Getting really fed up with this , radio reception is awful on our Octy its always been bad , any ideas or idea for a replacement unit /solution

Budget would be around £500 dont want columbus as we already have that i our other car

How is the amp in the antenna base? they can pop sometimes, SWMBOs vRS has done exactly that and the radio reception is crap. Not an uncommon problem.

Press and hold the Menu button for 10 or more seconds when (trying to) listen to the radio. A hidden menu will appear.

One of the items will say 'ANT'. If it is OFF, the aerial base amp is goosed, if it says ON, there are other issues somewhere.

*EDIT*

I agree with Simbo, any excuse to fit a Columbus gets my vote

dont want columbus , we dont need it we have it in my Superb

Done the ant check in the past and it was ok

Could be a dud Stream unit, has the unit ever had any firmware updates?

not that i know of

Check the aerial base. Several members have had theirs replaced under warranty.

Check the aerial base. Several members have had theirs replaced under warranty.

What & where exactly to check?

The aerial base is where the amp is located.

The dealer might be able to flash the Stream unit with the latest firmware for that unit.

A search will yield how to test your aerial (ANT=on).

How is the amp in the antenna base? they can pop sometimes, SWMBOs vRS has done exactly that and the radio reception is crap. Not an uncommon problem.

Press and hold the Menu button for 10 or more seconds when (trying to) listen to the radio. A hidden menu will appear.

One of the items will say 'ANT'. If it is OFF, the aerial base amp is goosed, if it says ON, there are other issues somewhere.

*EDIT*

I agree with Simbo, any excuse to fit a Columbus gets my vote

I just tried this on my Stream radio and it says "Ant Off" and third in the list is "Q Poor."

The radio and CD are working fine with no interference at all.

I just tried this on my Stream radio and it says "Ant Off" and third in the list is "Q Poor."

The radio and CD are working fine with no interference at all.

Our vRS is doing the same but the local channels are good, the more distant stuff like LBC cannot be picked up on it but it is fine on my L&K parked next to it which incidentally has a working antenna amp.

The antenna won't have any influence on how the CD works.

Y me & dstev200, sounds like your amplifiers not working. i'd get sorted before warranty expires.

Y me & dstev200, sounds like your amplifiers not working. i'd get sorted before warranty expires.

I intend to along with the defunct autochanger

I need to get my L&K back from them before I let them have a go at the vRS.

The joys of a Friday afternoon BKD engine :(

Tried a search but nothing came up for radio or reception so at the risk of a re-post and since i have swapped cars with the wife and not have the Octy all the time i need to sort this out

Tried the menu and the amp is on but the radio reception even on Radio 2 and 4 is so bad the unit drops into mono

Any other tests to perform or worth changing the amp as a matter of course??

Since the warranty has expired i'm on my own here

Tried a search but nothing came up for radio or reception so at the risk of a re-post and since i have swapped cars with the wife and not have the Octy all the time i need to sort this out

Tried the menu and the amp is on but the radio reception even on Radio 2 and 4 is so bad the unit drops into mono

Any other tests to perform or worth changing the amp as a matter of course??

Since the warranty has expired i'm on my own here

Got an 05 car with a stream, that's showing 01304 and 01305 fault codes and also has poor (read dreadful) AM reception.

I was looking for the menu button, but there isn't one.

There is an info and mode on the left and I think geo and something else on the right.

Press and hold info gives you the VIN, but pressing and holding the others gives you nothing useful.

Any thoughts on how you can find out if the aerial base is working on this one?

Hi

It was the antenna base amplifier on mu 06 Octy Estate that caused poor reception even though it sometimes showed as ON with the quality reading poor.

Replaced under warranty just before it expired. Quite a quick job but tricky apparently because of the trim you have to remove and replace,

Problem was caused by ingress of water.

AM was almost impossible because of inteference, FM was poor, except for Classic FM which got through in stereo when nothing else would,

Appreciate that doesn't solve your problem since the car is out of warranty!

