I have a mk 1 Octavia with the original radio player which has the cd multichanger in the boot.

The radio has worked fine for the past couple of years since I got the car, but lately it's started giving a weird problem

WHen I start the car the radio is fine, after a few minutes running the radio loses reception like there is no station there,

The cd player works perfectly still, and ocasionally it will come back for a few moments on its own.

I thought at first a fuse has gone but its not, I then thought the aerial amplifier has gone, but not so sure now

It's kinda like a dodgy component in the radio or ampllifier somewhere.

Anyone come across this problem and know a fix? (other than a new radio and aerial amplifier)

Lewis

Is it worse when you turn on the heated rear window?

I don;t think so, I'll check it later when I go shopping

The heated rear window works fine though

Could be the aerial, it has the amplifier built into it.

The HU on my mkI lost all the bass on the passenger side, so it could be an internal problem.

The heated rear window makes no difference at all.

It's definitely low signal - almost no signal because if I tune into a strong signal and turn the volume right up the radio station is there, just very weak.

How easy is it to get the aerial out with the amplifier and can you use any from a scrapyard or does it have to be an Octavia?

Would one of the VW's work even a newer model if there was no Octavias there?

Or anyone know the price of a new one?

Is it worse when you turn on the heated rear window?

mine is terrible with the heated screen on. Any ideas?

Aerial amplifier is part of the base unit (on the roof). Initially you might want to check that the cable isn't broken.

As yours starts to fail after a few minutes, I wonder if the cable/plug is broken at the back of the head unit, and when it gets warm the cable goes open circuit, and thus no power is supplied the amplifier (a tiny break I very much doubt would affect a non-amplifier aerial system).