Ok, from a styling perspective, in my opinion the sharkfin aerial on the vRS looks the dogs wotsits. However, from a fit-for-purpose perspective, I'm not sure it does it's job appropriately.

Does any one else have extremely poor reception with their current OEM set up? Are there any type of signal boosters that can be added to allow me to listen to more stations than just radio one???

Not sure what the sharkfin has to do with the radio.

You should have a normal whip antenna and the sharkfin is only for phone/GPS, At least as far as I know...

Not sure what the sharkfin has to do with the radio.

You should have a normal whip antenna and the sharkfin is only for phone/GPS, At least as far as I know...

Nope - the sharkfin is the antenna for the radio.

Not sure what the sharkfin has to do with the radio.

You should have a normal whip antenna and the sharkfin is only for phone/GPS, At least as far as I know...

I tend to agree. All Octavias have the whip antenna, but only those with factory fitted bluetooth have the sharkfin (and associated bits under the front seat).

I lost am when I unscrewed mine Got in the way of a pile of stuff on the roof (that's why they fit the rails, isn't it?).

VHF was OK, so I presume it works off the rear glass antenna. Had to put it back as I hadn't the heart to stuff some bluetack in the hole to stop the water getting in.

Hmm, ok fair enough lads. Mine definitely has just a sharkfin though so must have been modded that way by the previous owner.

In my case then as it appears I have an aerial more for aesthetics than for practicality, are there any signal boosters that are available for a standard radio set up?

If it's an OEM sharkfin there should be one in the aerial base.

Interesting.....

I have a sharks fin aerial (I presume for the Columbus), and attached is a whip aerial (I presume for the radio), around which is twisted some wire (I presume the TMC receiver, or maybe AM, not sure).

Anyway, I get very good GPS, FM and AM reception.

There was an old version which was just a shark fin for AM/FM reception.

There was an old version which was just a shark fin for AM/FM reception.

It's a 2007 Octy II though mate. From the pics I've seen of the same model it looks like mine was modded before I bought it.

A short sharkfin will never be able to have a good reception. Not even boosted. (what to boost if no or very less reception?)

The wire around the whip is for aerodynamic reason only, it reduces the whistling a normal whip would make.

@Foz, the previous owner probably took a shark fin out of the VAG store (audi have sharkfins), but these are not made for FM reception. Only for GPS, GSM reception and eventually for the remote control of a pre heater.