Decent ariel. Surely there must be one.
Discussion
Following on from the loudspeaker thread, I really would like to know the answer to, "how can I improve the radio reception"?
Please let's not get into the "sound of the V8" etc.
I know it sounds great but when I'm travelling to TDs, usually at some God forsaken time in the morning, it would be really good to listen to Radio 4 or whatever I fancy.
At the moment reception is patchy to non existent.
What's the answer? there must be one surely?
I bet I'm not the only one to wish for an improvement.
I have tried one of those £10-£15.00 signal boosters and I reckon it was worse!
Techies, the floor is open...............
Please let's not get into the "sound of the V8" etc.
I know it sounds great but when I'm travelling to TDs, usually at some God forsaken time in the morning, it would be really good to listen to Radio 4 or whatever I fancy.
At the moment reception is patchy to non existent.
What's the answer? there must be one surely?
I bet I'm not the only one to wish for an improvement.
I have tried one of those £10-£15.00 signal boosters and I reckon it was worse!
Techies, the floor is open...............
Time to think outside the box Peter 
The answer is a moible phone with a 3G connection and the Tunein app, which is completely free.
Link your head unit to the phone via a 3.5 jack audio cable or blue tooth if your system supports that. Either way you get perfect crystal clear reception more or less anywhere, and literally thousands of radio channels to choose from.
I combine the Tunein app with a bit of Spotify, which gives you free access to any track, any artist, any time, with very few adds that really don't detract from the experience.
If you don't want the adds you can upgrade Spotify on a monthly rolling contract basis for £10.
All sounds a bit complicated?... Actually isn't.
Even a Facebook phobic can do it
The answer is a moible phone with a 3G connection and the Tunein app, which is completely free.
Link your head unit to the phone via a 3.5 jack audio cable or blue tooth if your system supports that. Either way you get perfect crystal clear reception more or less anywhere, and literally thousands of radio channels to choose from.
I combine the Tunein app with a bit of Spotify, which gives you free access to any track, any artist, any time, with very few adds that really don't detract from the experience.
If you don't want the adds you can upgrade Spotify on a monthly rolling contract basis for £10.
All sounds a bit complicated?... Actually isn't.
Even a Facebook phobic can do it
Lots of potential "magic" aerial boosters etc, unfortunately none designed for a fibreglass car, they just amplify the signal coming in - so 10 x nothing is still nothing!
A good solid ground plane is all that is required to achieve a good signal.
You could make a coax dipole and hide it in the boot etc.
Link below for a small app that given the frequency required (88-108 Mhz) and the cable grade (suggest RG8)
will give you the dimensions required and instructions of how to construct the required aerial
http://www.ve3sqb.com/coaxdpl.exe - Scanned and virus free
Happy to expand on this if needed.....
A good solid ground plane is all that is required to achieve a good signal.
You could make a coax dipole and hide it in the boot etc.
Link below for a small app that given the frequency required (88-108 Mhz) and the cable grade (suggest RG8)
will give you the dimensions required and instructions of how to construct the required aerial
http://www.ve3sqb.com/coaxdpl.exe - Scanned and virus free
Happy to expand on this if needed.....
If your existing aerial is the powered one hidden somewhere in the windscreen area then make sure the 12 volts supply to it is connected behind the head unit, some aftermarket installs fail to reconnect this leading to poor reception.
It should be identifiable as it goes to the main aerial connection.
It should be identifiable as it goes to the main aerial connection.
When I bought mine it had a pull up ariel that pulls up from the rear wing like on an MX5. I remember hearing at the time that one particular dealer did this to a number of cars to solve the poor reception issue.
It does spoil the look a bit and I would prefer a car without it, but the interior & exterior colour was what i wanted so I bought it even with this modification... It may not look as good, but I can listen to the radio with no problems!
It does spoil the look a bit and I would prefer a car without it, but the interior & exterior colour was what i wanted so I bought it even with this modification... It may not look as good, but I can listen to the radio with no problems!
I have a Bluetooth enabled Pure Highway H260DBi, which I initially ran with the un-powered Halfords DAB aerial.
This aerial worked but there were the occasional & frustrating drop outs of signal for a few minutes at a time if the DAB signal became anything other than strong.
I now use the expensive but effective JVC HAL-2 aerial, this has a DAB connection, a regular radio connection and a switched +12v feed to power it.
The JVC HAL-2 is actually designed as an eternal panel mounted aerial but with the addition of an earth strap it works just as well inside the Chimaera, however it needs to be fitted up the side of the screen pillar as its designed to be mounted in the vertical plane.
