E Class 2014 DAB Radio Signal Problems FIXED

antigon

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E Class Coupe/2014/E250 CDI
Hey,

Wanted to give some advice regarding DAB Radio signal problems you may be experiencing as I have been. Have seen on older posts before many people experienced this with Mercedes DAB.

Having purchased my 2014 E Coupe (Facelift) Mercedes a few months back, I had noticed that the DAB Radio would not work at all - it would take about 10 seconds for a radio station to load, then it would play for 10-15 seconds then switch off again and after a few seconds either play FM or DAB but this would continually happen switching on/off. I live in London and wherever I went this would happen. I Have the Command System.

Having read up about this online, I saw that this was likely to be a problem with the Roof Aerial of the car - something to do with the band being programmed to be for Germany and Europe, and the UK using a different signal band, so many modern Mercedes cars don't pick up the DAB signal in the UK.

I spoke to my dealership and they said this was a problem Mercedes was aware of and to bring it in to have an amplifier upgrade on the radio under warranty. They ordered the piece in from Germany and 1 week later had the car in to have it fitted. Having read online that people had this done already with no result, I was skeptical... However the DAB works completely fine now with no loss of signal!

Hope this helps anyone else having this problem!
 

Alfie

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A150 manual, smart forTwo, W205 AMG line premium plus.
Hey,

Wanted to give some advice regarding DAB Radio signal problems you may be experiencing as I have been. Have seen on older posts before many people experienced this with Mercedes DAB.

Having purchased my 2014 E Coupe (Facelift) Mercedes a few months back, I had noticed that the DAB Radio would not work at all - it would take about 10 seconds for a radio station to load, then it would play for 10-15 seconds then switch off again and after a few seconds either play FM or DAB but this would continually happen switching on/off. I live in London and wherever I went this would happen. I Have the Command System.

Having read up about this online, I saw that this was likely to be a problem with the Roof Aerial of the car - something to do with the band being programmed to be for Germany and Europe, and the UK using a different signal band, so many modern Mercedes cars don't pick up the DAB signal in the UK.

I spoke to my dealership and they said this was a problem Mercedes was aware of and to bring it in to have an amplifier upgrade on the radio under warranty. They ordered the piece in from Germany and 1 week later had the car in to have it fitted. Having read online that people had this done already with no result, I was skeptical... However the DAB works completely fine now with no loss of signal!

Hope this helps anyone else having this problem!

Yes there is a fix for this with a new antenna amp. Also it is imperative that the DAB tuner is coded properly. Shouldnt be an issue on a 2014 car but I have seen it where some cars have been coded for Band L which we dont use in the UK. Fixing it to switch off Band L and use Band 3 resolved it!
 
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Headhurts

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Mercedes GLC300 2021
My car was new last July and initially had awful problems with signal dropping but for ages now it has been fine I assumed the signals had been improved in Norfolk.
The only thing changed was the satnav aerial but I doubt this is relevant.
 

Alfie

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My car was new last July and initially had awful problems with signal dropping but for ages now it has been fine I assumed the signals had been improved in Norfolk.
The only thing changed was the satnav aerial but I doubt this is relevant.

You are absolutely correct. the GPS antenna has no effect on the DAB signal. Also as you have spotted the DAB signal around the country is improving all the time.

I drove to Derby and Nuneaton (from Surrey) yesterday and lost signal for about 10 seconds in just one spot outside Nuneaton.
 

television

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My car was new last July and initially had awful problems with signal dropping but for ages now it has been fine I assumed the signals had been improved in Norfolk.
The only thing changed was the satnav aerial but I doubt this is relevant.

Better down here now as well, much more usable.
 

