Which cable type should I use for a DAB antenna?

RG174 or RG316?

I know it's the black FAKRA 'A' connector type, but not sure whether an ordinary 'phantom' power FM cable type would work or it needs a different type as I can't find a genuine Skoda cable for their roof mounted DAB antenna to compare to.

Anyone any thoughts or experiences?

i used the same one as my gps

Thanks Ed.

I've got a GPS one, but need to use it. And have a spare, but am not sure it'll be long enough and might be a different type.

Will check.

Spare GPS cable not long enough.

Am a little confused as the antenna I'm buying (see picture) shows the DAB (black) FAKRA attached to a different type of cable.

One of my GPS cables is that colour / cable type (the gold type), but it's too short. The other cable, which I'll be using for GPS, is black.

So which do I go for?

RG174 (which I think is black and used for FM with Phantom power) or RG316 (which is gold and used for GPS; sometimes)?

Im currently looking at this: http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/300649559323. I've used them before and are a good company, but when I asked them they almost passed responsibility back to me.

I've received an RG316 cable with black FAKRA 'A' connectors.

Let's see if it works...

EDIT: It's actually RG174 I've got. Sorry. Getting myself confused...

Sorry only just seen this thread: RG316 cable is designed to work in temperature extremes and is more flexible and than RG174 (bog standard) so is easier to use for retrofitting and is more resilient - in terms of digital radio signal transmission, I doubt there's any discernible difference between the two standards although RG316 is slightly higher quality in terms of signal loss.

 

I have used RG316 cables from the same people with excellent results on both my Roomster and my mum's Fabia 

greenstripe, where have you been?

Thanks for that explanation. And good to know that my cable will work.

Is RG316 the gold cable?

It has been confusing because the antenna has black cables (RG174?) for all connections except the DAB connector which is gold (RG316?).

Some listings say that some cables are 'with Phantom Power' and some without. While I know FM needs it, I'd no idea whether DAB also did, but fell towards it needing it.

White plug = phantom power, black plug = no phantom power, RG316 is usually gold/copper coloured - most cables also have their grade printed along the length.

 

Whether or not phantom power is required is down to the nature of the antennae - it's not the cable, but the plug that you want to look to for indication of this (as far as I'm aware, both types of cable would support phantom power) The FM connection provides the phantom power in the VW setups with a combined antennae (DAB, FM, GPS + whatever sharkfin) to the signal amplifier in the aerial base. Some after market antennae can take either FM phantom power or a feed from the fuse box by a separate cable.

Thanks again. This is making more sense now.