poor radio reception

[Toe toe]

I am struggling to get any good radio reception in motorhome I've tried fitting an booster arial but no better .Has any one fitted a dab radio and glass mouted arial and if so is the reception any better
Thanks in advance

 

[maison]

Are you referring to the cab built in radio or one you carry in the habitation place?

 

[DBK]

Digital radio (DAB) is well known for poor reception. You may need an aerial which hangs outside, although I guess different radios exhibit better or worse reception. Also, of course, where you are is a big influence. DAB transmissions are more line of sight as I understand it.

In our house the digital radio only works in a few spots, with an aerial sticking out of the window and when I am standing on one leg wearing wet, green socks. Or so I have discovered. The police believe that story anyway.

 

[DanielFord]

I'm guessing the cab radio?
Our reception was shocking, but I have a CB fitted, so I bought a splitter thingy, so that the radio can also use the CB antenna. We now get brilliant radio reception.
I do realise that this reply probably doesn't help at all

 

[maison]

If it is the cab radio what chassis are you running on.

Our Fiat based M/H had poor reception. We found that the aerial is within the mirror housing and switched it for an externally mounted, extending aerial like cars used to have.

Reception is much improved but still lose reception in some weak signal areas.

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[Toe toe]

Yes cab radio

 

[DavidG58]

Our radio is either brilliant or totally useless, still on FM, in A class with side glass mounted aerial

I think as many have bad reception as good

 

[Brendan]

I had a similar issue with very poor radio reception, so last week I fitted a DAB radio and glass mounted antenna. It's early days yet, but so far I'm very pleased with the result.
I positioned the antenna low on the window to avoid any issues with the overcab.

 

[westy77]

We have a none dab aftermarket stereo and an aerial that is a black plastic bar looking thing at the top of the windscreen, I'm not sure how this works and is imo blocked by the over hang of the over cab bed area. I struggle yo get any signal at all to the point of not bothering with radio. I do want a solution though.

 

[Toe toe]

If it is the cab radio what chassis are you running on.

Our Fiat based M/H had poor reception. We found that the aerial is within the mirror housing and switched it for an externally mounted, extending aerial like cars used to have.

Reception is much improved but still lose reception in some weak signal areas.

Ours is fiat and fitted through mirror as well I tried a blaupunkt booster that is fitted to front windscreen but no differance .i am thinking of buying a radio that I can use iPod/usb as the best solution . Going to halfords to have a look.

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[musson]

Hi
I have tried two different radios and made no difference I was going to fit external aerial but ended up just
laying the aerial at the bottom of the windscreen still not spot on but does work a lot better,Think my next
thing will be a app radio and stream music from phone.

 

[StefAndDi]

Radio reception in our two Fiat-based Bessacarrs was dreadful. The base vehicle has a cab roof mounted aerial which is chopped off when the habitation element is added. So, as stated, the aerial is routed into the near side door mirror.
We only have the radio on when travelling to keep up with travel reports, so it was important to us to resolve the problem. We started by having an external aerial fitted to the windscreen pillar; there was a slight improvement but reception was far from satisfactory. We were then advised to have the radio aerial routed through the Status aerial. Little improvement.
So we have finally given up. Hoping for better with a different vehicle built as an A class.

 

[hilldweller]

Yes cab radio

I found that the aerial plug was half out of it's socket when I investigated our bad reception, great afterwards.

Some MHs have been delivered with the aerial just cut off by the converter. So have you a door pillar mounted aerial ?

 

[Yorick]

I have a DAB radio in cab and I get superb reception. Bought it from Halfords and came with a magnetic aerial that I've mounted on the roof

I've tried aerials that stick on to windscreen but not very good.

 

[magicsurfbus]

Our (Fiat) cab radio reception was rubbish as it had no obvious aerial so we had a short external bendy aerial fitted on the passenger's side - it's fine now.

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[Deleted member 29692]

FM reception in ours was terrible. Swapped the radio for a DAB one with windscreen mounted antenna and it's much much better.

 

[Lenny HB]

Just have the passive stick on the screen aerial that came with our Clarion, get brilliant DAB reception never used the radio on FM.

 

[FJmike]

I had trouble with my aerial on my A class, really poor reception, so I tried one of the stick on ones like this Before sticking it on the windscreen I tried it with the aerial just lying on the dash and it was brilliant, receiving a strong signal where I hadn't been able to get a peep before. At six quid its well worth a try

 

[wingman]

Hi @Toe toe

"Poor reception" is at least some reception, so it's almost certainly the aerial or its cable or connector. As a previous post stated, it's not uncommon for some vehicle builders to cut the aerial off cable during the build!

If you have an antenna fault, a booster will only amplify noise! An amplifier will only boost what goes into it.

You could try removing the radio enough to check the aerial connection at the rear. If connector plug is ok but reception is still poor, whilst it's out, beg/borrow/ or buy a really cheap car aerial and plug that in. If your radio blasts into life, then you'll know for certain it's the aerial. All you have to do then is decide what new aerial fixings or alternatives you have as a retro-fit.

Whilst begging, borrowing, see if anyone has an old car radio. Loose-lay it in the cab, link it all up and see how it performs. You could also try a battery portable radio and see how that performs in different cab positions.

My money however is on a damaged, cut or corroded aerial cable. Door mirror aerials are often suspect. Radio units themselves are normally pretty reliable. No point in spending fortunes until you sort the underlying problem.

Please let us know how you get on

Reg's
James