Following some more digging on the Net I found this very long link and I think it answers the problem we are experiencing.

It certainly fits my experience the reception was fine for just over a year then suddenly seemed to become very poor. Read this link and also follow some of the links given in the various pages of posts.

My Solution to Radio Reception (AM & FM) Problem - TDIClub Forums

Therealbaldrick post would tend to back up what was found in my Canadian link.

It is no wonder Skoda are denying this problem for given the Global scale of this VAG radio problem it would cost a large fortune to issue a fix under warranty.

However as I have said before that is their problem not ours.

Servicing dealer has said that reception is definitely poor and will now fit new amplified ariel, which is now on order.

I feel sorry for the likes of them because they can only do what Skoda allows and as we can see from my above links VAG are in denial on this problem.

The question is are VAG still fitting these problem ariels on current production vehicles or have they now got a modified ariel unit?

I'll find out when my vRS arrives next week.... I've pre warned by dealer that I'm concerned about poor radio reception - "we are not aware of any" was the response...

Late to this thread but have no problems with our Stream Mp3 headunit. I have had problems with the MS402 on the Fabia though and that was down to water ingress and corrosion in the aerial base (it seems to house the signal amplifier). Is this the same issue as it only cost me a few quid for a new aerial and was easy to fit DIY (took me three attempts to get the right aerial though and 10 minutes swapping headunits with friends to ascertain that the aerial was at fault).

hi guys,after pressing my menu button for approx 10 secs when on mw talksport station my screen says ant off and the signal strength weak. i take it the ant off means that the hu and the aerial are not connected so no wonder the reception is crap. can anyone who has good reception on mw please confirm when you do the above test that the reading says ant on?. if it does i'll be down to the dealers tomorrow. surely they must do this test when people are complaining about the reception. cheers john

The new Co-ax cable has been fitted, but the reception is still poor. On the way home the usual break up on FM ocurred. So I tried the test of pressing the menu button for 10 secs. In FM I have ANT OFF and Q:Mono. In AM I have ANT OFF and Q:Weak. I assume Q=signal quality & ANT is antenna?

Then I drove around until the FM signal started to break up and when this ocurred Q:POOR appeared. So its back to the dealer to see what happens next.

I still stand by my guns & say it is an earthing/grounding issue at the aerial base....

Why the hell do Skoda bury there heads in the sand when people have problems, do they think we are stupid enough to think that they are not looking on these sites, looking for common problems. Its not like years ago before the internet when they could give you a bullsh1t excuse and you'd fall for it because you had no other information.

Theres load of instances of problems with the mk2 but Skoda never heard any.....thats a serios load of BULL as far as I'm concerned. And whats worse is they continue.

Take the Window delamination, the Mk1 used to do it, so that means they have done nothing in all those years. They have also have had numerous queries about Rear seat clips and Front suspension.

Skoda : All you are doing is pi55ing people off and they will walk next time the car needs replacing. At least make an effort and try rectify the problems.

A good reputation takes years to create and bad one can be lost very very quickly.

Has anyone contacted BBC watchdog about this????

This is quite dramatic. Appears to be due to corrosion???

Quote from My Solution to Radio Reception (AM & FM) Problem - Page 4 - TDIClub Forums

Here is a picture of the inside of my OEM antenna base. It worked for about 15 months, then became completely non-functional as a result of the build up of deposits inside it.

http://pics.tdiclub.com/data/3123/12857P1020065-med.JPG

I might just call the dealer and ask them to investigate the problem

As I said... that is the exact problem I had - corrosion inside the antenna base on the amplifier circuit board.

It really is an easy fix - a few quid for a new antenna and half an hours work!

I had a new aerial installed today and whilst I have not been able to do a good reception check I believe the reception problem has now been fixed.

Not hat I listen to it often, but I now have clear Radio 4 Long Wave reception. The Prats at Skoda UK tried to tell me in writing that BBC Long Wave was known to be a very weak Transmitter, 500 Kw weak?

