TVR Radio Reception Issues Solved (with added benefits)

TVR Radio Reception Issues Solved (with added benefits)

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Discussion

ChimpOnGas

Original Poster:

9,637 posts

178 months

Saturday 19th April 2014
quotequote all
Fitted one of these today & so far I'm really impressed with it...



I was a bit sceptical about DAB but it seems to work a treat.

Best of all is the Bluetooth, everything audio on my phone is now on my new Pure Highway H260DBi without the need for wires.

That means not only all my music but 3G internet radio too, so I can now listen any station in the world anywhere with absolutely no TVR radio reception issues at all, Spotify too.

The hands free phone function was excellent when I tested it parked up, it reads out text messages, displays the caller's name & allows you to dial a missed or last called number directly from the head unit.

I doubt the hands free mic will cope with TVR background noise levels when on the move, but I'll test that tomorrow.

All in all for £150 including the DAB aerial seems like a small price to pay for all those features and to finally get crystal clear radio channels in my TVR.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/...


Edited by ChimpOnGas on Saturday 19th April 19:51

ptholt

221 posts

277 months

Sunday 20th April 2014
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Would be interested to know what aerial halfords fitted for you and how it works on B roads.

I bought this head unit with the t bar aerial in the gap in the dash works fine stationary and on motorways but pretty useless on B roads.

It's not a dab issue as I have it in both other cars which work fine on same roads so must be an aerial issue.

Phone kit was useless unless stationary couldn't be heard over wind / zorst noise.

Apart from that when it works it works fine just sadly not very often unless you like dual carriageways or motorways

Alexdaredevils

5,697 posts

178 months

Sunday 20th April 2014
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Is this so you can listen to BBC R4 all over Europe?

V8 Fettler

7,019 posts

131 months

Sunday 20th April 2014
quotequote all
You can listen to a radio in a TVR?

tvrforever

3,182 posts

264 months

Sunday 20th April 2014
quotequote all
ChimpOnGas said:
Fitted one of these today & so far I'm really impressed with it...



I was a bit sceptical about DAB but it seems to work a treat.

Best of all is the Bluetooth, everything audio on my phone is now on my new Pure Highway H260DBi without the need for wires.

That means not only all my music but 3G internet radio too, so I can now listen any station in the world anywhere with absolutely no TVR radio reception issues at all, Spotify too.

The hands free phone function was excellent when I tested it parked up, it reads out text messages, displays the caller's name & allows you to dial a missed or last called number directly from the head unit.

I doubt the hands free mic will cope with TVR background noise levels when on the move, but I'll test that tomorrow.

All in all for £150 including the DAB aerial seems like a small price to pay for all those features and to finally get crystal clear radio channels in my TVR.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/...


Edited by ChimpOnGas on Saturday 19th April 19:51
Great - did they fit it for you? which aerial did they sell you, and where fitted?


RichB

51,433 posts

283 months

Sunday 20th April 2014
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V8 Fettler said:
You can listen to a radio in a TVR?
Yep, you can in mine.

ChimpOnGas

Original Poster:

9,637 posts

178 months

Monday 21st April 2014
quotequote all
frown
tvrforever said:
Great - did they fit it for you? which aerial did they sell you, and where fitted?
Popped it in myself, but I may have spoken too soon frown

Well the T shape DAB arial from Halfords doesn't work on the move, mind you I buried it under the dash so I haven't given it the best chance.

I plan to mount it on the back rear view mirror today to see it that helps, if not I'll be returning the arial for something else.

It's not all bad though, the Bluetooth is a revelation, everything audio on my phone is now coming through the speakers in crystal clear quality, & no wires.

That doesn't just mean all my music but internet radio too which using the TuneIn app is just a tap of my phone's touch screen away, very convenient and being internet radio there's absolutely no hiss, fizz or crackle.

With internet radio you get any station playing any genre you want & anywhere... so in my opinion it kind of makes traditional radio redundant (FM or DAB), looking at it this way it's more or less irrelevant if the DAB works or not, which I expect it will once the arial sees sky.

