autotrail radio (1 Viewer)

[dcru]

are any other autotrail owners having or had any problems with radio reception i loose channel and signal wherever i am in the country so annoying any suggestions would be appreciated

 

[aba]

seems to be a common problem with the fiat/peugeot/citroen based vans.
fit either a replacement radio aerial or an aerial amplifier as the standard aerial is in the passenger side mirror.

 

[beachcaster]

are any other autotrail owners having or had any problems with radio reception i loose channel and signal wherever i am in the country so annoying any suggestions would be appreciated

I have a 2009 Cheyenne with the tiny ( useless ) reversing screen

The radio is ok once I have parked up but doesnt go loud enough when travelling and as you say..straysoff channel.. The ariel I think is in the nearside mirror pod.
Its pretty useless.It does provide ok sound for the dropdown tv and dvds
but its a pretty flawed and cheap radio.

barry

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[scek]

Our swift bessacarr has the same problem. Been back 3 times with it and had a mod fitted. Still the same. If you go the swift forum (I know yours is an autotrail) and have a read there are endless topics on radio reception and some good fixes, normally involving fitting an external aerial yourself.

 

[Peter JohnsCross MH]

I have a 2009 Cheyenne with the tiny ( useless ) reversing screen
The radio is ok once I have parked up but doesnt go loud enough when travelling and as you say..straysoff channel.. The ariel I think is in the nearside mirror pod.
Its pretty useless.It does provide ok sound for the dropdown tv and dvds
but its a pretty flawed and cheap radio.
barry

It is not the radion, it is the aerial, I would siggest you get a new aerial fitted. Common problem with most Fiat cab conversions.

Peter

 

[Reallyretired]

Not only a problem with Fiats. Mine is a mercedes Aclass and the radio is dreadful.

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[Peter JohnsCross MH]

Well thats two of you in East Sussex, why not give Glenn or Ian a ring and see if they can resolve it for you :thumb:

Peter

 

[EthnGeoff]

Rapido - Same problem and nothing at all on MW.

 

[maxsdad]

ours is the same it's the one with the double din screen first one gave up and had to be replaced after three days from new.
the problem has been well covered on this and other forums everyone blames the ariel but its a rubbish radio anyway considering the price

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[beachcaster]

I have been told that the "media centre" wiring .the actual wiring loom is not well shielded.......and is about as cheap as you can buy..........as the tv/radio and dvd are all linked at the head unit ...When watching tv I get a decent picture for a few seconds then some horizontal lines.......then a decent pic .......its ok but far from perfect.
I was told I would have to replace all the wiring to get rid of this interference.

barry

 

[Jaws]

Well I am at a loss with mine.. First thing I did was fit a proper aerial on the van.. Ensuring the earth has indeed got a good earth.. It works but is not great and I was not happy..

In fact.......................................

I have tried various antennas and am not happy with any of them..

Amplified units have weird problems of their own and I will not use them..

Right.. for those that aint interested in the reasons and clever stuff stop here !!!!

For those of a technical nature, the ideal antenna length for VHF reception ( taking the average frequency as being 95megs ) would be 300/95 x .95 ( velocity factor )=lambda.
Lambda / 4 will give you the length for a 1/4 wave antenna which is ideal for a simple end fed unit. That fed with an unbalanced line ( coaxial cable ) of 75ohm impedance.
So 75cm near as dammit is a great length for an antenna for use on VHF ( FM ) broadcast radio

Pretty much all antennas available are aimed at those who wish to use them for both MW and VHF.. While the antenna length is readily available, all are fed using a coax that is actually not a coax as such at all, but a close wound feeder !
If you take the plug off the end of a car antenna and pull the middle ( very thin ) wire you will find it is incredibly long !
They do this to try to kid the radio the antenna is much bigger than it is.. To some extent this works ( the wavelength of say, Gold on 1215KHz is almost 250 metres as opposed to just under 3 metres for the above 95MHz ) but of course it does affect the Q ( goodness ) of the antenna when it comes to frequencies above a couple of MHz !

I have searched and searched high and low for a decent antenna but will proly end up making one..

BUT !!!

