There is something wrong with the tuner. First, let's get my general bias out the way: The basic design of these things is rubbish stuffed with a few premium components, like a lot of audiophile gear. The high blend circuit stinks, the distortion is 10x higher than it needs to be, the stereo separation stinks, and the frequency response is godawful. This is a description of an FT101A, but perhaps they've vastly improved the new models. I doubt it. Still, they usually are quite sensitive, on the redeeming side.
Magnums puke and die when confronted with strong signals. They typically do well on weak signal precisely because they use a cruddy front end with very little selectivity and gobs of gain. If it isn't pulling stations, send it back and tell them to realign it. A standard $2.00 dipole from Best Buy will work just as well as the MD whip, and should do as well as a car antenna.
Best option: Sell it and buy an old McIntosh MR78, or any number of quality Japanese tuners. Second best: Send it to someone who knows their stuff to align it and fix it up right. Third best: Send it back to the twits who built it and tell them to fix it.
Magnums puke and die when confronted with strong signals. They typically do well on weak signal precisely because they use a cruddy front end with very little selectivity and gobs of gain. If it isn't pulling stations, send it back and tell them to realign it. A standard $2.00 dipole from Best Buy will work just as well as the MD whip, and should do as well as a car antenna.
Best option: Sell it and buy an old McIntosh MR78, or any number of quality Japanese tuners. Second best: Send it to someone who knows their stuff to align it and fix it up right. Third best: Send it back to the twits who built it and tell them to fix it.