I'll keep you all posted.

Those ridiculing the need for a working radio in a TVR should know my TVR is not a weekend play thing, I actually use it to visit my clients across the UK so getting traffic info and news is nice to have.

The way I see it a Chimaera is such a practical & thrilling to drive classic car it's a shame to only enjoy it at weekends & holidays, which is why I made it deliver the cost equivalent of 40mpg cruising at a steady 80mph with no loss of the wonderful TVR character & thunderous performance.

When you do use a TVR properly like I do, a radio that actually works is a rather nice feature yes

ChilliWhizz

11,990 posts

160 months

Monday 21st April 2014
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Heretic

shep1001

4,599 posts

188 months

Monday 21st April 2014
quotequote all
ptholt said:
Would be interested to know what aerial halfords fitted for you and how it works on B roads.

I bought this head unit with the t bar aerial in the gap in the dash works fine stationary and on motorways but pretty useless on B roads.

It's not a dab issue as I have it in both other cars which work fine on same roads so must be an aerial issue.

Phone kit was useless unless stationary couldn't be heard over wind / zorst noise.

Apart from that when it works it works fine just sadly not very often unless you like dual carriageways or motorways
DAB aerials are polarised unlike normal FM aerials. For DAB to work properly it needs to be mounted vertically.

Goaty Bill

1,779 posts

150 months

Monday 21st April 2014
quotequote all
V8 Fettler said:
You can listen to a radio in a TVR?
It runs on farts. Totally different to a 'normal' TVR.

ChilliWhizz said:
Heretic
+1

Rib

2,548 posts

188 months

Monday 21st April 2014
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Internet radio is great if you live in a good reception area, get out in the sticks and suddenly it starts dropping out as your signal osnt good enough,!

Bluebottle

3,498 posts

239 months

Monday 21st April 2014
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shep1001 said:
DAB aerials are polarised unlike normal FM aerials. For DAB to work properly it needs to be mounted vertically.
Really? The audio hifi place that installed mine put the dab Arial horizontally along the top of the screen....maybe that's why I think my dab is pants and listen to mp3 all the time

shep1001

4,599 posts

188 months

Monday 21st April 2014
quotequote all
Bluebottle said:
Really? The audio hifi place that installed mine put the dab Arial horizontally along the top of the screen....maybe that's why I think my dab is pants and listen to mp3 all the time
Yep, have a read. Quite useful as it has the stations listed too. http://www.jimsaerials.co.uk/dab%20&%20fm/radi...

Rib

2,548 posts

188 months

Monday 21st April 2014
quotequote all
The dab aerial that was in my car when I bought it was vertical, ripped it all out though as was rubbish, head unit was a cheap one though which didn't help, I love having music for the car but an mp3 cd does me with some select driving songs if I feel the need for some tunes

BuzzBillsberry

1,306 posts

230 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
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I use DAB thro' my iPhone well technically it's on line via 4G and listen to either Absolute 80's. BBC R2 or Capital generally reception is pretty good.

Buzz

Byker28i

58,831 posts

216 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
I played with all sorts of hidden aerials on my cerbera before taking the plunge and adding a JVC Hal-4 aerial on the rear window (top middle). Reception is fantastic - no issues with it since, always get a signal.

ptholt

221 posts

277 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
shep1001 said:
DAB aerials are polarised unlike normal FM aerials. For DAB to work properly it needs to be mounted vertically.
The T-bar aerial is designed to "lie" down rather than stand up (http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_907117_langId_-1_categoryId_165655) , but that may explain why its so poor lol.
I was tempted to replace the t-bar with the glass mount one they sell, but even the guys in the shop werent convinced it would be any better (this one - http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/... but i found an old thread from a chim driver that kept his glass one under the dash and it worked fine so who knows :s

Interesting to hear how it gets on mounted behind the mirror, i asked them to consider thatm they werent keen and didnt want to rip apart the interior to run the cable which is fair enough as neither did I!

