Poor radio reception

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Sun 17 Sep 2023 10:38
Poor radio reception - badbusdriver

When I bought my latest work vehicle, a Piaggio Porter, there was a head unit fitted but the roof mounted antenna was gone (having rusted off). I already had one of the type that is stuck onto the inside of the screen, so I fitted that. It did improve matters in so far as I could on occasion pick up a signal, but it really was poor. So I then bought an exterior mounted antenna off Amazon, one advertised as being suitable for boats as well as road vehicles, and which had decent customer reviews. While this latest one definitely has better reception than the interior mounted one, it is still well short of what I got in the Caddy (which didn't have an external antenna). It will randomly start "seeking", and not necessarily when the reception isn't great.

So what I am wondering is, just how much does the head unit itself contribute to the radio reception?. The unit in question being a brand unfamiliar to me (Autosound), presumably Chinese and presumably dirt cheap. Could this be a factor or is it all in the antenna?

The other irritation for me is that the unit in the Piaggio does not have a CD player, and I do like my CD's!. I did buy a personal CD player which I can hook up to the head unit via a cable, but it is a bit more of a faff than if the head unit has one built in. With the lack CD player and the poor reception, I have been thinking of buying either a new head unit with a CD player and a recognised brand, though obviously not that many of them available these days when everyone's music is on their phones!. Or buying a used one, again from a recognised brand.

It may be the case that neither helps with the radio reception. In which case, is there a particular type of antenna that works best?. I'd rather avoid the metal coat hanger if possible, but would consider it as a last resort!.

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Sun 17 Sep 2023 11:39
Poor radio reception - Bromptonaut

Are we talking VHF/FM, Digital or AM radio?

IIRC you're in Scotland - could you give a specific location - like a town and do you know the transmitters that cover your area.

As to CDs I'd have them on a pen drive or my phone with a blutooth connection...

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Sun 17 Sep 2023 11:41
Poor radio reception - elekie&a/c doctor
What make radio is it ?
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Sun 17 Sep 2023 11:51
Poor radio reception - paul 1963
What make radio is it ?

Autosound doc, never heard of them myself?

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Sun 17 Sep 2023 12:00
Poor radio reception - Falkirk Bairn

IIRC - I think BBD is a Blue Nose! (coldest part of UK)

i.e. He lives in Peterhead, biggest fish harbour in UK, roughly 25 miles north of Aberdeen

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Sun 17 Sep 2023 12:21
Poor radio reception - elekie&a/c doctor
Think I’d start with a known make radio . Cd/ radios now are virtually extinct new . Plenty of s/hand on the ‘bay . How much depth do you have in the dash ? Any decent radio will pick up FM , with a foot of wire hanging out the back of the aerial socket.
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Sun 17 Sep 2023 12:48
Poor radio reception - Adampr

Are you sure the aerial connection is sound?

Otherwise, yes, get a second hand one off eBay or get something from Halfords for 50 odd quid. Pay them twice as much and you can watch a cretin destroy your dashboard.

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Sun 17 Sep 2023 13:24
Poor radio reception - badbusdriver

Are you sure the aerial connection is sound?

In so far as the aerial wire is pushed in to the back of the head unit as far as it goes, yes.

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Sun 17 Sep 2023 13:19
Poor radio reception - badbusdriver

Think I’d start with a known make radio . Cd/ radios now are virtually extinct new . Plenty of s/hand on the ‘bay

Agree there are not many doc, but actually Halfords has a reasonable selection with 19 listed on their website (though a few are double DIN), and all but one (Snooper) are familiar brands. They have an ex display JVC listed at £45 which could be worth a punt. Only thing with new aftermarket units is the tiny buttons, which is why I'd also been thinking about second hand. Might be more chance of getting something more user friendly!

How much depth do you have in the dash ?

The current head unit seems to be of a fairly standard depth, but I'm not sure how much more space there is behind it with the unit in place.

Any decent radio will pick up FM , with a foot of wire hanging out the back of the aerial socket.

