Having sold my 2012 Scout a week before taking delivery of my 2015 Scout, something I have noticed is the much improved radio reception along the same daily commute. I drive through 3 long tunnels on my way to work. In the old car, DAB reception died at the tunnel entrance and, after a short gap, FM reception took over. In one of the tunnels, there seemed to be a "blind spot" where FM reception disappeared as well. When driving the new car along the same route, I don't lose reception for a second. The transition from DAB to FM in the tunnels is seamless and I only noticed when I realised the "blind spot" was no longer irritating me. Now I strain to pick up the moment the signal changes from DAB to FM and back. The only difference is in sound quality, and that isn't really noticeable unless you are listening out for it.

 

So .... was it just my old car or have the antennas in the Octavia III been vastly improved over the old model?

I'm very impressed with how the system seamlessly changes between DAB and FM in mine.

I hadn't thought about it, but I've not had a single drop out on DAB that I've noticed in 5,000 miles now. Really good as I'm a Radio 6 Music addict.

DAB is crap in East Sussex...well the more local stations anyway. The BBC and National stations generally speaking are very good.

Ia a shame many stations still seem to broadcast in what actually must be 64kbps mono; they sound worse than FM!

I must confess the DAB implementation in the Mk3 is much better than that in my Mk2 with the older Amundsen+. Sometimes the radio would lose reception and it would only come back if you powered off the car locked it and waited for the electrical systems to all shut down....was very wierd.

The arial in the mark 2 had an amplifier under the rubber seal on the roof and was prone to water ingress which affected reception. The mark 3 arials are in the rear window on the saloon and rear side windows on the estate so no water issues.

I've actually found the opposite, especially DAB reception. My Blackline with the Amundsen+ used to be very good at grabbing and holding onto a signal, the Bolero in my Mk3 is always losing its signal when on DAB which is a shame as it's usually tuned into Absolute 80's.

I must admit that planet rock quality really isn't that good. My amp and speakers in my workshop do a much better job of dealing with it though and it sounds fairly decent. In the octavia it sounds a bit crap. High quality mp3s sound excellent though

The reception is markedly better in the MKIII compared to my old MkII with FM and DAB being excellent, perhaps as it's flat here.

Maybe worth getting the dealers to check your aerials are ok