Who has DAB dropouts on estates with MIB1 Columbus or Amundsen?

[andyvee]

Jeez! What a waste of time.

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[andyvee]

Done a bit more logging on mine, I thought I had found the problem, but apparently not as the signal is still all over the place. The only conclusion I can draw at the moment is that if the vehicle is stationary the signal quality is pretty stable at 99%. If the vehicle is moving, no matter how slowly, it jumps all over the place. Also, turning on various electrical systems in the car makes it jump about as well. This is all pointing to some kind of electrical interference causing it. The section in the middle of the graph where it is a pretty stable 99% I was parked up and turned the headlights on and off which caused the drops in signal quality.

 

I have removed my dashcam completely from the car including all associated wiring and reverted the LED number plate and sidelight bulbs to standard. I still have LED interior bulbs and they will be coming out next to put the car back to standard in terms of bulbs. If the graph is still as bad as this after that it will be back to the dealer again ......

 

Edited 20 February, 2016 by andyvee

[andyvee]

All LED bulbs removed - graph is still pants. This is on the same run as the Fabia 3 that stayed above 95% for the majority of the time. Time to book back in ..............

 

 

 

[Garnett]

Today's update.

 

Skoda want the car for a whole week to sort this out. I will be given a courtesy car.

 

I wonder if it is off to MK?

[andyvee]

Who knows, an aerial amplifier is being ordered for mine. Try and log a graph before it goes in to see if it is behaving like mine.

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[iriches]

I wonder if it is off to MK?

 

If it is off to MK then I hope they also test it elsewhere.

 

My MIB1 Amundsen unit in my 2014 1.4 TSI estate behaves flawlessly around MK.  Never had a single drop-out, and I listen to DAB everyday commuting back and forth from Bedford.  There is the Bow Brickhill transmitter on the outskirts of MK, so I'#m guessing signal strength is pretty good......

 

(Mind you - I can't remember a drop out anywhere else either - but on longer weekend runs I tend to listen to music from my SD card)

[andyvee]

Today's update.

 

Skoda want the car for a whole week to sort this out. I will be given a courtesy car.

 

I wonder if it is off to MK?

Are you booked in yet?

[Garnett]

Going in a week next Monday for 8 days! I am assured it will get sorted in this time. There is a bit of motorway near the showroom that drops out without fail every day. It was fine with My last Columbus so I will get them to evaluate using this I think.

[andyvee]

Interested in what they come up with

[andyvee]

Well, I've had an aerial amp fitted, looking at the graph it has made no noticeable difference. Back to the drawing board on this one Skoda technical ........

[andyvee]

Interestingly, I have just found out that if I sit in my boot the signal quality shoots up from 50% to 80% - perhaps Skoda need to supply me with a middle aged fat bloke to sit in my boot ...........

[sworrall]

My daft dab is affected by the weather! If it's sunny I can get ultimate 80's up and down the coast all day. As soon as it's cloudy or raining it drops to no signal :(

[Garnett]

Okay here is the latest update my car went in for its nine days of DAB repairs on Saturday. I have had a call from Skoda UK today confirming that the garage have replicated my DAB problem. The garage called today to request permission for the engineer to conduct some field trials he wanted to drive the car home that evening. I had already provided them with several maps of the M5 motorway where are dropouts a car every day. For anyone who knows Exeter he wanted to drive the car home to Honiton that evening. Interestingly my girlfriend lives near him. For the whole 10 mile drive you can see the Stocklund the hill DAB transmitter right in front of you which is nearly thousand feet high! I had to point out that this was probably not an ideal test to see if the problem had been resolved. They have given me a definite assurance that they will now fix this problem so fingers crossed

[andyvee]

Keep me posted as to what they do as mine is still crap. If they are wanting to do 'field tests' this tells me they still don't have a clue how to fix it.

 

If I hold my hand close the n/s/r window on the inside where the antenna meets the C pillar the signal quality increases by over 20%. Basically, the aerial is not fit for purpose, fitting an amp is not going to make it better, if you put **** in you get more **** out  Similarly, if I sit in the boot it jumps up - basically I am reflecting the signal back on to the antenna!

 

It has improved with fitting the amp, but had dropouts all over the place on the M40 with BBC DAB stations this week. According to the Ofcom maps there shouldn't be an issue as it is all a nice high signal strength area. I get below 50% signal quality from the D1 national multiplex around my home, and dropouts all over the place.

 

I spent a few hours listening to Capital London whilst well inside the M25 and it couldn't download the station logo that is broadcast OTA - just a green spinny circle in the bottom corner ..............

Edited 23 March, 2016 by andyvee

[Garnett]

Ever hopeful that they will stick an MIB2 in as they appear to work. otherwise a replacement Sharkfin with a DAB antenna may be the answer? Or a new upgraded quarter light?

[andyvee]

MIB2 - I wish!