Meatius

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crap DAB

As a chauffeur I drive up and down the country and try to listen to Talk Sport on DAB however every couple of minutes or so it will drop for 10 seconds and then come back it is tiresome considering I got a crappy Vauxhall Vectra as a lease car once and the DAB worked perfectly with no loss of signal at all. I didn't pay twice as much as a Vauxhall for crappy audio equipment, If I'd wanted transistor standard I'd ride along with a cheap wireless. I think it's appalling that they allow the cars to be sold with inferior quality products and blame the country it is being used in, sorry Merc but it's poor show when your dealers laugh at you when you make a complaint about your product and say they know about it
 

television

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As a chauffeur I drive up and down the country and try to listen to Talk Sport on DAB however every couple of minutes or so it will drop for 10 seconds and then come back it is tiresome considering I got a crappy Vauxhall Vectra as a lease car once and the DAB worked perfectly with no loss of signal at all. I didn't pay twice as much as a Vauxhall for crappy audio equipment, If I'd wanted transistor standard I'd ride along with a cheap wireless. I think it's appalling that they allow the cars to be sold with inferior quality products and blame the country it is being used in, sorry Merc but it's poor show when your dealers laugh at you when you make a complaint about your product and say they know about it

You are right, just separating the BBC multiplexes into one group is horrible to use where as all other DAB receivers have just a single band.
 

Lexman8

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CL500 (2001): Distronic, Bose, Keyless Go; Honda CR-V EX (2011)
There are probably hundreds (thousands?) of Merc owners who are dissatisfied with their DAB reception and are blaming DAB itself rather than the car's setup.

MB (UK) must know about this problem. They presumably know which cars are affected and could write to owners offering a free fix. Have they done anything about it? Apparently not.

Poor customer service considering the premium Merc owners pay for their cars.
 

Botus

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S500/2010/500
I actually think the DAB tuner in mine works very well. I think the issue (with supporting evidence in most posts) points to the antenna being complete and utter garbage.

I didn't fit the £645 quid Merc antenna on my retrofit and put in an £18 one. I slung it behind the bumper and have never touched since. In the first week I had almost perfect reception. I now notice in poor weather its need looking at and I'm dropping out quite a few times. The good bit is when it drops out it quietly drops and comes back gently, quite often I don't even notice it does it.

As I've said else where my neighbours brand new SLK can't pick up any DAB where I am at all. Mine limps along dropping for a few seconds in two places out of the drive / our end of the road. Theirs doesn't work!

In Amersham Bucks (old part, near a main Jag dealer) mine works on and off (weather dependant). Brand new Jags don't work at all ! In that location my old BMW 57 plate 335d (with orig fit DAB) 9 out of 10 times was fault free, the odd occasion there it dropped out. Otherwise it was almost perfect everywhere. What was horrid about the BM was when it dropped it has a really unpleasant high pitch shriek as it did it, always sending a nasty shiver up your spine.

A friend just got a new Mondeo with DAB, its fault free in all those places.
 

television

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DAB tuners all have the same front end, this is the part that picks up the signal, so all differences are down to the antenna, the rear mounted roof antenna will out perform any other type, and this is well known and proven to be the case. (even though the polarization is wrong, the voltage on any antenna comes from the tips of the rods, the rest does nothing)

No signals will travel down 50Ω coax in bands 1 to 5 without an amp (remember the old days of the rod antenna mounted on the rear wing, these all used 75Ω coax and no amplifier needed) Mounting antenna's in glass can give problems, so can amplifiers not tuned to peak for the waveband intended. A true band 111 antenna is some 665mm in length, and one this length would be known as a full wave antenna. if the antenna rod length is only 332mm long this becomes a ½ wave, one 166mm long becomes a ¼ wave and the signal is reduced in the same proportions. (very strong signal area's will override this)

The next thing is the amplifier should always be mounted as new to the antenna as possible so that only the signal is amplified, put the amplifier on the receiver end and all the noise in the coax gets amplified as well.(Mercedes do get this right.) As with all antenna's it matters not what the signal is that is being received, ie analogue or digital.
 

Stiliyan

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E220 bluetec coupe 2015
Hey,

Wanted to give some advice regarding DAB Radio signal problems you may be experiencing as I have been. Have seen on older posts before many people experienced this with Mercedes DAB.

