DAB reception

[Timb0]

Hi everyone!

So I've just recently got a 2013 Fiesta Titanium X with the Sony radio in. The DAB reception is pants, I can get radio 2 but not a chance of getting Heart or Magic. I'm in an area with good DAB signal so was wondering if I have a problem or is it just pants! 

[unofix]

1 hour ago, Timb0 said:

The DAB reception is pants,

quite a common problem. I personally think DAB is well over rated for use in cars.

Does your car have a dashcam fitted ?

[Jimpster]

I fitted an aftermarket double din and for the first 6 months DAB was as uno says PANTS, after multiple reboots and retunes its actually behaving itself and finding ALL stations available to me ..... Blackburn Lancs.

[Timb0]

On 1/17/2022 at 9:11 PM, unofix said:

quite a common problem. I personally think DAB is well over rated for use in cars.

Does your car have a dashcam fitted ?

No dash cam James but after a bit of mucking about I've managed to get a few more stations.

[alanfp]

Can't offer any fixes, but the DAB Sony radio in my 2013 Focus is excellent, both in terms of sound quality (noticeably better than FM) and the number of stations I receive.  I reckon I receive about 50 stations - maybe more, though admittedly that includes a few duplicates, like Heart Essex, Heart London, Heart 4 Counties etc. so I'm probably picking up from several different transmitters.

So to answer your question - no, it's not pants.

Your symptoms sound like what I get if I remove my aerial to go through a car wash - you might have an aerial problem???

[unofix]

1 hour ago, alanfp said:

admittedly that includes a few duplicates, like Heart Essex, Heart London, Heart 4 Counties etc. so I'm probably picking up from several different transmitters.

So to answer your question - no, it's not pants.

Your symptoms sound like what I get if I remove my aerial to go through a car wash - you might have an aerial problem???

I agree that it is possible he has an aerial problem. However we don't all live in the London area and I can tell you that DAB in the North East of England is very poor. 

[Jimpster]

i used an ariel splitter on mine and it made a big difference well worth the £32.00 it cost better than the faff and expense of a dedicated one.

[alanfp]

21 hours ago, unofix said:

I agree that it is possible he has an aerial problem. However we don't all live in the London area and I can tell you that DAB in the North East of England is very poor. 

Point taken! 

And maybe this illustrates your point - while I was waiting to pick someone up today I thought I'd do a scan as I wasn't happy with my estimate of 50 stations in my previous post. Within a few minutes, I found 116 stations!  Yes, I know I've got too much time on my hands.  Incidentally, that is way more than my Pure DAB radio indoors.

[unofix]

20 minutes ago, alanfp said:

Within a few minutes, I found 116 stations! 

For some crazy reason I re-scanned my DAB yesterday just to see if things had improved recently and I've got "22" stations and 4 of them are duplicates !!

[alanfp]

14 minutes ago, unofix said:

For some crazy reason I re-scanned my DAB yesterday just to see if things had improved recently and I've got "22" stations and 4 of them are duplicates !!

So you don't ever go through the sheer agony that I do (talk about a 'first world problem') of deciding which 96 stations to leave out of my 20 presets 😉