Any particular kind of wire?

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Sun 17 Sep 2023 13:21
Poor radio reception - badbusdriver

Are we talking VHF/FM, Digital or AM radio?

IIRC you're in Scotland - could you give a specific location - like a town and do you know the transmitters that cover your area.

As to CDs I'd have them on a pen drive or my phone with a blutooth connection...

I realise the reception in my area is not going to be as good as in some parts, but I am more thinking about how much poorer the reception in the Piaggio is compared to he Caddy (and Transit Connect before).

Yeah, I really should, but for some reason I'm reluctant!

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Sun 17 Sep 2023 13:36
Poor radio reception - elekie&a/c doctor
Any bit of sc*** wire laying on the floor of your garage, if you have one , or use a long thin electrical screwdriver just placed into the aerial socket of the radio . FM reception doesn’t need much of an aerial.
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Sun 17 Sep 2023 13:59
Poor radio reception - Bromptonaut
Any bit of sc*** wire laying on the floor of your garage, if you have one , or use a long thin electrical screwdriver just placed into the aerial socket of the radio . FM reception doesn’t need much of an aerial.

Hmm, will that not depend on proximity to a transmitter??

My two pennyworth on the subject is as follows:

Until my Fabia came along I'd always sworn by roof mounted aerials as opposed to something in or on the windscreen but the Fabia has nothing external. I suspect a wire in the rear screen does the job but not sure, whatever it is it's very good indeed on digital and adequate on VHF.

If I were in BBD's position I'd start by trying a purpose designed vehicle aerial the design of which may vary depending on whether the main requirement is VHF/FM or DAB. Make sure it's properly installed to the body and connected with a good quality cable. Ensure too that the set/head unit is properly installed with sound connections for the +ve feed, -ve earth and the aerial. If it's connected to an audio specific harness make sure all the connections there are good too.

If that brings no improvement then you're at the point where a replacement aftermarket radio is next to tick off.

Edited by Bromptonaut on 17/09/2023 at 14:11

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Sun 17 Sep 2023 15:28
Poor radio reception - corax

For my old car, I had a Kenwood DAB head unit and glass mounted aerial. The reception from the aerial wasn't that great, so I bought an external magnetic mount DAB aerial, and placed it on the dashboard. Much better, and in really bad areas it was enough to run it out of the window and stick it on the roof, although not the best if you like neatness.

I would have thought that your external aerial would be fine for FM if that's what your using. The receiver in your head unit could be pretty poor. There are still a few head units available. Agreed, they do have small buttons and the interfaces aren't always that intuitive, but once it's tuned in to your favourite stations on preset, you rarely touch most of them.

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Sun 17 Sep 2023 17:31
Poor radio reception - badbusdriver

Agreed, they do have small buttons and the interfaces aren't always that intuitive, but once it's tuned in to your favourite stations on preset, you rarely touch most of them.

Very true, I usually listen to Radio 2 up until Jeremy Vine, then I'll either put on a CD or an Aberdeen based commercial station (unless I'm working on a Saturday, in which case R2 stays on).

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Mon 18 Sep 2023 11:15
Poor radio reception - Steveieb

ICE fitted to Renaults seem particularly unreliable especially the DAB function.

My partner waited 12 weeks for a replacement “ Head “ unit and my hairdressers Kadjar was off the road for six weeks after repeated attempts by the main dealer to fix the sat nav , ICE unit.

FM radio seems far more reliable and stronger signal but limited choice of stations

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Mon 18 Sep 2023 11:35
Poor radio reception - badbusdriver

Our Jazz had DAB and I only tried it once. Sitting in the car waiting for my wife to finish an appointment, I started playing about with it. Found a heap of new stations and settled on one playing 80's music, thinking it was brilliant!. Wife came out, we set off for home and couple of hundred meters along the road, I "lost" the station I was listening to. As soon as we left town there was nothing at all!

Hey ho, back to FM!

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Mon 18 Sep 2023 16:18
Poor radio reception - Falkirk Bairn

Faulty French electrics is par for the course - switches, lights. .....................

