Does anyone know whether the 2011 Superb Elegance Mk II would be fitted with a front screen with a "metal-based solar film" in it, which would stop the reception of a good DAB signal? The suppliers of my DAB radio have suggested that this might be the cause of a break-up in signal quality all the time, preventing the DAB signal being received correctly; if this is the case, has anyone any ideas on how I could mount an external aerial for a DAB radio, one which doesn't look cheap and nasty?

I believe this was an option yes.

 

I recently had problems with my Octavia too.

 

GPS reception is terrible and I also fitted a windscreen mount DAB aerial and I literally got zero reception even following all the instructions of attaching the earth strap to bare metal etc.

 

On my previous car (Saab 9-3 Convertible) the windscreen mount aerial worked really well and got good reception.

 

I looked at the options list for my car and one of the items describes "heat absorbing windscreen" which I believe is the screen with the layer of metal in it or whatever.

 

As for DAB in the Octavia estate it's easy as there's a kit that swaps over the amplifier and uses the aerial that built in to the rear side window for DAB. Don't know if there such a thing for the Superb? I know the Golf has the same aerial in the rear window (not the side one).

Right, thanks Phil. Yes, my wife's VW Polo has a DAB radio which works all the time, which caused me to question the terrible reception on my Superb. I guess it is the front screen causing the loss of signal then; I'll check and see whether it's feasible to fit an external aerial anywhere, but I do wonder whether the newer Superbs with factory-fitted DAB radios have the aerial fitted to the rear window as you describe (although hardly an economical solution!).

I did a quick search and there is suggestion that the superb does have the window aerial in the back.

 

So you'd need to remove the rear trim round the window and swap out the amplifier there. And perhaps run a new cable to the front.

 

The kit I got used the existing cable and used a passive amplifier at the back and came with an active amplifier that goes behind the stereo.

 

The alternative is to swap the roof aerial with a DAB one and run a new cable from there.