AM reception I enjoy a radio station that does not come in well; lot of static and some fade. How can I "boost" the signal to achieve better reception. I live around 30 miles from Atlanta and, frankly, most stations are fairly poor.

Unless it's a fault on the unit, then you need a much better aerial.
If you are talking about FM radio you will need something like this:

Thats a jobsite radio / bat charger...
use your car radio when traveling

First make certain the CD player isn't on when the radio is on. CD players cause inteferance with radio's. Apart from that you will need a good aerial. If that doesn't improve it then it could be down to local conditions -hills, power lines etc, blocking the signal. Also check there's nothing around the house that might cause interferance to the signal.

My XHD6425 seems to be very inconsistent... Sometimes I get okay reception, other times I get terrible reception (much worse than my original stock Ford radio). The reception problems are more noticeable on stations that are more than 30 miles away or so.
Perhaps oddest of all, I've sometimes had it bounce back and forth between two stations (like if you are driving and in the middle of nowhere, half way between two stations), even in areas where I know should be getting good reception on one station and had never heard of the other other station before.
If you've figured anything out, please let me know.

FM reception is good; however there is a lot of static on AM 1000. No problems on other AM stations. Any suggestions or than stop listening to "1000"?

could be or the station you have on.in between towers you will get static.

most portables have a very weak FM receiver, and a building interior tends to block a good deal of signals. your best bet is an old fashioned unit with a large retractable antenna.

Turn on the radio and turn the AM/SW BAND switch to the AM position. MW appears in the display. Use the outer ‘fast’ tuning knob to find stations, fine tuning with the inner ‘slow’ knob
when needed.

• If there is interference from adjacent stations, place the BAND WIDTH control in the NARROW position. If there is no interference, leave it in the WIDE position.

• If there is excess background noise, turn on
the SW LPF switch, which may minimize the noise.

• If a station is so strong that audio distortion occurs, reduce the gain level with the AM/SW RF GAIN control knob by turning it counterclockwise.

• The telescopic antenna does not have to be extended for AM reception. The radio has an internal, directional, ferrite-bar antenna for AM reception.

• To optimize AM reception, swivel the radio until maximum signal strength is achieved.

All of that being said: It's very tough nowadays to receive AM in this 2008 electronic world. If your able install a longwire SW antenna outside, and have access to a good earth ground, you can boost the AM signals and beat the noise being generated all around you.

Don't take your radio to work. Get your work done , then go home and listen to it. You will get better reception in a res. area.

you wanna boast up the radio signal?? There are ant. boasters around, But if your far away from a radio station your radio cant make that weak signal any higher in amplitude. All you would be amplifying is noise or static. Sorry