Just out of interest, is the windscreen on my Octavia metallised? Thinking of a DAB strip antenna but will be a waste of time if the screen is metallised...

 

Thanks

Not sure about being metallised - haven't heard of that before - but mine has a Dab strip ariel stuck to the inside of the windscreen (courtesy of the previous owner ) and it works really well with the DAB stereo - better reception than my DAB hifi in the house!

do you mean UV reflector?

Theese screens are known of poor arial reception

 

And the answer for that is no

Thanks I was looking at one of these antennas for my DAB:

 

http://www.dabonwheels.co.uk/Kinetic_ZY_High_Performance_Internal_Glass_Mount_DAB_car_Aerial.html

 

Is that the type you have in yours Andy? Does it get in the way at all? I hate things stuck to my windscreen lol, which is one of the reasons I bought the head unit I did and why I was glad when they scrapped the tax disc lol

Yeah I think it looks something like that - although I think mines more like a flat strip about 5mm wide wide which is stuck to the screen with some transparent tape with a square like wire thing at the top. Mines on the passenger side of the windscreen and I can't say I ever really notice it, except the odd time I'm sat in the passenger seat - but since I'm not usually there it doesn't bother me at all

 

Was well chuffed when I found I not only had a DAB stereo in the car with an arial - but that it actually worked well too! :clap: Was less chuffed when I found a 'One direction' cd in the stereo though...  well I guess the previous owner was a woman but thats still no excuse...

Ok had a look at it today and it looks like my memory was partially incorrect - its looks to be a wire tucked into the A pillar trim with a black box at the top and some thin wiring stuck down with special tape as per my pic below:

 

 

So basically providing you don't mind the little black box, its hardly noticable from the drivers side

You can get a blaupunkt replacement for the original. To everyone else looks the same as the original bee sting, but it's a DAB and fm aerial in one. Mine works a treat. It cost about £60, but you can get cheaper ones (i.e. not blaupunkt) for around £40

 

http://www.incarconnections.co.uk/car-aerials-car-antenna/in-car-dab-aerial-fm-bee-sting-roof-mounted-antenna-ct27uv53-autodab.html

In 2005, I bought a JVC DAB head unit, which came with a self-adhesive DAB windscreen antenna.

 

When I sold my last car, and bought my Skoda in 2010, I tried to remove the aerial from the windscreen of my old car - but the self-adhesive bits and the thin wire contained within them just broke up.

 

As I am a 'fixer', I dismantled the plastic unit that the thin wires came out of, and re-soldered some really thin metal rods in their place, cut to exactly the same length.

 

By re-sticking the plastic antenna unit inside the windscreen of my Octy, my new thin metal aerial parts just sit snugly up and down the nearside of the screen nicely by themselves.

 

The head unit has a function in the menu to 'power' the DAb aerial - so it does have some extra gain as such.

 

Anyway, the whole setup has worked perfectly for the last 5 years in my Octy - so I don't think that the screens have any kind of metallised coating, or anything like that? For reference, in the last 5 years I have had 3 replacement screens from Autoglass too - which have the correct O/E top tint etc.

 

If I remember correctly, the only cars where windscreen DAB aerials might not work are Fords with their heated screens, and some Renaults which DO have some wierd metallised coating. I think with your Skoda you'll be fine, as I am.