Lexus IS250 - Radio interference

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Fri 14 Jun 2013 21:41
Lexus IS250 - Radio interference - needan
My Lexus IS250 has a fault with radio, medium wave crackles and sounds as if there is bad connextion. I had this problem when I bought the car, the dealer changed the unit and all was well until a few months ago. The selling Lexus dealer suggested the fault was due to the change to DAB. Nonsense I thought at the time.
Has anyone else experienced this fault? The car is still under warranty so I suppose it can be fixed at Lexus.
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Sat 15 Jun 2013 09:58
Lexus IS250 - Radio interference - Collos25

DAB will have no effect what so ever on other frequency reception the dealer who infered so just wants rid of you,take the car back and have the problem rectified.

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Sat 15 Jun 2013 13:52
Lexus IS250 - Radio interference - Peter.N.

Its more likely to be a problem with the aerial, check where the cable is connected to the aerial and make sure that the braiding is securely earthed.

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Sat 15 Jun 2013 20:39
Lexus IS250 - Radio interference - Cyd
I don't know the technical reasons for it, but coincidental with the increases in DAB availability I have noticed a reduction in FM reception quality on all the recievers I use, including my hifi which uses a chimney mounted FM aerial.
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Sat 15 Jun 2013 23:27
Lexus IS250 - Radio interference - Peter.N.

DAB is on a higher frequency than FM, as the aerial needs to be tuned to the frequency recieved for optimum results a DAB aerial is to short for FM. Ideally the aerial shoud be one quarter of a wavelength long which is about 18" for FM but many are helically wound to reduce the length. Replacing your aerial with an FM specific one will improve the FM but degrade the DAB.

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Sun 16 Jun 2013 17:31
Lexus IS250 - Radio interference - Cyd

As it happens I have just recently been up on the roof to replace the bracket that holds the aerial pole. Whilst I was there I inspected both aerials (one TV, one FM) and connections (which aren't that old anyways) and found them to be in good order. So I am confident I have no aerial issues at home. But thenks for the suggestion anyway.

On the move, I have found that FM reception dips out in areas where it didn't used to. I have found this to be true in 3 different vehicles, so I find it hard to believe that's aerial issues either.

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