Fiat Ducato DAB radio signal problems .

J

Just us on Tour

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Hello All
Can anyone advise me please . I understand the DAB Ariel on a series 7 Fiat Ducato is in the drivers door mirror .
Has anyone had issues with poor DAB radio signals . One minute mine works fine and then the next it goes off or sounds like Micky Mouse . My stereo unit is an Xzent ( which I know are not the best ) so wondering if it’s the radio or the Ariel ?. I am just about to upgrade the Xzent to the Kenwood Motorhome specific with a floating screen . I am just wondering should I replace the Ariel or is it the Azent which is the issue . Any advice appreciated .
 
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I think it’s the mirror guards too as ours is the same!

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Us too. I've given up and just play the iPod
 
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Me too
pwilmo said:
Fitted FM and DAB signal amplifier booster, pull out radio , very easy to wire .. even for me who has no electrickery knowledge.
( Vecys Splitter 1 .. at Amazon £13 !)
Have gone from a pathetic 5 DAB stations to 75 odd and has 300% improved FM radio signal.

On my van the arials are in the wing mirrors.
Huge improvement for £13.
Click to expand...
 
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I had 2 different DAB Ariel's fitted, latest is stuck on the windscreen, the Carthago DVT roof Ariel picks up a TV signal, but is crap for the Pioneer DAB radio. I gave up in the end and now just stream digital radio via Car Play and I phone.
Really rubs it in when you pick up a new car and it can receive 100's of stations clear as a bell, it has like most cars one of those shark fin roof mounted Ariels that always work so well on cars with metal roofs.
LES
 
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Just us on Tour said:
Hello All
Can anyone advise me please . I understand the DAB Ariel on a series 7 Fiat Ducato is in the drivers door mirror .
Has anyone had issues with poor DAB radio signals . One minute mine works fine and then the next it goes off or sounds like Micky Mouse . My stereo unit is an Xzent ( which I know are not the best ) so wondering if it’s the radio or the Ariel ?. I am just about to upgrade the Xzent to the Kenwood Motorhome specific with a floating screen . I am just wondering should I replace the Ariel or is it the Azent which is the issue . Any advice appreciated .
Click to expand...
I’ve written and advised about this before , the concept and the design of the Fiat Ducato Antenna , is very poorly thought out ! The overwhelming majority of opinion is that it just does not work , or suffers from severe fading and dropouts. My advice is to install a roof mounted multi-mode Antenna, the German ‘Hymer’ pattern is the best and it is designed for quite thick motor-home roofs .It provides superb reception of am/fm ,dab and gps signals , if correctly sited and installed , please note that this Antenna requires a 12 Volt power supply.

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Just us on Tour said:
Hello All
Can anyone advise me please . I understand the DAB Ariel on a series 7 Fiat Ducato is in the drivers door mirror .
Has anyone had issues with poor DAB radio signals . One minute mine works fine and then the next it goes off or sounds like Micky Mouse . My stereo unit is an Xzent ( which I know are not the best ) so wondering if it’s the radio or the Ariel ?. I am just about to upgrade the Xzent to the Kenwood Motorhome specific with a floating screen . I am just wondering should I replace the Ariel or is it the Azent which is the issue . Any advice appreciated .
Click to expand...
Ours won't hold signal, even when stationery
 
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I had a stickon windscreen aerial fitted when I upgraded the radio. Generally works fine, just switches to FM if it drops out in areas, and there are a few, where DAB reception is poor.
 
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I fitted an Eightwood (Amazon) powered DAB aerial to my PVC roof with Xzent radio Improved reception a fair bit i.e. at home i went from 120 is staions to 180+. But there are still many zero areas such as parts of M3 near Winchester, the THS at Whitby, ... I often resort to the mobile phone and Bluetooth.
 
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I also have this problem on Peugeot with a standard radio.
It worked for a while but has now stopped receiving any DAB.
Just a thought, would there be any benefit in connecting to radio port of vision plus box.
Pain to sort the routing of cable but if it works it might be worth it.
 
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I have a powered stick on windscreen aerial, it works well for me and with the Kenwood dmx 5020. I have it fitted about halfway up the windscreen.

The small dashboard tray is easily removed, and the windscreen trim comes off quite nicely too.

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Quit using DAB forever dropping out. Our set has a gauge in it for signal strength. Green, Orange, Red. Spends must of it’s time in the red. Use FM instead.
 
