In car DAB aerial - will this work?

[Sway]

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?!

[GSE]

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?

Edited by GSE on Thursday 21st November 14:29

[Squishey]

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.

Edited by Squishey on Thursday 21st November 14:29

Edited by Squishey on Thursday 21st November 14:31

[GSE]

If you can't use a mag mount i'd fix a tuned length DAB antenna to the outside of the vehicle using screened cable making sure that the screen of the cable connects to the chassis of the head unit.

[GSE]

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.

[xuy]

edit: what's a Libra?


A tampon

[Squishey]

You would have to pay data charges if you don't have it included in your monthly contract.

Listening to a 64K stream for 1 hour a day would use approx. 850MB of data a month.

[Sway]

Cheers, but mag mount won't work - there's essentially zero metal in the car (engine wishbones and radiator and that's about it). The whole car (monocoque, doors and clamshells) is fibreglass...

This is a Libra:

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

The sticky windscreen antennas that are usually supplied don't need a ground plane.

[Sway]

This one seems to - the black L shaped tab needs to be stuck to metal in the instructions?

As the whole thing is fibreglass would the sticky aerial work even inside the cabin?

[scrwright]

used a sticky one like yours in wifeys jeep. Had crap reception until I took a wire from the HU cage to the earth point on the arial. join your copper tape to the head unit cage?