Do I have a faulty radio or finger trouble? (1 Viewer)

[David&Barbara]

Hi,
Recently purchased a Peugeot based motorhome and have I believe a problem with the radio.
I have set it up for DAB with FM as backup in case of loss of signal.
When I try to browse ALL to find all DAB stations it shows nothing the majority of the time and every now and again it comes up with a list and when I select Radio 2 (as I'm a TOG) it plays when it feels like it and then displays Station unavailable and that's it.
If FM selected on Radio 2 there is a lot of noise and hardly audible.
It maybe in a poor area, no don't think so as when in the car right by the side of the MH a DAB radio has no problem at all even finds stations the MH radio can't.

As it stands it's totally useless.

Has anyone else experienced the problem, if so what did you do to get the radio working?
All the time would be nice

Cheers

David

 

[DavidG58]

We have only had 2 MH's both A class, both useless radios, either perfect or too bad to listen too, and that is only on FM

Almost certainly the aerial to blame in some form, yours and mine probably

 

[David&Barbara]

Now that's an interesting thing DavidG58.
It does not seem to matter what make it is Peugeot, Fiat, Citroen etc all seem to have antenna in the mirror, if it's that unreliable would have thought they would have done something about it?
Thank you for your input.
Cheers
David

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[DavidG58]

and you can add in Mercedes to the list, but both of mine have had a little strip aerial stuck to the side windscreen, CD's work well though

 

[Jaws]

Where is the aerial mounted ?

 

[David&Barbara]

And the MP3 inc Sat Nav complete with what seems like a Welsh accent.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[David&Barbara]

Hi Jaws,
According to the info it says it's mounted in the mirror.
Thought it may be that the coax may have been cut / poor connection during manufacture but from what I've so far heard its common problem.

 

[DanielFord]

After renting many motorhomes, I can confirm that the radio in every single one was totally useless. When we purchased our own, I discovered the reason. I traced the coax cable from the back of the unit, and goes up to the roof. After removing some of the panels in the over cab, I found that the other end of the coax was not connected to anything. Presumably, when it was a van, there used to be an aerial on the roof. The converters simply cut the wire. Since then we have replaced the stereo with a Bluetooth headunit, and simply use our ipods.

 

[Figaro]

Mine seems to work ok except for interference from what sounds like a local taxi radio on certain channels - Grrrrrrrrrr

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Jaws]

Hi Jaws,
According to the info it says it's mounted in the mirror.
Thought it may be that the coax may have been cut / poor connection during manufacture but from what I've so far heard its common problem.

On the later Fiats and Transits ( dunno about Mercs ) the antenna is in the mirror
But as Daniel has found, a lot of motorhome builders simply cut the coax ! ( I have not had this on any of my own vans but have seen it a couple of times on some older Swifts )

What chassis is your van on ? Fiat or ???

 

[Anthony496]

I have a fiat based MH with the dab, touch screen nav head unit with the ariel in the mirror. DAB has been great thus far, Drops out a bit here and there but only about as bad as my cars DAB when in poor reception areas.

I did read that some MHs found that theirs had been relocated above the driver and passenger area roof and were useless. You can get a booster for these but will require a 12v power supply and removal of the radio etc to fit.

you could also fit it to a status TV ariel if you have one fitted (providing it's an omnidirectional type). I'm betting that would be about as good as it gets for reception on the move lol.

 

[Anthony496]

What chassis is your van on ? Fiat or ???

If it's the one in the avatar it looks like an Elddis Magestic on the latest Peugeot chassis

DAB is standard in those so wiring is stock from the Peugeot chassis;there should be any issue with the cabling or relocation as it wouldn't need to be touched by Elddis. Worth having it looked at though, the mirror hasn't been replaced has it? Some don't come with the ariels installed.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[David&Barbara]

Hi,
Yes your right it's a 65 reg Peugeot chassis based complete with touch screen satnav etc. mounted central on the dash. As far as I know the mirror (which one) hasn't been replaced. Being new it should be the original, shouldn't it???
The dealer knows of my concerns about this and other niggles.
One only wonders as to the detail the factories QC goes to.
Maybe they have Stevie Wonder head of QC?

 

[Allanm]

Our van is Peugeot based, the aerial is on the roof just behind the front rooflight. It's one of those mounded plastic shark fin types. Seems to work very well, we even picked up Radio 4 in the middle of Brittany occasionally.
No Dab though.

 

[Charlie]

Aerial on our Peugeot is on the roof not in the mirror so they are not all the same.

Make sure your Satnav if you have one is well away from the head unit or the strong magnets within it can destroy the quality with interference.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Deleted member 29692]

Ours isn't great either. When we bought it it just had an FM radio which was useless. I had it upgraded to a DAB one which has improved things greatly but it's still by no means 100%.

