I'm buying a new stereo off eBay, what other parts do I need in order for it to work? I'm fairly clueless in this area, I know that there are particular cables that I need?

 

Thx in advance.

Cable wise you should be ok, ive just swapped mine and it just plugged in, you need a trim piece from skoda though to make it look better but i dont have the part number sorry oh you need a male ariel adaptor as well.

Make sure you empty your cd changer first as well cause it wont work once its unplugged!

Part number 6Y0857231B41 from skoda

Above partnum is just the trim because its not 100% a standard fit and leaves a bit of a gap you'd want to close up cosmetically.

 

Cables you need nothing, just normally red to yellow and yellow to red as on VAG the perm and acc + voltage are switched, thats all you need to do for the memory functions and so it doesnt stay on after ign off,

normally the cables on aftermarked have the bullets to let you do this so you don't need any extra cable kits

You need a signal booster.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Autoleads-PC5-52-Skoda-Fabia-00-07-Amplified-Booster-ISO-Car-Aerial-Antenna-/251309742161?hash=item3a833a5851

Shouldn't need signal booster... If ur radios not working - the ariel is probably corroded 

Wonder if a booster would help my fabia. I've just changed my aerial over from a stubby to a standard bee sting aerial hoping it would improve my signal as all I get is static through the radio, however it made no improvement. I take it there must be something else under lying. Sorry to get off topic.

The signal boosted is because the buit in radio has amp for aerial built in (as its not built into the aerial either I think ?)

 

If you have 3rd party radio you need the amp and it will definitely improve the FM reception no matter what the aerial ( assuming the aerial itself isn't active / amplified already ).

 

3rd party radios don't tend to have boosters built into the FM section like the OEM radio does.

It's just the standard factory head unit I have, I was thinking of going for an aftermarket stereo in the hope of getting a better signal

Wonder if a booster would help my fabia. I've just changed my aerial over from a stubby to a standard bee sting aerial hoping it would improve my signal as all I get is static through the radio, however it made no improvement. I take it there must be something else under lying. Sorry to get off topic.

Just changed mine over the other day and most certainly needed the booster. Perfect strong signal with it, almost nothing without it! 

 

**Edit**

 

To add, the same was needed in the Mk1 Octy and my last 2006 Mk1 Fabia vRS from 2 years old when I bought it and changed to an after market stereo etc. 

That's good to hear I'll get one ordered up then, sick of listening to CDs on repeat

That's good to hear I'll get one ordered up then, sick of listening to CDs on repeat

 

Make sure you get one with the right connections for the aerial sockets. There are different ones to cater for different aerial connections on aftermarket radios which may not have the same connectors as the factory Skoda ones.

 

For example PC5-90 and PC5-52

The original aerial has a booster in it...

The original aerial has a booster in it...

 

It doesn't, mate. The booster is inside the head unit on factory stereos.

 

That's why they sell these https://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/skoda-aerial-antenna-adaptors.html

Yeah well I bought that and it didn't do jack, the aerial and its built in amplifier was corroded 

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=281128705794&alt=web 

Yeah well I bought that and it didn't do jack, the aerial and its built in amplifier was corroded 

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=281128705794&alt=web 

 

OK, what I meant earlier was that the factory head units send power to the aerial amplifier via the aerial's coaxial cable. The aerial you link to on ebay, and the standard Skoda aerial, will only pull a decent signal with standard factory head units. Aftermarket head units don't have that amplifier feed built into them, so you need the separate booster which has it's own ignition live feed (the blue wire). An aftermarket head unit won't work without one. Simple as.

That's not what the blue wire is for on back of the head unit... Plus depending what you splice into the loom you are actually using the wire designed to tell an electronic aerial to extend (not fitted to the fabia) or at worst leaving your "booster" on all the time...

Have you actually looked inside one of these boosters? They ain't worth it

Replace the aerial for better results 

Edited 13 October, 201510 yr by SkUG

That's not what the blue wire is for on back of the head unit... Plus depending what you splice into the loom you are actually using the wire designed to tell an electronic aerial to extend (not fitted to the fabia) or at worst leaving your "booster" on all the time...

Have you actually looked inside one of these boosters? They ain't worth it

Replace the aerial for better results 

 

I did not mention any blue wire on the head unit. It's the blue wire on the booster you connect to an ignition switched live. Anyway, I can't be bothered with this anymore. I've tried to explain things but it clearly ain't working.

 

Peace out.

http://www.net4truthusa.com/jeeprestoration/radiobooster.htm

Without the booster I was getting nothing but radio silence with my HU. So, believe it or not, it really does something. That link doesn't mean anything. There might be some cheap replicas out there or chinese bul$#it...but this doesn't make me curious enough to split into pieces my old aerial booster. Maybe someday .. 

 

However, without that booster you cannot connect the aerial to the HU. If you don't want to call it like this, name it an adapter. It should be enough.

 

Later edit: I don't have enough time to read that article atm, but all I can say is that the guy is pretty much lost in transmission. He is talking about SWR, antenna gain and stuff like this. As far as I know, SWR is important when you are trying to broadcast, but not when you're the receiver. Receiving is all about getting the maximum ratio of signal to noise. On receiving, the RECEIVER controls the feedline SWR...not the antenna. The antenna impedance only affects the energy transfer into the feedline.

The best receiving antenna is the one with the best signal-to-noise ratio.  The gain of the antenna is not important unless the gain becomes so low that the system is dominated by receiver electronic noise. (and this is why you need that booster/filter/adapter thingy)

So ... again, that article means nothing.

Edited 14 October, 201510 yr by Alexandru