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Car FM radio Reception - Crap...
T66 - 27/6/12 at 02:24 PM

A recent change of car (Grand Vitara) and I decided to fit a upgrade audio in it. Its a double din job, ie audio,satnav, dvd, digi tv thing.


The digital tv in my area isnt switched on till September, but it works when I am nearer the transmitter, just not when Im at home in the sticks.



My area has reasonable FM radio reception, the national channels, ie bbcr1/bbcr2 etc are fine (ish) but the likes of capital and other local stations is crap while im am round the town where I live. I have to switch off the autotune & stereo locally.


The Vitara only has a stubby roof mount aerial, so I swapped it for a 28cm whip, which hasnt made a whole lot of difference, the reception is weak, and the autotune keeps hunting. Its fine when I visit the metropolis of Newcastle as the signal is obviously better.


What other antenna are worth a go, in poor reception areas please ?

loggyboy - 27/6/12 at 02:34 PM

I bought a DVD (ripspeed IIRC) and it had the crappest radio, I guess its 'get what you pay for'. An upgrade of aerial may help but you may be better of with a decent branded headunit in a double DIN fasica adapter.

[Edited on 27/6/12 by loggyboy]

MikeRJ - 27/6/12 at 03:51 PM

When you replace the aerial did you change the coax cable as well? It's entirely possible for the cable to become electrically leaky (e.g. due to water ingress) or broken.

Many cars with the stubby aerials have an active pre-amplifier, either built into the base of the aerial or as a separate box in-line with the aerial cable. These can fail and cause poor reception.

[Edited on 27/6/12 by MikeRJ]

T66 - 27/6/12 at 04:09 PM

The previous setup worked reasonably, I get the impression the new unit doesnt receive as well as the old, what Im not sure of is whether it cannot be improved, or it is the poor fm coverage for my area, ie a combination of both.


Re the coax, it worked before so maybe I need to check its integrity. Ive considered one of the amplifier aerials, but if i receive a crap signal then surely the end result is a crap signal amplified ?

bi22le - 27/6/12 at 06:12 PM

quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
When you replace the aerial did you change the coax cable as well? It's entirely possible for the cable to become electrically leaky (e.g. due to water ingress) or broken.

Many cars with the stubby aerials have an active pre-amplifier, either built into the base of the aerial or as a separate box in-line with the aerial cable. These can fail and cause poor reception.

[Edited on 27/6/12 by MikeRJ]


Yep and yep! check you have not damaged the pin that is in the plug. These have a habit of breaking off.

Also check for an amp wire.

Also check that the new whip hits earth on the bolt that fixes it. Radio receiver circuits are cheap and simple. I would be surprised if its the radio.

Is it a jap import radio or uk supplied? Jap radios expect the fm signal to be lower down the frequency. This will prove there is an in line booster.

HTH

Biz

rusty nuts - 27/6/12 at 06:39 PM

A very old tip for checking aerials was to turn the radio on and take hold of the aerial, if the volume increased you had a bad earth on the aerial

T66 - 27/6/12 at 07:43 PM

Folks.


I now have some checking to do with my meter. But it still brings me back to , why didn't the original Suzuki radio not struggle for a fm signal


Thank you indeed.

chillis - 27/6/12 at 08:26 PM

quote:
Originally posted by T66

why didn't the original Suzuki radio not struggle for a fm signal



The original Suzuki unit would have been reasonable quality components in side but with the run down of analogue radio most modern head units have crap for the tuner thus what you have will be worse than the old unit in terms of FM/AM.

coozer - 28/6/12 at 10:00 AM

Just wait till they turn off the FM and AM... not long to go now and DAB is STILL being overlooked....

James - 28/6/12 at 10:46 AM

quote:
Originally posted by coozer
Just wait till they turn off the FM and AM... not long to go now and DAB is STILL being overlooked....


From what I've gathered the Tories are against this switch off.

Too many old folk tory voters have too many radios to replace them all. I'm neither of these but I have atleast 5 FM radios around house and garage and will be very annoyed if I'm expected to bin them all and replace with DAB ones (which I couldn't currently afford to do!).

I've also heard it said on Radio4 that DAB is an outdated tech' being promoted by the BBC that's been superceded around Europe. Is this true?

Cheers,
James

blakep82 - 28/6/12 at 11:00 AM

quote:
Originally posted by James

I've also heard it said on Radio4 that DAB is an outdated tech' being promoted by the BBC that's been superceded around Europe. Is this true?

Cheers,
James


i saw this somewhere too. think it was in a book, the front cover basically said DAB was a fad and wouldn't last. didn't have time to look too much into it.
yeah, there's very few car stereos with DAB built in, which surprises me, but makes me think its won't really switch off any time soon

2015 has been said, but not a firm date, and a firm date won't be set until half of all listeners are on DAB according to the telegraph

Slimy38 - 28/6/12 at 12:53 PM

The fact that new cars still come with FM radios is what I find odd. DAB is still considered an 'extra', often at an increased cost. But if it's going to be the default radio signal, why isn't DAB standard?

With regards to the OP, I do find that standard head units seem to be a lot more sensitive to radio, and almost 'tuned' to the car that they're in. I've changed a few head units for aftermarket, and almost all have lost some FM capability. Even really expensive Pioneer units struggle compared to standard.

coozer - 29/6/12 at 10:44 AM

I've got a Sony DAB unit in mine, I've had it about 6, maybe 7 or 8 years now.. fantastic bit of kit only downside is the knacker aerial change when I change cars...