operational AM/FM radio.

Both AM and FM reception on my MS with standard sound system,are very similar to my 2003 Passat with premium sound system. I receive the same stations with the same quality and experience the same signal loss at the same intersection on FM.

If you are not happy with AM/FM. You really should go to TuneIn, and select any FM or AM station that is available.. I am in Florida and listen to AM and FM stations in New York for Imus. And. Boston for Howie Carr.

NNT - call 877-798-3752 and tell them that they should upgrade the antenna. I'm confident that'd love to hear from you. Since us other owners really don't know what we buy. Do the community a good deed and communicate that on our behalf, will ya?

I was beginning to think it was just my car or where I happened to be driving. I will definately have to ask my service center about this. Although, have you all tried the voice command to play any song you want? It is awesome, uses the slacker account.

My experiences:

Tunein lacks most of the major stations in LA. Of the 6 I listen to, only 1 is available on Tunein.

Slacker plays my requested song 50% of the time. After my requested song is played most of the following songs I have never heard of.

My reception seems to be 80% - 90% of the reception I had in my MB.

nnt: "My reservation is under another name."

How many names do you have? Why do you have more than one? Are you in the witness protection program?

Nick, the cars are shipping with the internet on. DS said the first year should be free. Please go away.

Man, whoever this NNT character is he has certainly quite a 'following'...anyways, apologies if this is a dup thread, and I basically only listen to Slacker now and TuneIN for both...thing is in my area of Suburban NYC, AT&T data sucks, really sucks, so I often find Slacker searching for a signal...odd about the FM reception though, considering its gotta be the oldest technology in the car...

I imagine comments like "I don't own one" followed by " I know more about this car than anybody who has one" is quite possibly why people love to hate you...:) Just sayin.

Has anyone asked if they already have a pre-amp on the antenna?

Many cars now seem to but if tesla does not then adding one would be an easy fix for the radio issue.

Just tried calling OE to ask this exact question murray but got voicemail :(

TuneIn is free forever (we will eventually need either tethering or a car-based 3G data plan, but for now it streams fairly well as long as you vane wireless service). All of the key stations in DC, Baltimore, and the couple that we listen to in San Fran & Boston are there.

I have found a few strange things where stations available on my Android TuneIn app are not coming over to the car's favorites via the TuneIn login process, while others do. It probably has something to do with the way TM implemented TuneIn, as this is a regular complaint on blackberry forums - something about the codec (might have the term wrong). I am not sure why this occurs, but not a big issue for me as I listen to XM most of the time while driving.

I do find that XM reception is also a bit sketchy in the Model S compared to the other vehicles where we have it.

This just in: NNT knows more about this car than anyone! What a bonus to have him around. He's a true renaissance man. I guess if you're related to someone who has the car (allegedly) and you've ridden in it a couple of times, you become a de facto expert. Perhaps I'll loan mine to my brother for a while...that should make me as smart as NNT.

NNT, now that you know everything about the model S, you should have some free time to work on the finer points of English, like the past participle of "drive". It should be "have driven", not "have drove".

Troll alert

Typical troll distraction: krappy grammar. Same tactic as the Nigerian scammers use.

NNT: What day did you say your brother took delivery?

Tesla is well aware of the problem. I spoke to my local service center and was told that they are aware of it and are hoping to fix it with next software update. Spoke to a factory tech support person at a later date and he confirmed that they are aware of the problem and working on it and hope to solve it with next software update. Till then, got live with it.

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