I get perfect DAB & FM analogue reception now but it all became irreverent when I started streaming 3G internet radio & the music on my phone to the Pure Highway H260DBi via Bluetooth.
The Pure Highway H260DBi also has a front mounted USB port that I've fitted with one of these little USB flash drives filled with MP3s:
Finally I can connect my Bluetooth enabled TomTom 910 to the Pure Highway for turn my turn direction through the car's speakers and the whole bunch of MP3 tunes stored on its 20GB hard drive, the TomTom 910 has a useful remote controller and I do use it quite often.
I now have so many options to listen to music I feel pretty well qualified to tell you my first response above is what I use most of the time.
Once you start streaming internet radio & tunes over Bluetooth using your phone as a controller you'll never go back, just make sure you mount your phone safely so you can keep your eyes on the road.
My solution for that is the excellent Steelie mount.
http://carproductstested.com/trip-travel-gear-guid...
You also need to charge the phone as you drive & stream as you'll find the internet radio aps ect all suck quite a bit of juice out of your phone's battery.
This aerial worked but there were the occasional & frustrating drop outs of signal for a few minutes at a time if the DAB signal became anything other than strong.
I now use the expensive but effective JVC HAL-2 aerial, this has a DAB connection, a regular radio connection and a switched +12v feed to power it.
The JVC HAL-2 is actually designed as an eternal panel mounted aerial but with the addition of an earth strap it works just as well inside the Chimaera, however it needs to be fitted up the side of the screen pillar as its designed to be mounted in the vertical plane.
I get perfect DAB & FM analogue reception now but it all became irreverent when I started streaming 3G internet radio & the music on my phone to the Pure Highway H260DBi via Bluetooth.
The Pure Highway H260DBi also has a front mounted USB port that I've fitted with one of these little USB flash drives filled with MP3s:
Finally I can connect my Bluetooth enabled TomTom 910 to the Pure Highway for turn my turn direction through the car's speakers and the whole bunch of MP3 tunes stored on its 20GB hard drive, the TomTom 910 has a useful remote controller and I do use it quite often.
I now have so many options to listen to music I feel pretty well qualified to tell you my first response above is what I use most of the time.
Once you start streaming internet radio & tunes over Bluetooth using your phone as a controller you'll never go back, just make sure you mount your phone safely so you can keep your eyes on the road.
My solution for that is the excellent Steelie mount.
http://carproductstested.com/trip-travel-gear-guid...
You also need to charge the phone as you drive & stream as you'll find the internet radio aps ect all suck quite a bit of juice out of your phone's battery.
Edited by ChimpOnGas on Friday 29th May 05:59
Lots of helpful answers.
Here's where I stand.
I am not a Ludit, although that is debatable
I have a standard radio/cd player which I like and don't want to change.
I don't want to use my phone, I close my eyes to that technology, (I love my CDs and old stereo, 1973 Luxman valve amp!)
I want to switch on the radio when I feel like it and listen to a choice of 3 or 4 stations, that makes me happy.
I envisaged an all singing and dancing "wonder ariel", even if it cost £200.00, surely that would be a good buy?
UKDJ, I don't understand the link?
Here's where I stand.
I am not a Ludit, although that is debatable
I have a standard radio/cd player which I like and don't want to change.
I don't want to use my phone, I close my eyes to that technology, (I love my CDs and old stereo, 1973 Luxman valve amp!)
I want to switch on the radio when I feel like it and listen to a choice of 3 or 4 stations, that makes me happy.
I envisaged an all singing and dancing "wonder ariel", even if it cost £200.00, surely that would be a good buy?
UKDJ, I don't understand the link?
sgrimshaw said:
No but I tried a similar opne that was rubbish.To be fair, it was an ebay £15.00 one of the same principal.
Maybe a quick call to David Beer, could it be that simple?
phazed said:
No but I tried a similar opne that was rubbish.
To be fair, it was an ebay £15.00 one of the same principal.
Maybe a quick call to David Beer, could it be that simple?
I would.To be fair, it was an ebay £15.00 one of the same principal.
Maybe a quick call to David Beer, could it be that simple?
Old post but still relevent:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I must have the low tech solution on my early Griff. I haven't had a good look but I have what looks like a standard telescopic ariel glued horizontally to the face of the petrol tank in the boot behind the carpet.
FM is perfectly good enough for me. AM is pretty good when not running but useless once the engine is started.
FM is perfectly good enough for me. AM is pretty good when not running but useless once the engine is started.
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