Radios, but with a difference (1 Viewer)

Vic

Aug 1, 2010
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The poor reception has discussed to death and I have read quite enough thank you. However, do the European vans suffer from the same problems as Swift and Autotrail coachbuilts? If not, what do they do that is different?

Vic
 
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Vic

Aug 1, 2010
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105 views and no replies. I guess that no one knows or the ones who do are keeping it to themselves.
 
Oct 1, 2007
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cant hear the radio in a fiat well not mine
only listen to radio 2
that gives the best reception when we are stationary

cant hear the cd player either
what with rattles from the back and front
when on the move

so we tend not to bother
just argue with the sag nag
whos right and she is usually:Blush::Eeek::thumb:




swift 1998 520 aerial on the wing rubbery one:thumb:

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MicknPat

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This post removed due to duplication
 
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Jim

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They all suffer the same poor reception when the arial is the naff one they hide in the wing mirror. Normally a replacement cheap black stubby will make a massive difference:thumb:
 

hilldweller

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105 views and no replies. I guess that no one knows or the ones who do are keeping it to themselves.

Nothing wrong with radios, every car has one and they work. The problem is aerials. From past posts I've heard of aerials that are chopped off to fit the body and never replaced and aerials hidden in wing mirrors.

Our Burstner has an A pillar external aerial and it works OK. But at one point it stopped. I fitted a lead to the back for an MP3 player. Some time later 'er indoors complained about poor reception. First thing I did, pull out radio and stuff in a couple of metres of wire into the aerial, perfect reception. Much fiddling later and I found the aerial plug had come part way out. It was a weird plug, two in fact to make a right angle. The one direct into the set was seated, the one that went sideways into this had pulled back.

So investigate your aerial.

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MicknPat

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Hi Vic, We shipped from the USA not only an American RV but also an American Jeep Liberty ( In UK is a Cherokee)

Both vehicles contain 4 radio/CD players. Now American radios FM appears to operate on uneven frequencies 102.5, 102.7 which means for example if I tune into our local Signal Radio who's frequency is 102.6 its always slightly out of tune which reduces the area we can drive before we have to retune.

For some reason technical radio questions appear to a no no as you have not had any replies, I had a similar response on the ARV magazine forum when I asked if I could in any way modify my 4 radios other than replace them which would cost ££££££'s :Sad:

I have even thought whether to replace the short stubby ariel on the Jeep with a longer one, perhaps you poor reception is due to poor ariel fitting, I recall a lot of caravans and MH's suffering poor reception of the Status ariel due to shoddy installation?

Mick
 

Pikey Pete

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You could try one of these. I have a Bosch version and it seems to work OK.

Pete:Cool:
 

Geo

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Hi Vic, We shipped from the USA not only an American RV but also an American Jeep Liberty ( In UK is a Cherokee)

Both vehicles contain 4 radio/CD players. Now American radios FM appears to operate on uneven frequencies 102.5, 102.7 which means for example if I tune into our local Signal Radio who's frequency is 102.6 its always slightly out of tune which reduces the area we can drive before we have to retune.

For some reason technical radio questions appear to a no no as you have not had any replies, I had a similar response on the ARV magazine forum when I asked if I could in any way modify my 4 radios other than replace them which would cost ££££££'s :Sad:

I have even thought whether to replace the short stubby ariel on the Jeep with a longer one, perhaps you poor reception is due to poor ariel fitting, I recall a lot of caravans and MH's suffering poor reception of the Status ariel due to shoddy installation?

Mick
ANYONE POINTED YOU TO Link Removed American FM shifter

As already stated a £4.99 rubber duck on the wing will sort out 99% of Eurovan reception problems

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Jaws

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No experience of Swifts etc, but my Italian built Millar States had an aerial plugged in to the back of the original Pug radio, but the builder had just cut the aerial wire off when they fitted the c class body with overhead.

I popped to the local car shop, spent £12.00 on a half decent whip aerial that is approx 850mm long ( as close as I could get to 7/8th wave at the middle of FM band used in the UK ) and nailed it on the wing

I do see an awful lot of aerials mounted on fibre glass over heads.
These are doomed to work very poorly I am afraid

The whip part of any ( well almost any ) car radio aerial is only half the story
The mechanics of how an aerial works means that the other half of the aerial is actually the car ( van ) metal body
With no 'ground plane' the average car aerial is stuffed before you start !