Having purchased my 2014 E Coupe (Facelift) Mercedes a few months back, I had noticed that the DAB Radio would not work at all - it would take about 10 seconds for a radio station to load, then it would play for 10-15 seconds then switch off again and after a few seconds either play FM or DAB but this would continually happen switching on/off. I live in London and wherever I went this would happen. I Have the Command System.

Having read up about this online, I saw that this was likely to be a problem with the Roof Aerial of the car - something to do with the band being programmed to be for Germany and Europe, and the UK using a different signal band, so many modern Mercedes cars don't pick up the DAB signal in the UK.

I spoke to my dealership and they said this was a problem Mercedes was aware of and to bring it in to have an amplifier upgrade on the radio under warranty. They ordered the piece in from Germany and 1 week later had the car in to have it fitted. Having read online that people had this done already with no result, I was skeptical... However the DAB works completely fine now with no loss of signal!

Hope this helps anyone else having this problem!
Hi I have got the same problem.Two times bring my car into Mercedes dealers service and the problem is still there!Whot I have to do? Thanks
 

Botus

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Hi I have got the same problem.Two times bring my car into Mercedes dealers service and the problem is still there!Whot I have to do? Thanks


Buy a BMW there's worked perfectly from 2007
 

goldy

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2019 W213
Mine didn't work from when I bought in June 2017. 3 years old. Dealer said signal between areas originally. In for software update slightly improved. Back again for amplifier and known modified aerial and all good now.
There's a known fix so push the dealers.
 

Deadeye-Detailing

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Im gonna bump this thread up. Is this why when i satet my car it can take forever (i just drove 20 39 miles with "please wait") before it came on. And when i turn my car off and come back to it in the morning i habe to wait forever for a signal.

Whats the fix
 

Mouramatt

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Does anyone know how much the amp upgrade costs in the UK?
 

Mouramatt

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Im gonna bump this thread up. Is this why when i satet my car it can take forever (i just drove 20 39 miles with "please wait") before it came on. And when i turn my car off and come back to it in the morning i habe to wait forever for a signal.

Whats the fix
Do you know how much the amp upgrade fix costs?
 

Botus

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guys, two well known gremlins came with euro wide upgrade of the DAB network in Feb 2016

germany turned off and binned DAB completely, replaced with DAB+ a totally different idea requiring a different tuner, with a different weaker signal but having a more robust way to receive it with some clever error handling, including more and a better standard of signal compression

the UK went a different route with dual broadcasting of both Old DAB and New DAB+, for cars where they knew it was coming they have both chipsets and can see and find old and new....

however in the UK that meant in big cities / great reception areas they can suddenly find more than 99 channels... but the cars software never expected that many and it keels over under the strain and dies....

then the got greedy and introduced channel logos and that puts another level of strain and that can cause things to wobble all over again, but most people say its the BBC nationwide multiplex (but they are mistaken).

over the course of far too long, two separate Merc software patches/updates came out during 2016 (Jul and another in Oct I think), if you have a DAB+ tuner and don't have the software updates don't come on here and say it works funny - go see a dealer and get your money out

you may well need a better antenna and or antenna amp to help the world do what you want in addition to the vital software fixes - FYI channel logo's were still killing DAB+ Radio's in brand new Focus Mk4's until a patch in Nov 2020 and PUGs play up without a 2018 update too....

YOU CAN'T UPDATE A MERC, MUST BE DEALER ONLINE TOOLS
 

Altamar

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I never use DAB in either of my 2014 or 2015 Mercs as I tend to listen to local radio stations and I find it irritating that as I drive around, the radio appears to pick up the next broadcasting antenna and the result is what I am listening to becomes disjointed. So as an example, if the presenter is speaking I might hear the first twenty words of a sentence and suddenly I am listening again to a repeat of the last ten words. Obviously the same effect happens when they are playing music and I hear a repeat of the last few seconds of lyrics.

I can sort of understand why it's happening but I would love to know if I can "fix" to one broadcasting antenna to stop it.
 
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