Noticed mines pants too.. event the widespread BBc1 sounds rubish :(

How is the amp in the antenna base? they can pop sometimes, SWMBOs vRS has done exactly that and the radio reception is crap. Not an uncommon problem.

Press and hold the Menu button for 10 or more seconds when (trying to) listen to the radio. A hidden menu will appear.

One of the items will say 'ANT'. If it is OFF, the aerial base amp is goosed, if it says ON, there are other issues somewhere.

*EDIT*

I agree with Simbo, any excuse to fit a Columbus gets my vote

I also checked antennas status from this menu - btw it was off so I changed the whole antenna and radio works now for me.

More interesting/nice-to-thing is what those other items are in "the hidden menu"?

So all items are 'ANT', 'Q', 'MP', 'NK', 'RDS', 'SS', 'HC', 'RF', 'PI' and "changing volume bar". Check pictures from links below...

Pic #1

Pic #2

Tried to figure these out... So 'ANT' shows if the antenna is ok or not, 'Q' stands for 'quality' (stereo, mono, poor), 'RDS' show quality of RDS-reception and"changing volume bar" might indicate signal strenght etc.?:wonder:

Any ideas of these, anyone?

Just got my octy vrs back from the dealership today after my reception being poor and reading about the ant test. basicaly they said we managed to tune every station in the area with no problem but the ant still says off. dont get me wrong the reception is far better but id rather have it all working than a half arsed attempted at fixing it. any help will be most welcome.

Cheers

David

How is the amp in the antenna base? they can pop sometimes, SWMBOs vRS has done exactly that and the radio reception is crap. Not an uncommon problem.

Press and hold the Menu button for 10 or more seconds when (trying to) listen to the radio. A hidden menu will appear.

One of the items will say 'ANT'. If it is OFF, the aerial base amp is goosed, if it says ON, there are other issues somewhere.

*EDIT*

I agree with Simbo, any excuse to fit a Columbus gets my vote

I had shocking AM radio reception in a 2006 Octavia Elegance that I recently bought (with a non-MP3 Stream). Reception was fine with the engine switched off but as soon as it was started all you could hear was interference. LW was just noise and you could just make out MW. The hidden menu described above showed 'ANT' as on. Obviously a poor ground somewhere along the line.

I took it to the lcoal Skoda garage who, after listening to it, told me that all Skoda's have this problem and recomended I buy a booster from a local car audio installer. I called the car audio place who informed me that quite often the issue is due to a failed antenna or a loose connection somewhere along the antenna line. When he looked at it he found the contacts to be a little dirty and the screw fixing the antenna baseplate to the car roof was loose. He cleaned and tightened the respective problems and, hey presto, the signal whilst driving is as good as any I have heard in any car. I'm guessing tightening the screw reinstated the used of the roof as a grounding point.

I checked 'Ant' in the hidden menu last night and discovered mine to be off. I've got a new aerial waiting for me at Skoda, but as you can't buy the base on its own (it seems), I've got a complete new unit at a £34 inc VAT ready to go in. I assume that I have to remove a couple of bits of trim and then gently drop the roof lining down to get to the nut. Fingers crossed then!! If anybody has any pics, they would be gratefully appreciated.

I had shocking AM radio reception in a 2006 Octavia Elegance. I took it to the lcoal Skoda garage who, after listening to it, told me that all Skoda's have this problem and recomended I buy a booster from a local car audio installer

I have got the same problem but mine has just started over the last month so thank you for that information.

May I ask how much your local dealer charged you for sorting out your aerial as a guideline?

Thanks Mike, just finished that job this morning, took a bit longer than anticipated but was no big deal. I now have "ANT ON" in the hidden menu, but it still shows Q: POOR - what's Q and why is it poor?

Right having looked at the headunits in both my wife's and boss's golfs mk 5 and 6 respectively, I have come to the conclusion that Q is for quality and is either stereo or poor. Every station I tune to, Q is poor despite the high signal strength indicator which makes me wonder if the cable or the hu is knackered.