I was planning on getting a Sony headunit from an ebay store in the US - but I have heard that you cannot pickup Australian am stations with them - is this true? Also is there any way around it?

What would be a smart idea is to contact the seller and ask them if the headunit is compatible in Australia. When I bought mine the ebay ad indicated that it was one that would work in Australia. Considering the store itself is in the US and doesnt ship to Australia by default, I would say this is a sign.

Also..as far as I knew it also affects FM so that you cannot listen to the band of frequencies that we listen to in Aus.

AM should only be affected as the incrments are different to Oz. Some units have the option to change in the unit itself.

Best to ask first.

There may be a slightly different model number for the US/European and Australian version....

For instance, on my head unit...The US one is the DEH P8600MP whereas my one (Australian) is the DEH P8650MP.......

Maybe go to www.sony.com first and click on the US region...see what the code is there and then the australian sony site to see if there is a code difference for the same units....

The bands are the same. However, their AM goes up in 10kHz steps, instead of 9kHz here.

Thanks for the help! :)