 

[Jaws]

OK, if you remove top 'glove box to start with you should be able to find the aerial wire..
Give it a bit of a tug and see where it goes.
If it goes up the windscreen pillar it will almost certainly mean you do not have an aerial, just a length of coax !

 

[Lenny HB]

It probably has a DAB combiner in coupling the two aerial inputs together. I would start NY removing it and fitting a separate DAB aerial. The aerials in the motor are crap on FM probably don't stand a chance on DAB.
I use the stick on screen aerial that came with my stereo works quite well sometimes cuts out in some areas, fine for us.
If I were to buy a replacement I would go for a powered good quality aerial will cost £50 to £100, but if you want good reception its the best answer.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Jaws]

DAB in the UK is on the frequency range 175 to 230 megs.. Most 'standard' aerials are for VHF FM and or medium wave and as such are just not up to the job when it comes to DAB reception
Amazingly ( for those who are not geeks like me ) the aerials are actually too long.. and as most car aerials have what is laughingly called mw coax ( the centre core is extremely thin and looks like it has been crimped using a barbi doll hair crimper ) the signal is actually severely reduced by the stuff
A DAB antenna will have ( usually ) a more standard type 50 Ohm coax fitted to it and the 'mast' will be less than half the size of the usually metre+ long sticks

This is why a pucka DAB antenna will always be better than a standard radio aerial

 

[David&Barbara]

Many thanks to all who took the time to reply.
Dam it it's brand new and in my opinion "not fit for purpose"
I was told handover that the dealers location is bad for DAB that's why its not working.
Told or fobbed off. Lets wait and see what they do to rectify it. Should be fun.

 

[David&Barbara]

Aerial on our Peugeot is on the roof not in the mirror so they are not all the same.

Make sure your Satnav if you have one is well away from the head unit or the strong magnets within it can destroy the quality with interference.

My satnav is built in so not easy to move it away

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[DBK]

Don't waste your money on a DAB radio would be my suggestion! Reception is non-existent in many places.

Just set the radio to FM and all should be fine.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

My satnav is built in so not easy to move it away

Depending on the make of the equipment it probably won't actually be built into the radio unit, it just uses the screen.

There will be another little module hidden behind the dash or behind another panel somewhere that is the actual GPS unit. On ours it's behind a panel next to the passenger door which is easily accessible so I can get at it for updates.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

Don't waste your money on a DAB radio would be my suggestion! Reception is non-existent in many places.
Just set the radio to FM and all should be fine.

In theory yes, if you have an aerial connected, but on a huge number of vans the aerial cable gets cut by the converters so, as has been mentioned, it's just a length of cable going nowhere.

I don't agree that DAB reception is as bad as you suggest. I've had it on my cars for several years and can probably count the number of times it has dropped out on the fingers of one hand.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Lenny HB]

Depending on the make of the equipment it probably won't actually be built into the radio unit, it just uses the screen.

There will be another little module hidden behind the dash or behind another panel somewhere that is the actual GPS unit. On ours it's behind a panel next to the passenger door which is easily accessible so I can get at it for updates.

Not seen one like that, mines built in, but my DAB unit is separate.l

 

[David&Barbara]

Depending on the make of the equipment it probably won't actually be built into the radio unit, it just uses the screen.

There will be another little module hidden behind the dash or behind another panel somewhere that is the actual GPS unit. On ours it's behind a panel next to the passenger door which is easily accessible so I can get at it for updates.

That's a good point NickNic, that's another thing they didn't tell me. Suppose they want to do the software updates no doubt at a cost.

 

[makems]

When we picked up our then new Burstner A Class on a Fiat chassis, the reception was terrible even on FM.
I was grumbling about it to a fellow Funster who looked at my van and said "I'm not surprised"
The antenna was missing! The mount was there but the short whip aerial was not.
Soon rectified on the next visit for warranty work.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Deleted member 29692]

Not seen one like that, mines built in, but my DAB unit is separate.l

Mine is Pioneer kit. Double din head unit in the normal place. The GPS module is about the size of a fag packet with an SD card for the mapping and is behind a convenient panel so I can get the card out easily.

 

[David&Barbara]

Don't waste your money on a DAB radio would be my suggestion! Reception is non-existent in many places.

Just set the radio to FM and all should be fine.

That's the problem I have FM is equally as bad a DAB loads of interference when its working but the majority of the time nothing.

 

[David&Barbara]

In theory yes, if you have an aerial connected, but on a huge number of vans the aerial cable gets cut by the converters so, as has been mentioned, it's just a length of cable going nowhere.

I don't agree that DAB reception is as bad as you suggest. I've had it on my cars for several years and can probably count the number of times it has dropped out on the fingers of one hand.

Same here, I have DAB on my car, I travel all over the country through work and usually get great reception.
That's why I'm very disappointed that DAB doesn't work on the MH.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}