Good evening guys

I’ve recently purchased a 2020 custom swb that came with Sync 2.5. I’ve had to fit a shorter aerial so the van fits in the garage and since the dab signal has been shocking.

does anyone know if the aerial is an fm and dab shared and can I fit one of the windscreen mount aerials instead as I had one of these on my previous expert and had no issues with signal 

thank you in advance 👍🏼

On 10/24/2024 at 9:30 PM, Barnetto said:

Good evening guys

I’ve recently purchased a 2020 custom swb that came with Sync 2.5. I’ve had to fit a shorter aerial so the van fits in the garage and since the dab signal has been shocking.

does anyone know if the aerial is an fm and dab shared and can I fit one of the windscreen mount aerials instead as I had one of these on my previous expert and had no issues with signal 

thank you in advance 👍🏼

any help appreciated 🤞🏻

48 minutes ago, Barnetto said:

any help appreciated

I would love to offer some help, but the problem we have is that all of the parts sites haven't been updated since 2016.

Speaking generally about the way Ford normally do things, the aerial will be for both FM and DAB. On Ford cars there are usually two aerial amplifier/isolators but in the case of the Transit I would doubt that this would be the case.

You could buy and fit a windscreen aerial but in my own experience they are usually very poor.  I assume that it is only the aerial mast that you have changed for a shorter one and that you have kept the same base ?

If that is the case, then you could just be unlucky and the length of the aerial is not a a good match. If you can find one that is either slightly longer or slightly shorter you could well find reception returns to normal.

Also have you tried changing the DAB Ensembles ? You might find an alternative setting which works with your new aerial.

13 hours ago, unofix said:

You could buy and fit a windscreen aerial but in my own experience they are usually very poor.

I have to concur, I have tried these in the past and they have been truly awful, though I do live in a semi rural area. The only 'additional' aerial I found to work for me was a simple MagMount bought in Halfords for £10. Really strong magnet, though worth unscrewing the mast every couple of months and greasing, otherwise it just rust in to one solid mass (I'm now on 2nd one after 5 years!)

 

Thank you for your replies both 🙂

it’s just the mast that I’ve swapped out for a shorter richbrook one from Halfords but tbf the signal wasn’t great on the original mast particularly on talksport (old man station I know).

I had one of the window ones on my expert and the signal was great, does anyone know which fakra on the stereo is the aerial port it’s a sync 2.5? 

thanks again guys 

I’ve now tried the original aerial and it’s still as bad, however when I turn the engine off the signal is spot on????

4 minutes ago, Barnetto said:

however when I turn the engine off the signal is spot on????

That would suggest that you have a faulty aerial amplifier/isolator unit. Can't say for sure that a Transit actually has one fitted or where it would be.

You need a "Ford Guy" who would know.

1 minute ago, unofix said:

You need a "Ford Guy" who would know.

Aren't you one of those?? 🤣

Ok thank you I’ll look into it 👍🏼

Bit of a twist to the dab problem, the 20a fuse for the upper dash 12v accessories was blown when I got the van so I replaced it, I’ve had a cheap dash cam plugged into it and noticed while driving at the weekend it was off (having the dash cam plugged in or out made no difference to the signal)

I noticed that the dab reception was perfect on every channel with no drop outs,

I checked the fuse and it had blown again so I replaced it and the dab signal returned to poor,

so I removed the fuse again yesterday and the dab signal has been perfect again.

very strange how removing or if the fuse blows the dab signal returns to perfect 🤷🏼‍♂️

11 minutes ago, Barnetto said:

very strange how removing or if the fuse blows the dab signal returns to perfect

The problem is the dashcam, they are very well known for causing problems with DAB signals. On cars it is usually only a big problem when they have a rear window dashcam because the heated rear window is often used as the DAB aerial.

I thought that but it made no difference if I unplugged the dashcam, I removed the dashcam completely and the signal was still bad until I removed the fuse,

bizarre ???

6 minutes ago, Barnetto said:

, I removed the dashcam completely and the signal was still bad until I removed the fuse,

bizarre ???

Ah!!

I misunderstood your previous post. Yes that is bizarre if that fitting a good fuse causes the DAB signal to be lost. That would suggest something that gets powered up when the fuse is fitted is causing interference. You need a wiring schematic of your van, and see every item that is powered by the fuse that keeps blowing. Seems like a job for a good auto-electrician.

The fuse in question just powers the 12v accessory on the upper dash, god knows what’s going on 😂

17 minutes ago, Barnetto said:

The fuse in question just powers the 12v accessory on the upper dash,

or so you think. I speak from personal experience with my daughters Vauxhall Movano horsebox. It seemed to run the battery down in a very short space of time when not being used. After some investigation I found there was a constant drain of 200mA on the supply just going to the power socket (cigar lighter) that had nothing even plugged in. Upon removing the upper section of the dashboard I found a telemetry unit (perhaps also a tracker of sorts) that was connected on the supply line to the cigar lighter. Once removed the battery drain problem was sorted.

Perhaps with your own van there maybe something like a tracker that has been fitted by a previous owner, it would possibly cause interference with the DAB signal.

 

Ah ok thanks I’ll look into that, it’s also strange how the fuse was blown when I got the van and then blew again within a week of having a dashcam plugged into it 🤔