Car D.I.Y.

[johnnyb47]

I once fitted a cheap dash cam to my old car and that killed the signal getting through to the dab radio.
Another thought is your dab radio original to the car.Does it the have a stick on Ariel that's fixed to the windscreen, a usual give away it's not original.
If it has the next question does your car have an electricly heated front windscreen.
If it does the combination of that and the window mounted Ariel will more than often stop your radio from getting a decent signal.

 

[Fastpedaller]

I once fitted a cheap dash cam to my old car and that killed the signal getting through to the dab radio.
Another thought is your dab radio original to the car.Does it the have a stick on Ariel that's fixed to the windscreen, a usual give away it's not original.
If it has the next question does your car have an electricly heated front windscreen.
If it does the combination of that and the window mounted Ariel will more than often stop your radio from getting a decent signal.

The DAB radio is original equipment. No stick-on ariel or heated front screen. It worked again when my Wife entered our road. I'll take the connector out of the dashcam to see if that does it, and next I'll disconnect it at the fuse end - As Toyah would say 'It's a mystery'

 

[DRM]

Wife left her mobile phone (linked to car) on 4G roaming on the way to work and the radio still didn't work. the whole thing is a mystery unless our driveway is a DAB signal hotspot

I had a Ford Transit Connect, the DAB Radio in that was utterly useless and simply kept losing signal, our own car could get DAB signals easily, the Ford was utter junk, did it work before fitting the dash cam?

 

[raleighnut]

DAB radio has always been shite compared to FM, they keep talking about turning the FM stations off but then relent.

 

[Fastpedaller]

I had a Ford Transit Connect, the DAB Radio in that was utterly useless and simply kept losing signal, our own car could get DAB signals easily, the Ford was utter junk, did it work before fitting the dash cam?

Yes, and it works on our driveway (even when the dashcam is operating)!

 

[tyred]

I

DAB radio has always been shite compared to FM, they keep talking about turning the FM stations off but then relent.

I've never seen much point to it to be honest.

 

[tyred]

I have ordered a replacement fuel filler pipe thing for my Yaris as the original is leaking and extremely rusty.

Hopefully it will arrive by the weekend so I can fit it. First thing to go wrong with it so far and it's nearly 20 years old after all.

Why did they make it from steel? The 205 has fibre glass fuel tank and it was designed in the 1980s.

 

[Drago]

Steel is very inexpensive, and as the average car in the UK only survives 10.5 years and your pipe lasted double that there's no commercial incentive to change that.

 

[raleighnut]

I


I've never seen much point to it to be honest.

It was to 'free up' a lot of bandwidth for communication devices same as the analogue TV broadcasts. The only snag being that (like TV) the signal quality is not there with the sound and pictures 'breaking up' often.
Peter Walker founder of QUAD reckoned the best signal was FM radio especially live broadcasts that's why up until recently QUAD only made an FM tuner, Pre Amp, Power Amp and Speakers, OK they did dabble with an AM tuner for a while but not successfully.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

DAB radio has always been shite compared to FM, they keep talking about turning the FM stations off but then relent.

DAB+ annoys me, as a station that was a regular on DAB has transferred to it
If l want to listen in car now, it has to be via internet

 

[fossyant]

As I'm WFH today, I'm giving a couple of the cars a top up charge - my car hasn't moved for over two weeks, so I'm going to drop it on the charger, rather than run it for 30 minutes on the drive. The Aygo is currently charging as it's been doing nothing but very short shopping trips with the lights on, ac compressor on etc etc, and the battery is getting a little sluggish after the car has been stood - it could be on the way out but it's still just in warranty (3 years) and it was only a 'cheap one'.

 

[Badger_Boom]

There's that famous quote from The Duke Of Edinborough when touring a factory with some dodgy wiring "Did an Indian do that"

I just assumed that he meant 'cowboy'.

 

[derrick]

Yes, and it works on our driveway (even when the dashcam is operating)!

Ours is perfect when driving in europe, as soon as we get back to the UK it's rubbish.

 

[CXRAndy]

DAB radio has always been shite compared to FM, they keep talking about turning the FM stations off but then relent.

You really need a decent antenna to achieve best SNR so dropouts are minimised

 

[raleighnut]

You really need a decent antenna to achieve best SNR so dropouts are minimised

Only got portable/semiportable ones but one is Sony the other Roberts, having said that I don't listen to much Radio as I find the DJ's and adverts annoying.