Hi everyone, I'm new here and just bought a 2nd hand Octavia Elegance 57 reg. 

I've been browsing through some forums and I know that the ariels are an issue. My radio signal is dreadful and driving me mad. Will simply buying a new one and screwing it on fix the issue or is it more involved than that? If so, is it something I can do myself? 

Thank you in advance 

Andrew 

Yes the replacement is easy and if you're good with electronics and the corrosion damage isn't too bad you might be able to fix it.

Thanks for the message, it is appreciated. When you say good with electronics what do you mean exactly? What is involved? 

If you remove the base from the car, under the rubber gasket there are 4 screws remove them and the plastic cover can be pulled off to reveal this

 

That bit of spring steel that looks like an inverted "J" is the actual connection to the "Whip" on the cover and it can get surface corrosion which reduces the signal path to the amplifier, so carefully clean it up and the corresponding contact patch in the cover 

That's brilliant thanks very much for your help. I'll have a go this week and let you know how it goes.