I've just bought a lovely bright white Octavia Estate.   As I live in France I can't listen to UK radio in the car, and to be honest French radio is dire and I tend only to listen to the travel reports on 107.7FM.    BUT I like to tune into Radio 4 when at home, and I can't do this with my new car because I think I can only get FM (need LW)  I know there are workarounds for many things on the Skodas that are not obvious.   Is there a workaround to enable LW?    

Doesn't Radio 4 broadcast on stream? Nowadays all radios have their streams over the internet. Use your phone, internet and stream it via bluetooth. Entire world's radios are in your pocket.

 

Why would you ever consider such a bad quality broadcast as you can only get on LW?

 

  I only use PAYG so not a possibility.   I'm happy even with a poor reception.  With my old Audi I had LW and I picked up a strong reception in Toulouse!   Now in Normandy I can't get it and it should be a cinch but the Skoda doesn't have the LW band. 

 

Yes - you can receive Radio 4 LW on 198Mhz in the South of France quite easily.  AM (as far as I am aware) is only available on MK3's, but I could be wrong.

Work around: https://www.amazon.co.uk/LW-Bluetooth-Transmitter-Hands-Free-Supporting/dp/B07JNMWDQZ

 

So - working logically - I willcheck to see if there is LW enabling in 5F module.  If I can enabling it, I'll let you know.

*** Deactivation AM band radio / navigation ***

Unit 5F , in coded byte 14, bit 1 is ON

That's kind of you, although beyond me technically speaking .     The radio works perfectly but only has FM.   I can bluetooth my phone to receive calls and use the music that I have on it, but as my phone is PAYG I only go onto mobile data when it's absolutely needed.    I guess that the radio itself won't have a LW setting hidden in it somewhere and I would have to buy something similar to the kit suggested.    

Not necessarily. Most of us heavy 'modders' know that VW put in lots of nicw things into our cars but don't necessarily switch it all on.

 

I will check at the weekend.

I'm pretty sure the Mk3 has the ability for AM as standard - I know that I used VCDS to disable AM on my Columbus setup - so as someone above says, logically it is reverse the coding to get it back.

I know Columbus has AM Radio - FM/AM/DAB. Screenshot from owner's manual:

 

 

 

 

The BBC radio i player doesn't use much data and you can play that via Bluetooth. I have a pay as you go  Android 6Gb per month and get through little data.

Sorry I got very distracted on things like.... how do I actually get my bluetooth to radio to actually play my music... no idea on what I was doing, but finally today, it works, only 2 months later!   

 

Re using data I don't think this is a runner,  but I'll give it a go, vodaphone charge me £1 per day now for connecting, but I'll see what I can do with Bouygues Telecom (my french provider)  

Are you able to use the BBC Sounds app? I'm curious to know if it works there, even if its not a good solution for you. 

On 17/12/2020 at 16:35, Stoofa said:

I'm pretty sure the Mk3 has the ability for AM as standard - I know that I used VCDS to disable AM on my Columbus setup - so as someone above says, logically it is reverse the coding to get it back.

I also disabled AM on mine, likely someone has done it on yours. Put me up for a couple of weeks in the south of France this summer and Ill come down and sort it for ya! 

I think it only supports MW on AM regardless of coding...