DAB aerial

[snafu]

Hi all

 

Following a very expensive panaramic roof leak fix on my 2014 Yeti L&K, I now have very poor DAB reception. It was receiving all DAB channels fine when I took it to the garage and now it's feeble, so I can't listen to DAB any more. The garage won't accept responsibility as they say it could be water ingress, which is probably correct. I know there is the obvious "shark fin" aerial but I have read there's another DAB-specific aerial on the front or rear screen. Is this correct and is it something I can check and maybe replace?

 

Cheers

Edited 18 February, 2021 by snafu

[Austin 7]

I believe that FM reception uses two aerials, the obvious one above the tailgate plus use of the rear heated screen element.  The FM tuner selects the aerial with the best signal, and can switch between them quite rapidly ("selection diversity").  This needs two independent coax cables running all the way to the head unit.

 

DAB reception doesn't normally benefit from diversity, so I would expect it to use just the shark's fin (which superceded the plain bee sting).  I believe this unit has a 12 volt powered preamplifier in the base.  Any water ingress won't do it much good, but also if the power feed fails the DAB reception will be awful. FM will switch to use the heated screen exclusively, so will carry on working but without the benefit of diversity. The DC power feed is likely to share the FM coax inner (Phantom feed) with the power sourced from the head unit.  If you use a non OEM head unit you may have to program it to source phantom power.

 

Another possibility is that the FM or DAB coax cable from aerial to head unit (which runs under the headlining) has a joint somewhere which has got wet and therefore corroded, or has been disconnected and not reconnected.  If it's the FM coax that's affected, it will cut DC power to the shark's fin which will also knock out DAB reception.  It seems to me rather too much of a coincidence for water ingress to suddenly make reception bad whilst the car was at the garage. I'd put my money on someone forgetting to reconnect something.

Edited 18 February, 2021 by Austin 7
additional info

[snafu]

Thanks Austin, so it's worth me trying to look under the headlining to try and spot a dodgy connection. I have the original (Columbus?) unit and was thinking about taking it out to have a look at the connections too. Or maybe just giving up and going back to FM

[Rustynuts]

The DAB antenna takes 12v DC feed from the head unit. I'd be easing down the headliner at the rear and check the black fakra plug is connected correctly. There's about 200mm of cable from the antenna to a connector for all the cables, check colour coding and make sure they're all correctly connected.

Edited 18 February, 2021 by Rustynuts

[HeavyMetalRich]

If you hadn't just had your panoramic roof done, I would be advising you to get a diagnostic check to see if there are any faults with the aerial. Being from a saltier climate we see a lot of corroded aerials, both standard and DAB on various (so far only) Skoda models, causing a fault code to appear and eventually reception to decrease.

 

I replaced a DAB aerial on a 2017 Yeti just last week. The owner had been complaining of poor DAB signal. It might be worth you getting a diagnostic check too. It is possible it is just a coincidence that the signal has turned poor.

[snafu]

Thanks for your replies, I'm very grateful and will give your suggestions a try. I need Planet Rock and I'm stuck with Radio 4 at the moment 

[K6chris]

I had a similar problem, caused by water ingress into the Sharkfin unit.  I have installed a windscreen DAB antenna like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01MY2JE6C

 

Absolutely brilliant reception and easy to install.  It requires a small amount of the primer paint on the interior of the A Pillar to be scraped away, to get a good ground.

 

Very pleased with the result.

 

Good luck.

[snafu]

1 hour ago, K6chris said:

I had a similar problem, caused by water ingress into the Sharkfin unit.  I have installed a windscreen DAB antenna like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01MY2JE6C

 

Absolutely brilliant reception and easy to install.  It requires a small amount of the primer paint on the interior of the A Pillar to be scraped away, to get a good ground.

 

Very pleased with the result.

 

Good luck.

Hi Chris, that sounds like a good option. I'm going to check on the 12v feed, etc, when the rain stops and if I don't get anywhere this looks like it could be the answer

[Scout65]

On 22/02/2021 at 11:15, snafu said:

Hi Chris, that sounds like a good option. I'm going to check on the 12v feed, etc, when the rain stops and if I don't get anywhere this looks like it could be the answer

Hi.

 

I hope it's ok to revive this thread two years down the line?

 

Have just bought a 2015 Yeti SE L DSG 4x4 and there's no DAB signal. FM, satnav etc works fine. It's got the bee sting aerial (not sharks fin). I'm not sure if this has the seperate pre-amp unit or whetehr that's the shark fin version only?

 

May I ask what your findings/resolution were?

 

Many thanks

[Scout65]

2 minutes ago, Scout65 said:

Hi.

 

I hope it's ok to revive this thread two years down the line?

 

Have just bought a 2015 Yeti SE L DSG 4x4 and there's no DAB signal. FM, satnav etc works fine. It's got the bee sting aerial (not sharks fin). I'm not sure if this has the seperate pre-amp unit or whetehr that's the shark fin version only?

 

May I ask what your findings/resolution were?

 

Many thanks

please ignore signature as do not have an Octavia anymore and can;t change it