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We gave up on DAB radio some time ago while driving in our Motorhome, using instead a Bluetooth feed to the radio from the phone as others have mentioned. DAB radio does work in good reception areas while on site, but goes to noise when the engine is started. I always assumed it was an rf interference issue because of this.
I have read previous threads blaming poor DAB reception on the aerial being located in a wing mirror, but the wing mirrors of our Pilote Galaxy aren’t the standard Fiat Ducatto cab mirrors so didn’t think the manufacturer would still locate the aerial there. I wonder if anyone can confirm if they are mounted on a mirror on an A class?
 
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Our DAB reception can be intermittent so I’ve installed a 13amp socket on the shelf above the passenger into which I plug the mifi router and the alexa which receives a stronger signal, Boom radio is often our choice, this is in the UK, works fine when driving.
On another radio ‘thread’ our Pioneer Z1000 retro fitted would overheat after half an hour and shut down, the problem was it’s fan had stopped working either just bad luck or over working because the wiring looms are so tight as it’s quite a deep unit so the air flow is very limited. A thought for anyone considering that Pioneer.
 
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I have just put an eightwood powered aerial on the roof and supplied a good earth since all the body work around there is not metal. I also installed a new head unit - an Eonon android unit. The DAB is definitely much much better, but still not as good as my car. In consolation - the android head unit is sooooo much better than the original radio! Google maps / outdoor active maps / amazon music / BBC sounds / audible / park4night / etc etc etc all fast and responsive on the dash. No more mucky linking to my phone.
 
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2022 Rapido Dreamer. Dab non existent. Even FM only get R2 with average reception. Is it the Pioneer unit or the Fiat aerial? The Pioneer Sat Nav is available only sporadically! Complete rubbish. Just use the phone for everything. Glad it's not just me. Fortunately I didn't pay the extra for the 10" Screen of nothing.

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pwilmo said:
Me too
Click to expand...
Hi pwilmo, was it this one that you purchased please?



Booster.jpg
 
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dash300 said:
2022 Rapido Dreamer. Dab non existent. Even FM only get R2 with average reception. Is it the Pioneer unit or the Fiat aerial? The Pioneer Sat Nav is available only sporadically! Complete rubbish. Just use the phone for everything. Glad it's not just me. Fortunately I didn't pay the extra for the 10" Screen of nothing.
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This is a fitting issue with the dab & gps aerial my gps sits on the pull up bit on the dash. The dab aerial is the fiat one and works perfectly.
 
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Same problem with our year old Autotrail V Line. Taken it back to the dealership several times and they’ve disconnected the Fiat aerial and placed a temporary aerial inside the dashboard and suggested we speak to Fiat directly to resolve it. As it’s part of the base vehicle build they state it has to be sorted by Fiat.
We got zero stations with the wing mirror aerial and poor reception with the temporary installation so used the phone on our recent trip through Europe.
Just us on Tour said:
Hello All
Can anyone advise me please . I understand the DAB Ariel on a series 7 Fiat Ducato is in the drivers door mirror .
Has anyone had issues with poor DAB radio signals . One minute mine works fine and then the next it goes off or sounds like Micky Mouse . My stereo unit is an Xzent ( which I know are not the best ) so wondering if it’s the radio or the Ariel ?. I am just about to upgrade the Xzent to the Kenwood Motorhome specific with a floating screen . I am just wondering should I replace the Ariel or is it the Azent which is the issue . Any advice appreciated
Click to expand...
 
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DAB reception in most vehicles is s****
Audis are renown for it, even in our 2017 fiesta it can be patchy
It's not the future of radio that they promised 🤷‍♂️

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Interesting. Our 21 V Line isn't so bad on DAB although it does fade out sometimes. We've the Xzent unit. I did move the GPS to in the top cubby as it was hopeless
 
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BobilG600 said:
We gave up on DAB radio some time ago while driving in our Motorhome, using instead a Bluetooth feed to the radio from the phone as others have mentioned. DAB radio does work in good reception areas while on site, but goes to noise when the engine is started. I always assumed it was an rf interference issue because of this.
I have read previous threads blaming poor DAB reception on the aerial being located in a wing mirror, but the wing mirrors of our Pilote Galaxy aren’t the standard Fiat Ducatto cab mirrors so didn’t think the manufacturer would still locate the aerial there. I wonder if anyone can confirm if they are mounted on a mirror on an A class?
Click to expand...
Good question! I don't know and we have basically the same van. I never use the radio 'cos we use music off our phones; but only when stationary.
 
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