I have just ordered a Fabia Vrs and went a bit wild with the options. I went for the Amundsen Upgrade and am now wondering if its the Amundsen or Amundsen + with DAB that is being supplied on the latest build cars. Can anyone with a recent car enlighten me?

Amundsen+ but without DAB

Thanks. Why no DAB? The RNS315 as fitted to VW has DAB.

I am guessing its another case of product differentiation.

Can dab be activated using VAG com and is any hardware required?

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RADIO NAVIGATION SYSTEM AMUNDSEN+

OWNER'S MANUAL

RADIO mode

Radio mode

Main menu RADIO

Press the button .

Repeated pressing of the button - change frequency band.

Function keys

? - opens a list of additional function

switches on/off the display of station presets

manual station search by turning button

auto--play all stations in the current frequency band, each station for

around five seconds

switches traffic programme on/off ? page 10, “Traffic Program TP”

Function key

opens the list of frequency bands

opens the list of DAB stations ? page 9, “Digital radio Dab

Update list of DAB stations

stores the current station to the selected memory button

opens the list of all FM stations currently in range

stores the current station to the selected memory button

switches to the AM band; list of stations not available

Function keys to

Direct selection of the stored station.

Press down to until a signal sounds- stores the current station to the selected

memory button.

Changing the station

or - depending on the setting of the “arrow keys” - changes the saved station

or all stations currently within range in this area

RDS display setting

Press the button - switches on/off the Radio Data Service RDS.

RDS

(“Radio DataSsystem”) serves to transmit program identification and additional

services therefore also enabling automatic tracking of stations.

Settings in RADIO mode

Press the button

switches the traffic programme on/off

Setting the function of the station selection in RADIO mode

using the arrow keys

Switches all stations currently in range for the selected

frequency band

Switches to the stored stations (the following symbol appears in

the display

switches on/off automatic station tracking with RDs

auto-selects station with the best reception at the moment

the selected regional station remains set for as long as possible

DAB radio settings

switches on/off DAB announcements

- switches on/off DAB station tracking ? page 10, “DAB

program tracking”

- switches on/off auto-switching from DAB to the FM

frequency band if the DAB signal is lost

page 10, “Auto-change DAB -FM”

- switches on/off the search for alternative frequencies of

the station currently being listened to

Digital radio DAB

DAB - Digital Audio Broadcasting

is the digital transmission of radio programs

based on the DAB, DAB+ or DMB standards. It allows multiple stations to be transmitted

in a single frequency in the form of a so-called ensemble. It also allows for

the transmission of additional data and information (e.g. messages, sport, weather,

warnings, etc.)

I think you'll find there are a couple of variants of the Amundsen + unit (as there are with the RNS 315) depending on what vehicle its installed in.

The one in the Fabia may have the hidden Bluetooth module but fairly sure it doesnt have the DAB receiver.

I think the only car Skoda UK have fitted the Amundsen + with DAB to is the Octavia Blackline, I dont think any of the other Octavias or Superbs got lucky with this.

Have to say the DAB on the Amundsen + is great and its DAB+ compliant so future proof should the UK ever upgrade; sound quality is amazing and the additional stations available a real boon. As always a shame SUK didnt think to add this feature to other models.

Thanks for all the info guys. Seems as though VAG are differentiating the brands.

I wonder if it will be upgradable from next year, since the UK Gov are insisting that all new cars are equipped with DAB from 2014.

Will SUK replace all radio's with FM to DAB under waranty as Not fit for purpose?

Not a chance. However, since the Amundsen + seems to be modular it should be an easy upgrade (antennae aside).

It is surprising to me with the uk gov intimating their desire to start switching off FM transmissions from 2015 that Skoda do not yet have DAB as an option never mind as standard on the fabia.

Edited 11 May, 201313 yr by Rab.S

Is there any way to find out if the unit has hidden bluetooth? (visual check or via VCDS)

FM is not going anywhere for donkeys years, the proposed switchover has been delayed indefinitely since the take-up of UK DAB has been very slow. Even now the sale of analogue FM radios is greater than DAB sets. My dad has a FM/DAB in the lounge and it spends 90% of the time on FM.

I can't stand DAB in the UK, whilst yes you get more stations and some are DAB only the sound quality is awful. The bitrate on most stations is 128K bps, whilst some are 96K bps with glorious mono audio. The UK DAB format (MP2) was developed in the early 1980's, and sounded spectacular then since bitrates were much higher (256k to 320k) but as it typical in the UK it's a case of quantity over quality. Listen to DAB on a quality Hifi and its shortcomings are very apparent.

The rest of the EU have seen the light and dumped the system we use, and replaced it with DAB+ which requires a totally different chipset to decode it. Most headunits will now decode both formats, otherwise there would be major issues when travelling say in the UK, and going abroad where your radio would not pickup anything because it is broadcast in a different format.