Is it me or is DAB Radio a bit, well...S H Won Tea?

[Stevewheel]

I have a PVC from the esteemed Auto Fail stable and it is fitted with an "XZENT" media unit where people of my age think a radio with two knobs should be. Although I'm sure its the cheapest Chinese made unit that our friends in Grimsby could bulk buy it appears to do everything....just not very well! Navigation is...well, lets just say it's "creative" as some farmers and private land owners will attest following my frequent visits. It plays a CD/DVD beautifully and I have even managed to connect via Bluetooth to my phone and stream music from Spotify...there, see, impressed aren't you! But it's the radio that tries my patience....on MW I can find a couple of stations...on FM I can only find Hiss FM (part of the STATIC group I think).....but DAB is just appalling. Firstly it has to re tune itself every time I turn it on....not a problem but tedious & then it tells me I have 47 stations to choose from most of which are audible for a few seconds before breaking up for good.
Now, I am quite sure it's something I'm doing wrong but does anyone have any ideas why this might be soooo bad? All contributions greatly received and I bow to the eternal wisdom that is the crowd. Thank you.

 

[Kannon Fodda]

Thanks Kannon Fodda I believe you and I have the same van ( V Line 540SE ?) and, by the sound of it the same cheap Chinese head unit. This might sound a silly question but does your Xzent unit have an aerial? If so, where have AT fitted it? I can't find mine!

I have absolutely no idea where the aerial might be. Having bought new the one thing I don't want to do is pull stuff apart to investigate. The van is my sanctuary, pristine to escape all the things I got wrong in DIY on the house.

 

[Lenny HB]

Our status 570 has a Dab output.. Anyone tried using that on the move for Dab?

Asked the manufacturer and they said its just for when parked up. Seems a shame if you've got a big digital aerial on the roof yet have to fit another for radio

Why not replace it with one of these, if you fit a ground plane that will cover the hole.

 

[cliffanger]

Ours was rubbish, but now works fine, when we fitted the aerial correctly (after speaking to Techno and Steve and Denise). Andy has instructions on here, but we fitted ours to a panel on the front of the van rather than threading it down through the roof.

Cliff can explain what he did much better than I if you want more detail.

Our radio is now absolutely brilliant and never goes off, whereas before it was off station far more than on.

 

[kevenh]

I have absolutely no idea where the aerial might be. Having bought new the one thing I don't want to do is pull stuff apart to investigate. The van is my sanctuary, pristine to escape all the things I got wrong in DIY on the house.

On my Mazda 3 there was a section of the rear window heater that didn’t demist the window.
When I queried it I was told - correctly - it was an antenna.
Edit: maybe not related to a Motorhome then...

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[Yorick]

Mine was always poor until I put a magnetic aerial on the roof

 

[Pausim]

DAB reception does need a good aerial but even with the best reception do not expect HiFi quality, it is transmitted at relatively low bit rates. The best station for quality is Radio3 at 192kbps but Radio2 is 128kbps, Planet Rock 80kbps and JazzFM 64kbps (London multiplexes). By comparison CDs are 1411kbps and MP3 up to 320kbps.

 

[SpeedyDux]

Despite having an aerial mounted on the cab roof the DAB reception was patchy from day 1 and lately disappeared altogether even standing on my drive where it used to be OK. FM works fine almost everywhere, so I am not going to waste time and energy troubleshooting DAB reception because I wouldn't listen to the extra radio stations.