I have discovered an issue which I beleive affects newish VW/Audi group cars. I was trying an upgraded stereo in my Octavia and discovered I suddenly had terrible MW/LW reception, the original Skoda radio has superb reception (I use LW whilst abroad!). Having investigated further I beleive the Skoda radio is feeding voltage back up the aerial lead to feed the aerial&lifier (Like TV masthead aerial).
I have noticied in past articles/reviews/books by HJ that on some VW/Audi cars, eg Audi A2, have poor MW/LW reception. Do you think they have fitted a different stereo for the UK market that doesnt drive the aerial amplifier properly?
Any auto electricians out there who know what is required to feed the amplifier? Inline capacitor + 12V?
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Funny you should mention that...
My 2000X Seat Arosa has had a 'special modification' to allow it to receive FM. Although this is different from your complaint they only did the work under warrantly after complaining to Seat UK that the previous bodged-up attempts to fix the problem were not acceptable.
Odd thing was that the reception was 100% when the brakes were applied; otherwise the FM reception was just all static and crackling (I do not know if MW/LW was affected as I only listened to FW stations).
They replaced the roof aerial, amplifier, aerial cable, front brakes and disks, rewired the radio earth, rewired the alternator earth AND got an independant stereo expert to have a go as well...no joy.
Eventually a Seat technical expert advised the installation of a special front and rear brake earthing kit. I though it was a gimmick but it has worked for a year so far..reception is perfect for all frequencies.
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When I spoken to my local Skoda dealer (fabia '01) about changing the head unit, they warned me I would need a special adaptor to fit if I wanted to listen to anything else but FM. I rarely listen to the radio anyway and when I do it's always FM, so I didn't bother with the adpator. The dealer told me it had something to do with the aerial being slopped towards the rear of the car ( like this / ).
Also you have to swap the permanent live with the ignition live, otherwise you lose your radio settings.
I must admit I have to have the radio on louder (on the display)than CD to get the same volume. Wonder if that adaptor would sort this out???
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Ianb. The answer is no,the cd is a direct digital input to the head unit, there are losses on rf signals so the volume is different, most stereos are like this, even the one in your house, turn on the radio and set the volume, then switch to cd and the volume will increase. I have a vw golf and this is exactly the same.And the dealer blaming it on the aerial being sloped backwards is having you on . It is because it has an amplified aerial.
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On various VW's fitted with the standard Gamma radio I've never been able to get Radio 4 on long wave (198 kHz) (Only way of listening to The Archers when in France!). My dealer said that these radios are not able to tune down to this frequency. Radio 4 on Medium Wave seems to be very local to parts of GB. You certainly can't get Radio 4 on MW in France. Whether this is caused by the radio or by the transmission I don't know.
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See this previous thread for one solution:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=i&t=76...1
But I still have problems with my MW/LW reception on my aftermarker CD system in the Octavia. I'm going to try the brakes thing this evening though...
My aerial doesn't have the signal booster though, apparently that is a small unit fitted to the underside of the roof of most models, running off a blue wire. My Octavia is only the bog standard Classic model though, it doesn't have very many gizmos fitted.
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My Octavia is also the classic model. The amplifier is built into the roof aerial. If I fit aftermarket CD LW/MW is poor
(attach a bit of wire instead its OK!) if I re-fit original classic radio LW/MW is then superb (sadly we still can listen to the archers in the Loire Valley in France).
If you measure the aerial lead voltage whilst in use on original radio seems to show about 11.5V. This looks like the amplifier feed, daren't fit in line capacitor and 12V in case it goes pop!
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I posted a link to this thread on www.briskoda.net and was promptly directed to the following link as a solution to the problem:
www.bluespot.co.uk/stock/vw.asp
It is also worth being aware of the aftermarket radio problem affecting VAG cars. See here for further information:
www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/aftermarket-radio.html
Details of radio connector pins for the technically minded are here:
g7pkf.homeip.net/cars/octavia/radio.htm
Hope this helps.
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Thanks for that,
Does the bluespot cable also sort the K-line problem?
BJ
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Sorry for the delay in replying. Yes, the kit sorts out the K-wire problem. Not all the pins have wires connected and are thus not passed through.
Denis
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