A few challenges with Alpine head unit....
 

...and I'm hoping you experts can help me.

I have an Alpine IVA-W505. Its about 2 years old. I bought a truck with this head unit and I have put it in the camaro with a metra kit (which proved to be a giant PITA and eventually I had to replace that unit but that story is for another day).

Now I know VERY little about audio stuff so things are not working as I would hope.

1. the AM reception is terrible. I like to listen to a couple of AM stations for talk and sport. One station is almost impossible to hear due to the reception and the other is better but still annoying.

2. it has an ipod module and cable but it does not appear on the "source" screen as an option. I have plugged in an i-touch and a new i-pod but it is not working. Now I understand from reading that there are a certain generation of i-pod nano's or classic i-pods but should the "option" not appear on the "Source" screen? i did have a first gen i-pod plugged in and the i-pod played but the head uit did not pick it up. THAT being said, there does appear to be a problem with the I-pod because the PC does not recognize the i-pod either. its a 2G nano so is quite old.

3. finally, it looks like the USB plug in to my arm console no longer works.... can that be 'fixed' or is that just a casulty of going to a new head unit?

I believe it's the new head unit you install not compatible with the previous Ipod connection that work with the stock HU. There might be special plugs that can be install to make it work. That was one of the reason I didn't wanted to change the HU in the first place. If I ever did change the HU the new Alpine that is made for the Camaro was my option but that one just came out this year.