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Radio reception - engine on #1658185
10/06/2022 08:59
10/06/2022 08:59
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 17,468
Auld Reekie
Edinburgh Online content OP
Club President, member225
Edinburgh  Online Content OP
Club President, member225
Forum veteran

Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 17,468
Auld Reekie
After what seems years of experimenting with aerials to achieve a consistent DAB signal I abandoned the stick-on system and went for a Halfords magnetic aerial for a tenner. Not ideal aesthetically and you have to remember to put it on and away again when you leave the car, but being external the signal difference was palpable so well worth it.

Now recently, tested out at length on the trip to Holland and back, it's started to misbehave - eventually traced seemingly to whether the engine is running or not. It's picking up a good signal with engine off but disappears 80% of the time with engine on, even in parts of the country where you'd think reception was optimum such as the flat east coast.

Can anyone make any sense of this? Is it the aerial cable coming into close proximity with something it shouldn't?


BumbleBee carer smile
Re: Radio reception - engine on [Re: Edinburgh] #1658208
10/06/2022 16:30
10/06/2022 16:30
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 5,070
ation
szkom Offline
Club member 2000
szkom  Offline
Club member 2000
Forum is my life

Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 5,070
ation
The obvious culprit would be noise from the alternator. Question is though; has the aerial seen its day and therefore more susceptible to noise or has perhaps your alternator worn to a point it's very noisy (brushes and slip rings)

Re: Radio reception - engine on [Re: Edinburgh] #1658210
10/06/2022 16:54
10/06/2022 16:54
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 17,468
Auld Reekie
Edinburgh Online content OP
Club President, member225
Edinburgh  Online Content OP
Club President, member225
Forum veteran

Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 17,468
Auld Reekie
The aerial is less than a year old....never occurred to me about the alternator; I'll have to make enquiries as to whether it was changed during restoration, but I think not...?


BumbleBee carer smile
Re: Radio reception - engine on [Re: Edinburgh] #1658211
10/06/2022 17:48
10/06/2022 17:48
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 1,006
Dorchester
R
respace Offline
Enjoying the ride
respace  Offline
Enjoying the ride
R

Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 1,006
Dorchester
Is it noise or signal? They used to talk about suppression back in thee olde days which usually equated to electrical interference from suppressor caps or spark plugs. TBH I've never found DAB to be any good round here as the signal is pathetic or non existent.

Re: Radio reception - engine on [Re: Edinburgh] #1658363
20/06/2022 18:53
20/06/2022 18:53
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 242
Netherlands
Henklia Offline
Making a profit
Henklia  Offline
Making a profit

Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 242
Netherlands
Hi Simon,

I Also have a magnetic dab aerial. It's on the boot and works perfectly fine. That said, you need a good head unit to work properly. I bought a Pioneer headunit and reception has been fine ever since. Worth a try putting a pioneer head unit in. You could have seen it working at Viva Italia being parked up next to my coupe....

Henk

Re: Radio reception - engine on [Re: Edinburgh] #1658372
20/06/2022 22:22
20/06/2022 22:22
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 17,468
Auld Reekie
Edinburgh Online content OP
Club President, member225
Edinburgh  Online Content OP
Club President, member225
Forum veteran

Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 17,468
Auld Reekie
If we all could see the future, Henk!

Yes, this is my first idea, to relocate it as far from the engine/alternator as possible.

It's odd that 6 months ago it was fine, but then if the alternator's suppressor (assuming it has one) is failing that may be the problem.


BumbleBee carer smile
Re: Radio reception - engine on [Re: Edinburgh] #1658507
26/06/2022 17:08
26/06/2022 17:08
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 33,719
Berlin
barnacle Offline
Club Member 18 - ex-Minister without Portfolio
barnacle  Offline
Club Member 18 - ex-Minister without Portfolio
Forum Demigod

Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 33,719
Berlin
Oddly enough, I had very few problems with my stick-on DAB aerial cunningly concealed behind the mirror, with the power and signal lead running under the window rubber to the left and then into the warren behind the dash. Conveniently, it provided better FM signal than the factory apology on the rear window.

DAB is a bit weird and wonderful: it uses a thing called trellis encoding where the instantaneous phase of the radio signal is measured around two million times a second. Because it's digital, it basically works or it doesn't; it doesn't understand graceful failure as FM does. If the signal is strong enough it works, if it isn't, it stops.


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