TVR Radio Reception Issues Solved (with added benefits)

[ChimpOnGas]

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

[ChimpOnGas]

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

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

[ChimpOnGas]

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

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

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

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.

[ChimpOnGas]

Right, I've sussed the whole DAB malarkey

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

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...

Then I realised

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:

[ChimpOnGas]

shep1001 said:

ptholt said:

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.

Have you earthed the aerial? some have an earth contact point for pressing against the body on the wire, can't do this on the TIV so you need to get creative.....

My aerial is definitely well earthed, I tested then used the existing & reliable earth cable in the ISO connector block.

If shep1001 is into listening to the footie then try mounting the aerial behind the rear view mirror & tuning into BBC 5 Live sports, worked exceptionally well for me today, as did all the other BBC stations.

Read my last post, as long as you're happy with BBC channels & you mount the Halfords "T" aerial behind the rear view mirror the DAB system works perfectly

With all the other features & functions I'd say the Pure Highway H260DBi is an excellent choice

I also took three roof up calls on my trip today and the hands free definitely works, over 70mph and my callers started to say they couldn't hear me very well but below that speed it seemed to work fine.

I doubt it'll be much use with the roof down, but at least the feature works at lower speeds with the roof up, it even reads out incoming text messages over the speakers.

While all this is great in theory the truth is I've never felt mobiles & driving a TVR are a compatible combination, so I doubt I'll use the phone features much.

After a few minor early disappointments I find myself really liking the Pure Highway H260DBi, I especially like the way it charges my IPod which I use as a removable AFR & EGT gauge... so no more trailing IPod wires needed

But best of all is streaming all my smart phone music & Spotify tunes over BlueTooth through the speakers, brilliant!!!

Edited by ChimpOnGas on Wednesday 23 April 21:29

[ChimpOnGas]

ptholt said:

on your "what you see inside the car pic" there is something on the screen with a black wire running into the dash vent/gap thing,

That's my TomTom cradle.

ptholt said:

be interesting to compare our signal strengths at same place to see if the mirror aerial gives an improvement as would consider back of the mirror as well as a fitting location, but seems a lot of messing if no improvement.

Just try it, took me 10 minutes but I must admit my dash top is fitted with velcro so I can remove it in 10 seconds flat.

I was told the higher you put a DAB aerial the better and it must see sky, I also wanted to fit it where it wouldn't be seen easily so the logical place was the back of the rear view mirror, and in my case it seems to work well.

ptholt said:

I also find dab on motorways works very well as is, its only A and B road blasting where moments of silence outweigh radio.

I'll keep testing, but assuming I stick to the BBC channels its a case of "so far so good".


I had a hands free chat with Goat Boy today and he said the sound quality was good, in fact my TVR system seems more reliable than his BlueTooth ear piece which seems to throw a fit every time we speak

[ChimpOnGas]

ptholt said:

Be interested to hear where you mounted your phone mic?

mine went in front of the dash clocks on the right hand side on the little sticky out shelf thing in front dash to the right of the wheel.

I mounted the mic on the sun visor.

I looked at two logical locations:

1) The top of the steering wheel cowl

2) The sun visor

To determine which was best I measured the distance from the two locations to my mouth, option 1 came in at 40 inches with the sun visor a mere 14 inches away.






You can make it even closer without affecting visibility by just pulling the sun visor down slightly so it's horizontal.

[ChimpOnGas]

V8 Fettler said:

These curvy cars are indeed civilised, next you'll be telling me that you don't have to wear ear plugs.

The Chimaera makes an excellent job of doing two things.

1) An old school classic British sports car with Cobra performance & sound effects

2) An extremely accomplished fast GT you can actually use on a daily basis

In my opinion that's what makes it such a great car, subtly adding to it's usability may set me up for ridicule amongst the all or nothing performance TVR crowd but I see it as enhancing the car not spoiling it.

It was the same with my LPG conversion, a lot of people didn't get it at all and said it was the wrong thing to do to a TVR.

But I've proved you can retain the practicality of the big boot, hide everything so no one would ever know its duel fuel, then do all that and actually make more power on gas than petrol.

When I'm paying £40 for a 280 mile fill rather than £75 on petrol to do the same distance I'm not thinking about the people that said I was spoiling my TVR.

Ferrari fast, Ford Fiesta economical... and now I can take a business call on my way to seeing my clients which simply means I'll be using & enjoying my Chimaera even more.

Works for me