radio reception

[peejay]

I'm sure this will have been discussed before but I can't find a mention anywhere, so apologies in advance if I'm going over old ground.

Radio reception in my T6 (Campervan) is prretty ordinary away from the big smoke.

I did find on this excellent forum that the radio antenna is cunningly concealed in the door mirror(s).

Has anybody replaced the aesthetically pleasing but fairly useless antenna with a conventional item?

Did it make much difference?

Thanks and Regards,

pj

[Sunny43.5]

Is the head unit original equipment ? aftermarket units do have reception issues .

[Kombi]

If you haven’t yet, pull unit out and make sure antenna is firmly plugged in the back.

[peejay]

Is the head unit original equipment ? aftermarket units do have reception issues .

Thanks Sunny,

Yes, it’s the original unit.

Regards,

pj

[peejay]

Thanks Kombi,

I will see if I can do that without making things worse


Regards,

pj

[Sunny43.5]

Not 100 percent sure but the diversity antennae systems are usually powered by the head unit , might want to check all the fuses in the fuse box to see if there is any blown [would be unusual ] . Next are you listening to AM or FM or if fitted Digital radio . Digital radio is only good within about 40 kms of the centre of Brisbane outside that will be almost hopeless , how far out of town are you losing reception ? I have replaced the factory aerials on both our T5,s see image as we fitted aftermarket head units and they don,t work well with the factory aerials which by the way are fitted into the windscreen of the early T5 .

[peejay]

Not 100 percent sure but the diversity antennae systems are usually powered by the head unit , might want to check all the fuses in the fuse box to see if there is any blown [would be unusual ] . Next are you listening to AM or FM or if fitted Digital radio . Digital radio is only good within about 40 kms of the centre of Brisbane outside that will be almost hopeless , how far out of town are you losing reception ? I have replaced the factory aerials on both our T5,s see image as we fitted aftermarket head units and they don,t work well with the factory aerials which by the way are fitted into the windscreen of the early T5 .
[ATTACH=CONFIG]43719[/ATTACH]

Thanks again Sunny,

I live in Brisbane and listen mostly to AM (612).

Reception fades south of the border and is lousy past Chinderah. Then it's a matter of scanning the dial to find AM or FM stations.

Travelling North or West, about 80 KM seems about the limit of good reception.

I can usually find ABC Regional stations if all else fails but reception doesn't stack up against standard units I've had in other (Japanese, mostly) vehicles.

It's not a big deal for me but it's irritating at times.

Cheers,

pj

[Sunny43.5]

Whoa south of the border is stretching any radio reception that originates in Brisbane , AM is at best good for around 100 to 160 kilometres depending on ground wave conditions . FM is more line of sight so south of the border will be blocked by the border ranges AM might be slightly better but like I said it can be affected by ground conditions . I gave up listening to either AM or FM and then gave up on Digital as its worse than the other two for coverage , now days I listen to online radio via my mobile phone so I can choose from thousands of stations around the world in crystal clear sound and bluetooth to the head unit , as long as you have mobile phone reception you can listen to any station clear as a bell . Out of interest I just Googled 4QR 612 ABC Brisbane and instantly was hearing the broadcast , I was then able to listen via the cars headunit or I also streamed it to my Bluetooth speaker in the house. I drove to Nambour last week and was listening to one of my favourite stations live from Germany ! Anttenae Bayern has about 20 stations with different genre English music etc so I listen to the 80,s station or sometimes to the Hit Mix station which plays a three song mix which has been remixed to blend into each other and best part virtually no ads or DJ,s and because they are speakinbg in German I have no idea what they are saying anyway !!
. I listen on my phone daily for up to 8 hours some days in the van and at home and I only use about 2 gb or less for a whole month . Like I said if you like ABC 612 you could listen to the same station all the way to Melbourne as log as the phone is receiving network coverage , and lets face it most of Australia is covered nowdays . You can download the ABC Listen app for free and all the ABC stations are there for free .

[The_Hawk]

We have always had after market head units in our T5.1 and the reception (FM) has always been pretty ordinary. Worse in Sydney, better in Melbourne, but never great compared to other cars we have had.

We tried various after market options windscreen mounted (or hidden in the A Pillar), even some just sitting on the dash (for testing purposes) and nothing really seemed to work well. Externally mounted might be better as suggested.

That said, these days we are mostly all about streaming audio anyway since the drivel on commercial radio drives me insane... but then I am becoming a cranky old man *get off my lawn* *shakes fist*.

[Sunny43.5]

We have always had after market head units in our T5.1 and the reception (FM) has always been pretty ordinary. Worse in Sydney, better in Melbourne, but never great compared to other cars we have had.

We tried various after market options windscreen mounted (or hidden in the A Pillar), even some just sitting on the dash (for testing purposes) and nothing really seemed to work well. Externally mounted might be better as suggested.

That said, these days we are mostly all about streaming audio anyway since the drivel on commercial radio drives me insane... but then I am becoming a cranky old man *get off my lawn* *shakes fist*.

You sound like me Hawk sick of inane radio people who laugh at themselves and think its funny . I think it,s a VW conspiracy , if you replace the factory radio the car goes into some sort of denial mode Ha Ha

[peejay]

Thanks yet again Sunny and Hawk,

I’m pushing 70 so don’t really listen to much commercial wireless. (Oops! I mean radio... just showing my age)

it it sounds like my expectations of car audio are a bit higher than is reasonable. I will have to learn to listen via my phone and BT as Sunny suggests.

You’ve saved me the expense of installing an an antenna and being disappointed ��

Regards,

pj

[Sunny43.5]

Don,t panic PJ I am 67 next week so not far behind you . Once I found out years ago with my first Chinese Head unit that I could enjoy the benefits of bluetooth I was hooked . I had plenty of discussions with other forum members about the pro,s and cons of Chinese units , but my personal experience has been very good and not costly like VW would like to extract from you for the privilege of all the functions my unit has standard .

[Ozsko]

I have had my car for two years and never listened to the radio once in all that time, audio books and music on USB or SD cards for me and yes I am an old fart also.