In car DAB aerial - will this work?
Discussion
Hi chaps,
Fitting a DAB head unit into my Libra as no-one ever wanted to drill the monocoque for a FM aerial...
As Grimshaw is a tosser, and R2 is for old gits, figure DAB is the best bet.
However, as I don't have any metal in the monocoque, there's no convenient ground plane for the sticky aerial.
I've looked under the dash/a pillar covers, and it doesn't look good there for a windscreen mount.
So came up with this for an idea:
That's the underside of the lower dash - which is solely there to hold the single DIN head unit.
I've covered a section clear of the head unit with copper tape (approx. 12" by 6") for the ground plane section of the aerial to stick to. The other part of the aerial would be stuck to plain Fibreglass under the head unit.
What do you reckon my chances of success are before I waste 20 quid sticking the aerial in?!
Fitting a DAB head unit into my Libra as no-one ever wanted to drill the monocoque for a FM aerial...
As Grimshaw is a tosser, and R2 is for old gits, figure DAB is the best bet.
However, as I don't have any metal in the monocoque, there's no convenient ground plane for the sticky aerial.
I've looked under the dash/a pillar covers, and it doesn't look good there for a windscreen mount.
So came up with this for an idea:
That's the underside of the lower dash - which is solely there to hold the single DIN head unit.
I've covered a section clear of the head unit with copper tape (approx. 12" by 6") for the ground plane section of the aerial to stick to. The other part of the aerial would be stuck to plain Fibreglass under the head unit.
What do you reckon my chances of success are before I waste 20 quid sticking the aerial in?!
Agree R1 and R2 on FM are rubbish, Radio 6 music is excellent, but only available on DAB, so I fitted a ICS-DAB adaptor unit to connect to the existing head unit in my Mondeo via the aux in socket.
I tried an internal windscreen aerial but the signal wasn't strong enough, the sound often broke up sounding like bubbling mud (a deficiency of DAB with it's weak error correction protocol, but that's another story..)
I wouldn't bother with an internal antenna. In the end I used a small mag mount antenna mounted on the roof just above the tailgate. More or less perfect signal reception now on Radio 6 whilst on the move.
edit: what's a Libra?
I tried an internal windscreen aerial but the signal wasn't strong enough, the sound often broke up sounding like bubbling mud (a deficiency of DAB with it's weak error correction protocol, but that's another story..)
I wouldn't bother with an internal antenna. In the end I used a small mag mount antenna mounted on the roof just above the tailgate. More or less perfect signal reception now on Radio 6 whilst on the move.
edit: what's a Libra?
Edited by GSE on Thursday 21st November 14:29
I don't think it'll work, it still won't grounded. You need to find part of the chassis to connect it to.
Couldn't you splice in to the ground wire for the HU?
ETA: Going from the advice above, get a HU that supports bluetooth streaming and stream DAB from an app on your smartphone.
Couldn't you splice in to the ground wire for the HU?
ETA: Going from the advice above, get a HU that supports bluetooth streaming and stream DAB from an app on your smartphone.
Edited by Squishey on Thursday 21st November 14:29
Edited by Squishey on Thursday 21st November 14:31
Squishey said:
I don't think it'll work, it still won't grounded. You need to find part of the chassis to connect it to.
Couldn't you splice in to the ground wire for the HU?
ETA: Going from the advice above, get a HU that supports bluetooth streaming and stream DAB from an app on your smartphone.
Yes that should work as 3G/4G coverage is improving steadily. But wouldn't you have to pay for streaming digital radio by way of monthly smartphone data charges? DAB is free. Couldn't you splice in to the ground wire for the HU?
ETA: Going from the advice above, get a HU that supports bluetooth streaming and stream DAB from an app on your smartphone.
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