Sometimes DAB does not work, but FM and AM are fine

[Graham Butcher]

Is it something wrong with my radio or has anyone else noticed that some mornings DAB works fine and another morning DAB has no reception on any station, AM and FM work perfectly fine but DAB is dead and I get the icon of an antenna with a line across it appear on the screen, then sometimes it will come on after about 30 minutes or if I park up for a few minutes and go shopping etc, and then when I come back, DAB is working just fine? 
 

Checking on the transmitter status on the web, and it indicates all is fine, but I can't get any reception.

Edited 22 April by Graham Butcher

[Winston_Woof]

I find that generally the DAB reception in my Superb is inferior to my Old Ceed or to my GFs Ioniq to the point that I often stream Heart 70s via an app on the phone as a more reliable option

[Bigeater]

DAB in my 2017 motor is also intermittent, but i can live with it. It's not a patch on the wifes much newer MG.

[Danoid]

Must admit I don’t use it much but isn’t DAB still very much location dependent? So they’ll be patchy areas. 
 

Is it the same for more national channels like bbc radio 2 etc?

 

Also if you have an estate I believe the DAB antenna is in the passenger side rear boot glass on the estates if you have one, might be worth giving it a good clean inside and out, worst case you’ll have clean glass 😁

[Winston_Woof]

4 minutes ago, Danoid said:

Must admit I don’t use it much but isn’t DAB still very much location dependent? So they’ll be patchy areas. 
 

Is it the same for more national channels like bbc radio 2 etc?

 

Also if you have an estate I believe the DAB antenna is in the passenger side rear boot glass on the estates if you have one, might be worth giving it a good clean inside and out, worst case you’ll have clean glass 😁

you are correct on patchy areas, I semi regularly travel along the A500/A50 between the M6 & M1 and in both the Ceed & the Ioniq always had the same drop outs at the smae points.

In the Superb the drop outs happen more frequently and for longer.

Will have a look into the aerial

[Graham Butcher]

4 hours ago, Winston_Woof said:

I find that generally the DAB reception in my Superb is inferior to my Old Ceed or to my GFs Ioniq to the point that I often stream Heart 70s via an app on the phone as a more reliable option

My old mk2 used to suffer badly with certain local stations dropping in and out but since I got the mk3 that has not happened anywhere near as much, but this complete loss of all signals some mornings when I take my son to work is baffling me. He and I like to listen to Absolute 90s and their 5 words, 5 grand game and it is only available on DAB otherwise I'd stick FM on.

[Gammyleg]

42 minutes ago, Danoid said:

Also if you have an estate I believe the DAB antenna is in the passenger side rear boot glass

 

Assuming it's a little black shark fin, mine is on the roof at the back.

 

The Superb DAB is not perfect however it's much better than our works Transit Connect van which has dreadful reception. 

 

[Danoid]

36 minutes ago, Gammyleg said:

 

Assuming it's a little black shark fin, mine is on the roof at the back.

 

The Superb DAB is not perfect however it's much better than our works Transit Connect van which has dreadful reception. 

 

Have a look here, it’s for an Octavia though but it’s not the shark fin

 

https://www.skoda-storyboard.com/en/skoda-world/innovation-and-technology/this-is-your-car-can-you-hear-me/

[Gammyleg]

4 hours ago, Danoid said:

Have a look here, it’s for an Octavia though but it’s not the shark fin

 

https://www.skoda-storyboard.com/en/skoda-world/innovation-and-technology/this-is-your-car-can-you-hear-me/

Who needs one antenna when you can have eight!! And still the DAB reception can be poor. 😁

[numskull]

It also depends on the station you’re listening to. I get very few issues with all the BBC stations, but if it loses reception it automatically switches over to FM. The only aggravation i have is the lllllloooooooonnnnnnng tiiiiiiiimmmmmmme it takes to bloody boot up! 😂

[Graham Butcher]

1 hour ago, numskull said:

It also depends on the station you’re listening to. I get very few issues with all the BBC stations, but if it loses reception it automatically switches over to FM. The only aggravation i have is the lllllloooooooonnnnnnng tiiiiiiiimmmmmmme it takes to bloody boot up! 😂

Mine is not too bad for the time it takes to boot up, but when the DAB is not working, I get zero stations on DAB, nothing at all, FM and AM no problem.

[petrolcan]

My DAB issue was solved by removing the head unit and plugging in the Fakra cable that had somehow become dislodged.

[Graham Butcher]

10 minutes ago, petrolcan said:

My DAB issue was solved by removing the head unit and plugging in the Fakra cable that had somehow become dislodged.

Did you have any DAB at all before you did that? What is the Fakra cable anyway?

[petrolcan]

10 minutes ago, Graham Butcher said:

Did you have any DAB at all before you did that? What is the Fakra cable anyway?

 

Had no DAB from when I got the car but it took me several months to notice. VCDS confirmed it was a signal issue so I assumed an aerial had gone kaput so bought a replacement which didn't fix the issue.

 

Then I had a brainfart and decided to check the connections at the rear of the head unit and the DAB wasn't plugged in for some reason. 

 

The Fakra is basically the connector

 

https://www.everythingrf.com/search/connectors/filters?page=1&country=global&sconnector_type=;FAKRA;

[Graham Butcher]

1 hour ago, petrolcan said:

 

Had no DAB from when I got the car but it took me several months to notice. VCDS confirmed it was a signal issue so I assumed an aerial had gone kaput so bought a replacement which didn't fix the issue.

 

Then I had a brainfart and decided to check the connections at the rear of the head unit and the DAB wasn't plugged in for some reason. 

 

The Fakra is basically the connector

 

https://www.everythingrf.com/search/connectors/filters?page=1&country=global&sconnector_type=;FAKRA;

I see, I have VCDS, and it reports zero problems with the radio, which I take it, is module 47 - sound system? If so that gives a status of OK 0000. Having said that, I have never done a scan when the DAB wasn't working, so maybe I need to scan it next time when the radio goes down, which isn't easy to do as it when it isn't working, its normally when I'm taking my son work and is then 9 times out 10 working OK by the time I get back home again.

 

VCDS is a good tool, but it would really benefit from a decent user manual on how to use it and what do to do when an error is detected, other than clearing the code and rescanning again to see if the code comes back again, I really struggle to use it beyond that as I don't want to experiment and risk bricking the car. I know that the system can force all kinds of tests on various functions manually to enable further testing and observation to be done.

[petrolcan]

Seems I misremembered the timeline, noticed it not long after I got the car and did nothing about it