There are one of two oddball exceptions and there is a way round the issue if you really want to use that aerial mounted on the overhead

Remove the inner lining so you can get to the underside of the aerial mount

Get a roll of tin foil ( do make sure it is REAL tin foil and not the new plastic stuff that does not melt but is not tin ! ) and glue it all over as much of the inside of the roof as you can
The more area covered the better the aerial will work

Make sure the inside mount of the aerial makes good contact to the tin foil ( The only times I have done this I have undone the aerial completely, done the deed with the tin foil, and then re-attached the aerial )

Re-fit the head lining, and the job will be a good un !
 
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Vic

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Thank you to all that replied. I just wondered if the reception problem was purely down to UK coachbuilts using the Fiat/Peugeot cabs and if the problem was also present on Euro coachbuilts.
 

grumps147

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Thank you to all that replied. I just wondered if the reception problem was purely down to UK coachbuilts using the Fiat/Peugeot cabs and if the problem was also present on Euro coachbuilts.


Thanks for rising this Vic, mine's rubbish to. Clearly when I have sorted other things out this is a one to do on the list following the suggestions made earlier.:thumb:

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Oct 29, 2008
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Our French built Chausson Transit had poor reception but our German Built Frankia Fiat2.8JTD has great radiio reception
 
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The thing is when the UK switches over to digital signal in 2015 there will be even more problems as the radios to receive a digital signal will cost a heck of a lot more you have been warned!!:Doh:
There was a lot of talk about the so called switchover in the Guardian and The Telegraph and there was a lot of comment about it on here www.gramophone.co.uk the thing is almost a fifth of radio usage and listening is in vehicle mounted radios be it car..van..Motorhome or HGV The thing is a lot of the rest of the world isn't bothered about digital radio so why should we!! Just seems that the "Vested Interest" people will make a lot of money out of it
 
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Jaws

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There is a widget in development that will convert the digital signal to a signal your analogue radio will understand.
No real help in my opinion..

And as Mondo quite rightly points out, this is not going to be any real help as the signal has to be much stronger and stable to work well..
I suspect by the time we get to the position of it no longer being an option but the only game in town, the prices will be comparable to those currently being charged

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Apr 29, 2009
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There is a school of thought that there will be somewhere in the region of 150 Million useless radios to be got rid of when the switch over comes..No vehicle manufacturer has come up with a viable radio that will be small enough to fit in a vehicle as yet... There are still parts of The UK where a signal is non existant it will be like when a lot of radio was on medium wave if you went under a bridge the signal got lost the goverment should "Switch On" there is no real need for digital..FM is good enough honest..It's a big con:Doh:
And all the owners of the big posh motors Jags BMWs Land Rovers etc whose smart sat nav devices rely on an FM signal via their radio will find it of no use so they will have to be converted!!
 

hilldweller

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There is a widget in development that will convert the digital signal to a signal your analogue radio will understand.

A bit like this.....

[ame]http://www.amazon.co.uk/PURE-Highway--Car-Radio-Transmitter/dp/B0012GLXMU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291153315&sr=8-1[/ame]
 
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much more now

I listened to a review of this piece of kit and its not worth the money. when it converts the signal it then looks for an empty FM frequency and in its trial, although it found one, it was soon overun by a pirate radio station and that was every time.

Lets stay on analogue...please...digital is crap round here (lincoln)

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Apr 29, 2009
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Lets stay on analogue...please...digital is crap round here (lincoln)

I rest my case...and Lincoln is flat!! (ish) another reason not to switch...There is absolutely nothing wrong with the anologue FM and AM signals..This is going to be another money making scheme for the government..this was first mooted by the previous idiots so this lot will probably run with it......Mind you when all these sat navs that rely on an FM radio signal for the traffic updates all become obsolete there will be so much cash to be made...Better get in now before it gets crowded and make me fortune!!
 

hilldweller

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when it converts the signal it then looks for an empty FM frequency

Yes, I've got an MP3 transmitter, it's OK, then you set off and run into the frequency you are using. Which comes back to my post above, I pulled the radio out and fitted a hard wired MP3 connection and pulled the aerial out at the same time.

The solution is simple, remove aerial and feed digital signal by wire so no audio channels get in. Of course no-one makes a wired version and it would need the radio pulling out.

Ah............ There is a wired one:
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Same problem in the home with TV, I used to feed the aerial to recorders then to a distribution amplifier but in the great digital age there is no RF digital output from PVRs so I've had to resort to a crappy transmitter instead. I've not plucked up the courage and £££ to distribute via WiFi/network.
 

Jaws

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Interesting that Brian..
According to the bloke flogging that wired unit his new cars both have DAB radios fitted ?

Fleabay DelBoy said:
I bought two of these units but when we changed our cars, both had DAB radios fitted.

Either he is telling porkies or things have moved on and the car manufacturers are already fitting the things :Sad:

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