Perhaps someone out there has found a particular make / type that works really well ?
Been through every one Halfrauds has to offer, all the BundesWerk ones and some of the more obscure ones.. Anyone got a suggestion I could take a gander at ??

 

[the stig]

Well touchwood (several times) our Autotrail is abs fine regards the radio and reception. Seems from previous posts that it is not down to type of MH but type of Radio!
All I can say is that you lot that have no signal Come move to Lincolnshire

Having said the good thing, I follow on with the bad, we had an electrician come look at our power and have been told that our 130 amp Solar panel is only pulling 0.2 amps. Thats 1k down the drain! However he did the test on a very overcast day, so being ever hopeful things may soon change. Also found out we a had a fuse out on the split charger.
And another thing........
the new batteries we bought at Lincoln (thanks Jaws) were not performing well either, but hopefully changed them on MH and given them a damned good charge, so heres hoping they will know start to do what it says on the label.

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[grandadbaza]

I tried a couple of different aerials , the Status tv aerial was not used as I had a sat dish so I took a cable from the status booster to the radio and problem solved.
You must have the Status with the extending telescopic thingy's and the booster box must be on
We get great reception just about everywhere

Baza

 

[rangi]

Yeh! must admit, I've come to the conclusion the Radio is crapola!
Still for the life of me can't find the Aerial, it's not in the mirror!, mine was Registered in 02, but I think it's a 00 or a 01. Manufactured, delivered, sat in yard, body put on, exported to UK, then Rego march 02

No wires /cables going to mirror, OR! door, no contacts on door frame or door, this winter will change radio and fit aerial:Angry:

 

[Jaws]

I tried a couple of different aerials , the Status tv aerial was not used as I had a sat dish so I took a cable from the status booster to the radio and problem solved.
You must have the Status with the extending telescopic thingy's and the booster box must be on
We get great reception just about everywhere

Baza

Errrrr.. Baza.... We are talking about the car radio aerial mate.. not the telly !

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[grandadbaza]

Errrrr.. Baza.... We are talking about the car radio aerial mate.. not the telly !

Yes I know what the thread is about , I like the OP and others had reception problems with the cab radio with the aerial in the wing mirror (or were ever it was ), I removed the supplied radio and fitted a new Pioneer sat nav/ entertainment system, reception was not much better , so I tried a cheap wind screen mounted one and allthough marginally better it was still not good enough, I then tried a Blaupunkt booster screen mounted aerial (almost £40) that was no better than the cheap one .
I then thought why cant I use the Status tv aerial as I never use it for tv as I have a Sat system, so I rang Grade UK who make them and asked it it would be suitable for use as a cab radio aerial whilst on the move , there chap said as long as it was the one with telescopic pull outs it would work very well.
So I then took a coaxial cable from radio ,through dash round cab door(under trims) then up into hab cupboard where the Status booster was fitted , I then plugged into booster ,turned booster on and Bingo , great radio reception, But booster must be turned on and telescopics on Status pulled out
I have had great reception every where I have been so far north and south

Hope this explains it better

 

[Diabalo]

Mine was pony also, in the end I put a rubber duck job on the roof rails, a great improvement but still lose stations, the ground plane may not be good enough but I don't know enough about it.

 

[motorhomelover]

the radio in our RV works great no problems on all stations both FM and AM :thumb:

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[Jaws]

Y
I then thought why cant I use the Status tv aerial as I never use it for tv as I have a Sat system, so I rang Grade UK who make them and asked it it would be suitable for use as a cab radio aerial whilst on the move , there chap said as long as it was the one with telescopic pull outs it would work very well.
So I then took a coaxial cable from radio ,through dash round cab door(under trims) then up into hab cupboard where the Status booster was fitted , I then plugged into booster ,turned booster on and Bingo , great radio reception, But booster must be turned on and telescopics on Status pulled out
I have had great reception every where I have been so far north and south

Hope this explains it better

Well it explains your post but does not explain how on earth the thing works !
Status television antenna are designed and built to work on frequencies above 460 megs

Basically instead of showing how good the antenna is, it is demonstrating the system is fundamentally flawed and WIDE open to interference when used on television frequencies.

The built in amplifier must be as wide as a barn door !!
But !! It is darned good information and well worth noting so thank you for that Baza :thumb: