Help needed please

[wheels]

The MW reception in my car has become ****e all of a sudden which is a right pain in the arse given that I mostly listen to R5live when driving.

 

Anyone know of a decent place I can get it checked? (FM is fine, but MW/LW are now useless)

 

Cheers

[Jillyanne]

Has some idiot snapped the ariel? That happened to me.

[Guest Dark Sotonic Mills]

Has some idiot snapped the ariel? That happened to me.

 

Difficult to snap; maybe they used it all up?

 

[Block 18]

Difficult to snap; maybe they used it all up?

 

 

 

No DSM She went for a swim

 

[Sev]

The MW reception in my car has become ****e all of a sudden which is a right pain in the arse given that I mostly listen to R5live when driving.

 

Anyone know of a decent place I can get it checked? (FM is fine, but MW/LW are now useless)

A lot of cars have amplifiers built into the factory aerial, and if the amplifier fails or the 12V supply to it is broken, then you get the symptoms you describe - ie strong FM stations are still fine but MW, LW and weaker FM stations are useless. I don't know of a decent place but presumably any local car audio shop ought to be able to help.

 

What car have you got, and is the stereo standard or an aftermarket head unit? I would think the first step to diagnose it would be to swap the head unit for a known-good head unit to confirm that it's a problem with the aerial/amplifier and not with the stereo itself.

[Ponty]

It could just be the shielding on the ignition circuit. Does the static noise rise and fall with the engine revs?

[70's Mike]

It could just be the shielding on the ignition circuit. Does the static noise rise and fall with the engine revs?

 

mine does sometimes but not all the time ?

[SNSUN]

Aren't all radios in cars going to be useless anyway in 2 years after the digital switchover?

[wheels]

A lot of cars have amplifiers built into the factory aerial, and if the amplifier fails or the 12V supply to it is broken, then you get the symptoms you describe - ie strong FM stations are still fine but MW, LW and weaker FM stations are useless. I don't know of a decent place but presumably any local car audio shop ought to be able to help.

 

What car have you got, and is the stereo standard or an aftermarket head unit? I would think the first step to diagnose it would be to swap the head unit for a known-good head unit to confirm that it's a problem with the aerial/amplifier and not with the stereo itself.

 

Thanks Sev, will do as you suggest.

 

It's a standard fit stereo which came the the car (Peugeot 307), and I'm not going to take it anywhere near a Peugeot garage cos they'll charge the earth.

[Dog]

Get a new car you fooookin gypo.

[St Landrew]

Aren't all radios in cars going to be useless anyway in 2 years after the digital switchover?

 

Interesting point. I'm not sure what will happen, as to the usage, to all the existing analogue frequencies. The general public seem to be resisting the call for digital radio, and frankly, who can blame them..? Digital radio isn't without fault. Granted, the technology should mean generally better quality sourced signal, but at what cost..? Digital radios are a 20th of the efficiency of side-by-side comparable FM radios, and although they offer far more choice of channels, who regularly tunes into more than half a dozen anyway..? Don't get me wrong, I have no problems with digital radio. I'd just like the analogue frequencies to remain too.