Tried to use the car kit on the move with roof on yesterday, other party could only hear wind and interference, couldn't hear me at all. Had to stop at which point they could hear me, but by then its as easy to park up and talk tbh.

ChimpOnGas

Original Poster:

9,637 posts

178 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
The rear view mirror is the highest point on a Chim I could find where the DAB aerial can see sky with or without the roof off, it's also virtually invisible from inside or outside of the car.

I ran the long aerial cable neatly in the gap between the screen & the screen surround trim, there's a small mystery block about 6" from the aerial that I stuck to the side of the rear view mirror using "Black Tac", the free 6" length of cable was lost by winding it around the mirror stem.

The Halfords "T-Bar" DAB aerial itself was firmly fixed to the back of the rear view mirror using the provided high strength 3m sticky pad, in practice being the same black as the body of the mirror you just don't see the aerial unless you really knew it was there.

I routed the other end of the cable under the dash top, down through a loom hole into the lower dash and out through the radio aperture to the back of the Pure Highway H260DBi, a task made much easier by the fact my dash top is attache using Velcro these days wink

So after all this did the DAB reception come good?

Well, the new rear view mirror back location is a vast improvement on my first "hidden under the dash" attempt and I'm still testing, but early indications are.........It's still a bit pants rofl

DAB doesn't fizz, crackle or fade in & out like traditional analogue radio, its either there in full fat crystal clear clarity... or it completely vanishes into the ether leaving you with total silence rolleyes

Don't get me wrong DAB is the nuts (when your getting a solid signal), but I'm only getting that solid signal 70% of the time which on the face of it doesn't sound too bad but in practice becomes annoying because you go from amazing & perfect reception 70% of the time to a short period of complete silence just when just you've started to enjoy what seems like such a clear signal.

The saving grace is the BlueTooth which gives you perfect internet radio and all your phone music in a very convenient wire free setup, ironically the analogue radio signal is rather good too.

So what do I think of the Pure Highway H260DBi?

Well even if you ignore the hit & miss DAB thing it's an extremely feature rich device, with good analogue FM, a USB music file reader, Ipod connectivity, hands free and the fantastic Blue Tooth I still feel the £150 was a good deal.

D. byebye

ptholt

221 posts

277 months

Wednesday 23rd April 2014
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Dont get me wrong im quite happy with my head unit as well in terms of features and operation, just wish i could get more use from the dab bit, particularly when trying to listen to the footie whilst out for a drive hehehe.


ChimpOnGas

Original Poster:

9,637 posts

178 months

Wednesday 23rd April 2014
quotequote all
Right, I've sussed the whole DAB malarkey biggrin

Today I went for a short 70 mile round trip up the M1 and my DAB reception was perfect...thumbup

Odd really as I hadn't made any changes from when I last used it on Monday and suffered the frequent signal drop out thing...confusedconfusedconfused

Then I realised idea

I was listening to BBC 1Xtra, so I tried BBC Radio 2, then 3, then 4, and then on the way back home BBC Radio London... all absolutely perfect, no drop outs and crystal clear quality.

Then I had a go at a few more DAB stations, JazzFM & Absolute 90's... the result was very poor and back to the 70% on 30% drop out silent.

I remembered my disappointing first test on Monday was limited to a short lived period trying to listen to JazFM before I gave up, had I tried a BBC station the result would have been very different.



It seems the BBC are doing something better with DAB than the rest, I suspect they are broadcasting DAB using their already well established and very extensive network broadcasting towers.

So DAB is perfect right now but only if you listen to the BBC channels, which is fine by me as that's what I wanted anyway, if I want another station I'll just BlueTooth it from my 3G smart phone.

In the end (after some early DAB disappointments) it's all worked out exactly as I wanted, all I'd say is the Halfords "T Aerial" works well but only if it's mounted on the rear view mirror, here's some photos to show you how it looks.


Aerial barely noticeable:



Even close up its hard to spot:



What you see from inside the car:



How the Pure Highway H260DBi head unit looks in the car:



Feeding my Ipod Touch that's displaying AFR via the neat & reliable AEM X WiFi system: