Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The Radio Function In a NFL Toyota Alphard

This blog continue from the last post where I cover the operation of the head unit.

To operate the radio, you'll press the "AM FM" button on the head unit and the preset radio channels will be displayed as shown in the photo below.

Toyota Alphard HU Radio Functions
Press the "AM FM" button again to switch between the AM and FM channels. If your radio channels are pre-set by your dealer, it should be highlighted and it should start to receive the radio signal immediately. To select another channel, just "touch" on one of the box labelled 1 to 6.

Do note that the radio channel frequency in Japan operate up to a maximum of 90MHz while the local radio channel runs up to 107MHz. Therefore, the standard head unit will not be able to receive some of the higher frequency radio channels operating in Malaysia. What most dealers will do (to sweeten the deal) is they will install a frequency booster to increase the reception of the radio unit so that it can receive local radio channels. The one installed by the dealer onto my giant is shown in the photo below.

Toyota Alphard Frequency Booster 1Toyota Alphard Frequency Booster 2 This unit allow the radio frequency reception to be boosted by increment of 12, 16 or 20 MHz. However do note that even though the frequency reception has been boosted, the displayed frequency on the LCD doesn't show the exact received frequency. Therefore, you might want to make a mental note of which frequency is for which radio channel. To tune the radio frequency to any of your favourite channel, just press the "Up" or "Down" portion of the "TUNE TRACK" button.

You can also use the "AUTO.P" function to try the auto-programming of the radio channels. However, I find that it is not very effective in setting the radio channel frequency correctly. I normally will let it run with the pre-set channel frequency.

To control the sound level of your speakers, you'll pressed the "SOUND" button to bring up this screen.

Toyota Alphard HU Sound Configuration
You can change the treble, mid and bass level by "touching" the "+" or "-" buttons on the screen. You can also fade the sound favouring the front, rear, left or right by "touching" each of these buttons.

Because of the limited capabilities on the standard head unit to control the sound level, I believed many owners who wanted a better sound system will opt to install aftermarket audio equipment to enhance the listening level in their giant. I have done it on my giant and I'll blog about it in future.

To control the automatic sound levelling function, you'll press the "ASL" button to bring up this screen.

Toyota Alphard HU ASL
The ASL function will increase the volume of the head unit depending on your setting to compensate for the intruding noise from outside as you drive you car. I normally leave it at MID.

There is also a screen on the G-Book function that allow you to tune your FM function automatically but I was not able to get it to work here.

2 comments:

  1. how about the price of the frequency booster? and the cost to install it?

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  2. Sorry, it was a long time ago I install the frequency booster so I can't remember the price. It would have been somewhat higher by now.

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