Improving DAB reception

[trickytree]

Just purchased a new ML350 and finding DAB reception is very poor, compared to my previous Lexus. Seems to cut out regularly in spots the Lexus virtually never did. Is there anything which can be done (aftermarket retro-fits ?) to improve the DAB reception ?. Thanks

 

[television]

It is all mainly due to the antenna and where it is on the car, the front end of all dab tuners are the same, so it should not be a problem there, it is possible to get a fault in the front end of any radio, but not very common at at all. the same goes for the RF amp in the antenna lead.

The only way you will know is to try another ML in the same spots to see if the reception is just as poor or beter.

 

[trickytree]

Thanks for reply. I had another ML on demo back in June and experienced same poor reception in similar areas (all of which never happened with the Lexus which had the front screen based antenna), so seems to be an inherent fault ?. The salesman did admit at the time that the MB DAB radios were not great........

 

[television]

Then all down to the antenna location. We have a member who only last week was trying to improve his DAB reception, and he mounted an antenna on the roof, drilling a hole in the roof to do so. Any improvement was small as I recall but a little better.

This can be a huge problem with DAB, where I live it is all very patchy reception.

 

[Wheel]

Just purchased a new ML350 and finding DAB reception is very poor, compared to my previous Lexus. Seems to cut out regularly in spots the Lexus virtually never did. Is there anything which can be done (aftermarket retro-fits ?) to improve the DAB reception ?. Thanks

Hirschmann make some cracking aerials for DAB, but be prepared to pay for it... http://www.dabonwheels.co.uk/Hirschmann_AUTA_16_V_DAB_DAB_car_aerial.html

Some DAB tuners are more sensitive than others, as a last resort you could change the head-unit.

 

[television]

Some DAB tuners are more sensitive than others, as a last resort you could change the head-unit.

Only a tiny difference though and any difference can be made up with a antenna amp, but as with any digital broadcast it is not good to have too much amplification on the front end

 

[S80]

I'm not so sure that DAB has been a resounding success :Oops:

 

[whitenemesis]

The DAB tuner I was road testing for the guys at comand.co.uk was a cracking unit. I very rarely suffered from drop-out and we used an amplified screen mounted antenna. Quite discrete at approx 3" long.

So it can be done, might be worth giving them a call for advice on which antenna to go for?

 

[television]

I was thinking while out shopping, the only difference between any is down to the antenna or antenna amp.

Amps are mainly used to compensate for the 50Ω cables in the cars to push the signal through, unlike home systems where 75Ω is used and the signal flows freely on its own.

We will never know what the gain is on the inbuilt antenna amps, it could be tested, but probably about 5db just to compensate for the cables used. t

To amplify for all to the tune of 15db could give problems in some area's and or countries, again one should not put amplifiers in series, or shall we say not good engineering practice but an additional amplifier can make all the difference to getting something or nothing in the case of band V. Band 11 is a long way off band V but many principles still apply, and again we are not dealing with the old analogue system where the IF frequencies could be narrowed to increase the sensitivity.

I am in the middle of thinking of the best thing for my CL,all just a bit too soon for anymore info