[Garnett]

They are trying to say it is my dash cam today. The problem pre-dates it. I have told them I will only accept it back if the do a test drive with it unplugged and it works fine!

[andyvee]

Load of rubbish. I disconnected by dashcam wiring completely and it made no difference at all. Mine is a Blackvue.

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[Garnett]

Mine to,

[andyvee]

That is why Blackvue put a huge suppressor on the power cable. The Blackvue 2 camera systems can cause interference, but they issued a revised front to rear cable to prevent this.

 

The aerial cables run along the sills as well, not up the A-pillars as I originally thought, so if you have run your power cable up the A-pillar it isn't next to the aerial cable.

[Skaut]

Have been watching this thread with interest for a while as I get regular DAB dropouts on mine. Never used a dashcam so definite not a factor. As others have said, weather conditions seem to make a difference, cold frosty mornings are worse. Some journeys works fine in one direction but loses signal for long periods on the return. Presumably due to the aerial being on only one side of the vehicle.

[andyvee]

Have been watching this thread with interest for a while as I get regular DAB dropouts on mine. Never used a dashcam so definite not a factor. As others have said, weather conditions seem to make a difference, cold frosty mornings are worse. Some journeys works fine in one direction but loses signal for long periods on the return. Presumably due to the aerial being on only one side of the vehicle.

Exactly, and for the UK it is the 'wrong' side, as it is the side furthest away from the centre of the road.

 

I am still of the view it is an issue with the antenna, and will keep pushing Skoda for a fix.

 

I might get a cheapish external glass mount DAB antenna, or even a cheap magnetic roof mount one to prove my point to Skoda.

 

The phrase 'not fit for purpose' springs to mind - a £9k base model Fabia with a roof mount antenna has no issues at all, a £25k+ Octavia Estate is like having radio from the 1970s.

[andyvee]

Well, I might have made some progress on this that explains why the signal fluctuates so much on mine.

 

I bought a cheap magnetic roof mount DAB antenna that had some decent reviews, meaning it actually got a signal unlike a lot of those stick on the glass ones. I disconnected the coax cable from the C pillar amp for the DAB to head unit, and connected the cheap aerial to this, so basically using the DAB coax from the rear of the car to the head unit. This give similar results to the amplified OEM aerial in terms of signal strength (I have taken the OEM amp out of the loop).

 

So, next two steps were going to be to connect the antenna in replacement of the OEM glass one to the amplifier on the C-pillar, to see what the amplified roof mounted antenna was like. After that, I was going to connect the roof mounted antenna direct to the HU, taking all OEM parts out of the loop.

 

So, I needed to make up some adapter cables in order to do this, so thought I had best remove the HU to check it was a Fakra connection at the rear for the DAB, and not SMB.

 

It is a bit hard to tell from these photos, but at some point the dab connector on the HU end of the coax has been damaged, the outer pieces are bent (a couple of them have fractures) and the centre pin is off centre slightly, looks like it has been put under too much strain when it has been fitted and the HU slid back in to place - this might explain the fluctuating signal strength.

 

 

 

More worryingly, the wire that goes from the rear quarterlight (soldered to the glass) to the connector on the amp on the C-pillar was loose, it could be moved a few mm up and down where it attaches to the glass, basically a dry solder joint with the wire moving about inside!

 

So, it looks like I have found my problem, or problems.

 

I'm about to try the roof mounted aerial through the OEM amp and wiring to see what that is like as I have made up the connectors. On Monday I'll try this aerial straight in to the HU and will then have a definitive answer as to where the problem is - the crappy connection to the glass or the coax or both.

Edited 26 March, 2016 by andyvee

[andyvee]

200 miles covered today with the external aerial attached to the OEM amp and coax to the HU.

 

M66 - M60 - M62 Eastbound - M1 Southbound to J29

 

Listening to Absolute Radio 80's on the new SDL National Multiplex and only a couple of dropouts at Ainley top, and the odd split second elsewhere - this is a vast improvement over the OEM setup, where half the time I can't even see the SDL National multiplex .......

 

More experiments tomorrow with all of the OEM components out of the loop and some diag data being captured.

 

Edit - I look even more like a taxi than normal with the extra antenna and the winter steels on .......

Edited 27 March, 2016 by andyvee

[andyvee]

Well, it seems my assumptions about the dry joint and mangled Fakra connector were incorrect. I have resoldered the connector on the rear quarterlight so taken that out of the equation.

 

Here is a graph comparing the OEM setup to the cheap roof mounted antenna connected directly to the rear of the HU, so no OEM components involved (coax and amp taken out of the loop). Blue is OEM, red is the cheap aerial.

 

There is very little in it to be honest, the exact same route was driven back to back so taking as many variables out of the equation as possible (weather etc.)

 

 

And here is the start of the same route with the roof mounted antenna running through the OEM amp and coax - a vast improvement!

 

 

So as suspected, the issue is the antenna in the rear quarterlight (or the HU itself!)