As per the title, who is suffering from DAB dropouts on Estates with Columbus or Amundsen?

I know there was a thread a while ago, but can't find it on my phone :(

It looks like I have a fix, but it needs VCP to do it.

I have found some settings in the hidden Green Engineering Menu that have fixed it for me (no Jimmy jokes please).

I spoke to my contact at Skoda today and I'm sending them some details across, hopefully this could result in an approved Skoda fix eventually.

Anyone suffering from frequent DAB reception dropouts let me know please.

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Edited 16 January, 201610 yr by andyvee

What kind of dropouts?

Im guessing not because of bad reception?

Yep, the ones where it mutes the DAB because the unit thinks it has poor reception, and then comes back on again after a delay. If you have it programmmed as a preset and press the preset button it comes back on instantly.

By the looks of it, due to the different aerial arrangement between hatch and estate, the estate doesn't receive as strong a DAB signal as the hatch. This leads to frequent bouts of silence in areas where the DAB signal is still reasonable.

I have found the thresholds for signal strength for enabling and disabling the automatic mute function, as well as the settings for the delay before the mute is disabled.

As an experiment today I disabled the automatic mute function completely and didn't receive any degraded service whilst driving through areas where I receive regular muting of DAB. I need to do a bit more testing but it is looking very promising. I'm getting my findings through to engineering hopefully to see if an approved fix can be released.

I'm pretty certain this can't be done by coding or adaptation changes, but I'll do some more testing over the weekend.

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This is interesting.

Keep us updated please

Seem to recall estate has diversity aerials (presumably printed on front and rear screens) rather than a shark's fin on the roof - correct?

I know member Garnett was having DAB problems as he runs the same bit of the M5 as me and mine doesn't seem to suffer like his does - not sure if he got it resolved but would probably be interested...

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/355778-columbas-dab/

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/357233-columbus-signal-strength/

My estate has sharks fin.

Sorry, it's MY16. Does that make a difference re aerials?

I think that sharkfin is for Gps. I also have it, MY15.

I have this issue. 15 estate

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Yeah thought that. But as OP referred to Columbus, this would have sat nav anyway wouldn't it?

i get it in mine but its a 63 plate bolero which makes some of the dab only stations pretty unusable.  Ive got VCDS if you fancy sending any info through to test on it

Thanks all, I thought it only affected Columbus, but obviously not. Looks like MY16 as well.

Hatch uses top 3 elements of heated screen, estate the side Windows for aerial.

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I know member Garnett was having DAB problems as he runs the same bit of the M5 as me and mine doesn't seem to suffer like his does - not sure if he got it resolved but would probably be interested...

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/355778-columbas-dab/

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/357233-columbus-signal-strength/

Thanks, couldn't remember who it was

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i get it in mine but its a 63 plate bolero which makes some of the dab only stations pretty unusable. Ive got VCDS if you fancy sending any info through to test on it

Unfortunately you need VCP to enable the engineering menu.

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I have the odd dropout in the same location to/from work but it's only brief so hasn't bothered me too much.

 

But I did recently have my car serviced and since then I have had bigger drop outs, sometimes for a whole day the 12D (I think) DAB service won't work properly, but the BBC one, 12A? does... but it seems to be really random, not sure if they updated the software on my car when it was serviced.

Hi Andy = I am very interested. My car is identical to yours. November 2015 L&K estate with Columbus and the DAB reception is so poor.

 

I have VCSD but I don't think it gets to the engineering menu.

 

Any advice much appreciated as it is the only disappointing thing about the car.

 

Thanks

 

Garnett

Is there a directory like the VCSD one for VCP?

 

Thanks

There are probably only half a dozen VCP owners on here at best.

Thanks Andy - If it sorted my DAB problem I would actually buy it. Who is the UK distributor?

 

I suppose I better wait until you decide if you test your fix first!

 

Can you let me have your suggested settings some time?

 

Thanks

 

Garnett

After I have mowed the lawn I was going to document it to send to Skoda and post on here

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both mk3 vrs that iv owned/own suffers this on certain parts of them6 near lancaster and on the m6 between tebay and penrith, most other places are fine

both mk3 vrs that iv owned/own suffers this on certain parts of them6 near lancaster and on the m6 between tebay and penrith, most other places are fine

Estates or hatches?

 

I've had a hatch and an estate, both with Columbus, and the radio reception in the estate is awful compared to the hatch.

 

Just noticed you have a hatch!

 

I get dropouts all over the place, my hatch was significantly better!

Here is the fix I have been testing for the last 3 days, and so far have had not DAB mute itself once. This is all at your own risk, and the change is reversible on the MIB Columbus.

 

This is a workaround - I believe the true issue is that more gain needs to be added to the diversity antennae on the Estate models, as my FM reception is nowhere near as good as it was with the hatch - I used to be able to listen to BBC Radio Lancashire all the way down the M6 past Stoke, I am getting poor FM reception around Stockport and lose the signal altogether from Knutsford onwards in the Estate.

 

First of all, the Green Engineering Menu needs enabling with VCP. This is changing an adaptation channel whilst in Engineering Mode, so not for the faint hearted.

 

 

 

You now need to do a hard reboot of the MIB Columbus by holding in the power button until it reboots.

Next, access the Green Engineering Menu by holding in the MENU button for about 20 seconds. You will see the Service Mode menu – keep the button pressed

 

 

 

Then the Testmode Menu – release the button and select Green Engineering Menu

 

 

 

The Green Engineering Menu then comes up. You use the right hand wheel to browse up and down by scrolling, and select by pressing.

 

 

 

 

You need to navigate to the following path:

Production

Rcc_prod

Radio_prod

Dab_prod

Mute-conceal_prod

 

At the top of the screen you will see the following is selected

Mute handling

 

 

Press the right hand button to deselect mute handling – this is reversible - I will post the method soon. If you disable it then re-enable this all the settings are at zero.

 I tried changing the settings for the Mute Threshold and Demute Threshold but unless it was turned off completely I was still getting dropouts.

 

Then scroll up to the 3 dots and press the right hand button to go back a level, keep repeating until you get back to Production

 

Then press Menu to return to the normal MIB Menu

 

You have now disabled the Mute handling for DAB.

I am very interested in trying this fix as I lose DAB on my MIB Columbus frequently and only get it back after rebooting the Columbus. The only problem is the VCP bit. Who has it in the East Midlands area?