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poor radio reception


aj1soad
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You need to buy something like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001JP0N6G?ref_=cm_cr-mr-title

The OEM head unit provides the amplification itself so this just replicates that when using an aftermarket.

That said, I still don't find the signal to be as good as when I had the original headunit, I'm tempted to replace the roof aerial with a DAB kit in my car tbh!

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Right, first opportunity I've had to sit down and write anything. A couple of things I've wrote in the past on the topic of radios in Lupo's:

Radio Interference: http://forums.clublupo.co.uk/index.php?/topic/97408-radio-interference/#entry1124676

More on signal separation filters: http://forums.clublupo.co.uk/index.php?/topic/91810-aerial-booster-switched-live/?p=1061511

Even more: http://forums.clublupo.co.uk/index.php?/topic/93665-stubby-aerial-suggestions/?p=1088023

On stubbys: http://forums.clublupo.co.uk/index.php?/topic/97304-head-unit-upgrade/?p=1124042

How ariels work, scientifically: http://forums.clublupo.co.uk/index.php?/topic/100085-stubby-ariel/?p=1146108

First thing to say, FM doesn't have an issue with earth, unlike AM. If you're doing FM only, then forget about grounds and all that. With FM, you should simply think of the antenna as a piece of wire, with nothing else. Grounds only matter when AM is involved. There's no electrical intereference with FM either because it's modulated.

You need to do a bit of diagnostics here. I'm going to go out on a wim and say there's something wrong with your antenna, because FM is such a straightforward system that picking up any kind of signal is borderline trivial, unlike AM.

So, first thing to do is rule out your head unit (although it sounds like you already have). You need to make a localized antenna. Disconnect your vehicle antenna from the back of the HU, take a piece of long wire and run it from the back of the head unit antenna socket and drape it outside your window. This should give you ample FM signal, as in borderline perfect. If you're still experiencing horrible signal quality, it's possible that your head unit is defective or you're in a seriously **** location.

Now that you know your head unit is fine, you need to work out where your antenna is broken. The common points of failure are the plug that connects into the head unit and the base of the bee sting antenna on the roof. A good way of testing the base (imo) is to unplug the bee sting aerial,wrap piece of wire around the screw then screw it back in. Then start wrapping the wire around your bee sting aerial. You should get very good reception with this. If you do, then you know that your bee sting aerial is dead, although the base could still be problematic. You can also remove the base and connect a piece of wire directly to the connection that runs through your vehicles roof and make a long antenna that way.

Don't forget, if the plug is broken then you'll need to repair it. I've done a really easy way somewhere on here so I'll find you a link to that.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...
On 16 December 2015 at 8:51 PM, Skezza said:

Sounds grim. DAB is awful.

Really? I have to say the quality of DAB is easily 10x better than FM, not to mention the availability of many more stations! 

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1 hour ago, cj1 said:

Really? I have to say the quality of DAB is easily 10x better than FM, not to mention the availability of many more stations! 

**** on the move. Bit of a requirement in a car.....

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  • 2 months later...
1 hour ago, Mobieus_uk said:

wifes car is a 15month polo with the new entertainment centre, the dab drops in and out like a yoyo, lupo with FM dont miss a beat

All depends on location but the general opinion is DAB simply doesn't hold up on the move. It's no different to digital TV in that regard. Where I live, it simply doesn't hold up at all, a strong wind is enough to knock it out. The quality is good but no better than MP3.

It might sound daft but the real winner is online radio and I called it years ago. We've invested millions in DAB and yet it's completely failed at replacing FM. Back when smartphones weren't at all common, I was able to stream last.fm (now considered obsolete lol) via a traditional 3G data connection. Yeah it sometimes dropped out, but with clever buffering algorithms you could minimise the drops to just a couple. We now have HSPDA covering about 99% of England and 4G in basically all the cities. Nowadays I can listen to online radio without a single drop, in better quality than DAB could ever achieve and simply by using my phone. Invest in a head unit that supports connectivity to your phone or has online multimedia support, get yourself an unlimited data plan and enjoy the freedom to listen to high quality without the signal problems.

If you are waiting for DAB to work, you'll be waiting forever.

 

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