French electrics have decades of issues only made worse with the new complexities of electronics governing "everything" in the car.

The Aygo was a joint venture for PSA & Toyota -Toyota mechanicals & French electrics - electrics were an issue in the first few years - only really resolved with a model refresh

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Mon 18 Sep 2023 18:43
Poor radio reception - Ian_SW

The quality of the head unit will definitely affect how good the radio reception is. If you're only wanting to receive FM and play CDs, a decent make fairly old secondhand one could be got off the auction sites for next to nothing.

A radio that old would probably be worthless enough to not risk being stolen, but it does look like new single din fairly basic radios are still available from makes I've heard of so hopefully would be OK.

One other thought before buying anything though. Is the radio reception bad even with the engine and heater fan etc turned off? The other cause of the reception problems could be something in the car interfering with the reception. A slightly faulty motor in the heater, fuel pump etc could cause the radio to not work very well before having any other loss of function.

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Mon 18 Sep 2023 22:34
Poor radio reception - bathtub tom

I was once told it's important to ensure both ends of the aerial lead have a good ground connection at each end.

??

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Tue 19 Sep 2023 06:16
Poor radio reception - Bolt

I was once told it's important to ensure both ends of the aerial lead have a good ground connection at each end.

??

In my experience of aerial installation that was true only if the shielding around the main cable was in good or new condition, a lot now are corroded all through now so no grounding at one end, as long as the device side is grounded the main cable should give a good signal as long as its connection at aerial is clean.

iirc a lot of cars now have aerial amps installed to boost and separate signals assuming aerial is multiple frequency, some amps can give problems due to age if fitted

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Tue 19 Sep 2023 07:59
Poor radio reception - FoxyJukebox
There’s still a lot of hype about DAB( 100’s of stations!)-but my experience is that in rural areas it’s pretty unreliable or worse still, brilliant in area x then totally missing in area y-half a mile down the road .
Use FM with a new aftermarket radio fitted by Halfords
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Tue 19 Sep 2023 10:00
Poor radio reception - Terry W

We are rapidly getting to the stage where both FM and DAB will be obsolete. There may also be better uses for the part of the radio spectrum they occupy.

Internet connectivity provides the potential for a global range of entertainment if one is so inclined.

The only question is whether reception in remote areas will be better or worse in the future than existing technologies.

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Tue 19 Sep 2023 10:25
Poor radio reception - mcb100
Agreed - I never use the car’s tuner.
It’s all streamed in the car via BBC Sounds or other streaming services and played via Bluetooth or CarPlay. Much higher quality and in 35,000 miles a year I can’t remember the last time I had no signal.
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Thu 21 Sep 2023 20:55
Poor radio reception - Bromptonaut

The only question is whether reception in remote areas will be better or worse in the future than existing technologies.

I think it will be a while before DAB/FM are obsolete though I think realistically, and as somebody with an interest in hobby radio I say so with a heavy heart, the days of AM are numbered.

I'm presently in a VW Transporter based Campervan at Horgabost on the West Coast of Harris. Short break for the launch of the Hearach Whisky.

As well as being on the road we've been on couple of different pitches with different characteristics for listening.

DAB is, for practical purposes, non existent. There's an occasional burst but no way you could follow a programme.

VHF/FM was good lower down the site but pretty hissy where we are now. AM is little more than snap, crackle and pop. Five live is audible in daylight on 693 only.

4G is surprisingly good but patchy even on the main road. I very much doubt it has the bandwidth to replace

Only VHF, if you had a good aerial and/or could position a portable well, is good enough to listen to, say, a Prom Concert.

I've a suspicion that it'll be a long time before the net can supercede broadcasting over the air for mainstream radio (or TV).

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Wed 4 Oct 2023 10:40
Poor radio reception - HGV ~ P Valentine

You can get a pretty good Bluetooth speakers which you can put anywhere in the car, and use the phone ( if you can get a signal ) to listen to music of your choice, or the radio station.

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