FM reception was clear all the way home and even in a deep valley, always poor reception in any vehicle, I was able to listen to the radio program.

I intend to go tomorrow to all the places where reception previously failed completely, just hiss and mush and if I then get good reception then we can say without doubt this is an aerial problem.

Watch this space.

Toneboy, now you have the new ariel what readings do you get when you press and hold the menu button for 10 secs? I had to go the Ramsgate today and when I arrived I did the 10 secs press on the menu button and Q= stereo, and showed good signal strength but it still shows ANT OFF. As I drove home Q changed between stereo and mono and poor. Does your radio still show ANT OFF?

I can understand the corrosion factor on older cars, but far too many new cars are suffering it too.

Mine was a new March/April 07 factory build and has been pants since it was picked up on 19th April 07.

Also the corrosion antenna's shown are all sharkfin? Not Whip/beesting as we have.

Moley, I have just done a trip out to all the areas where I previously got very poor or no reception.

The good news is that I now have good reception in all the locations for FM, which is what I wanted back. However, Long Wave and AM are all coming in good and strong.

Thus in my case it was the aerial which had failed, but why it has taken several months to resolve the problem I do not know.

Initially I was told the aerial had been checked and found OK so I assumed it had to then be the Radio unit at fault. These workshops need to have some form of known good aerial test unit which can be simply plugged in to check out the head unit. Then if that works OK the fault has to be down to either the aerial or aerial lead. The problem with electronic testing is that it is only as good as the equipment used and/or the operator.

Today's readings using the menu key on the radio for the previous no reception area were:

Aerial shows ON

Q: Stereo

MP: 0

NK: 0

RDS: 1

Signal strength bar shows six bars, but outside my house I can get a seven bar reading.

As a point of interest after doing all the above I found the Aerial mast was not fully screwed right down tight.

VAG and Skoda UK must know about this aerial problem, it not only is on the Bee Sting aerials, but also on their built in rear window aerials and I believe the shark fin type. Each time it appears to be a fault in the electronic amplifier, usually corrosion, seemingly due to water getting into the aerial body.

VAG and Skoda have a lot to answer for in this matter and certainly Skoda UK Customer Service are nothing short of a disgrace and a complete waste of Skoda owners time.

The servicing dealer has risen to the challenge even though I suspect that their actions are tightly restricted by Skoda UK. I am grateful for the servicing dealers persistence even though I had to push them hard to get the result.

Loads of people seem to be having problems with the Stream unit.

Sorry to **** you off folks, but mine is fine, reception and all. This leads me to think that it maybe a batch that have been incorrectly manufactured, or installed wrongly.

I have an 06 plate VRS the Radio is the bog standard one without the MP3 facility.

Loads of people seem to be having problems with the Stream unit.

Sorry to **** you off folks, but mine is fine, reception and all. This leads me to think that it maybe a batch that have been incorrectly manufactured, or installed wrongly.

I have an 06 plate VRS the Radio is the bog standard one without the MP3 facility.

I think although people say Stream, they actually mean the MP3 version. Mine is MP3.

The easiest way to find out will be to put up a poll.

Admin?

Cant see why the dealers have so much of a problem with this. Get a car with a known decent signal/radio, swap the radios over to compare signal and reception. If decent radio fails in problem car its the aerial, if not it's the radio. If problem radio works in decent car then again points to aerial. Change aerial - half hour

Many years ago I was a Radio Engineer :orb_sleep(VHF) & part of the job was to fit all types of vehicles out with two-way radio equipment including steel armoured security wagons, one thing we always had to do was to prepare the surface of the metal work where the aerial base was going to be mounted, this would involve drilling the hole then filing sharp edges, then steel wooling the paint/primer off ensuring good ground contact & optimum Tx/Rx (A must in the days of analogue).

The aerial bases that we used & just like most radio aerial bases out there today be it Commercial Radio/UHF/VHF have teeth that are designed to bite through most paint work to make ground contact, the thing is it doesn't after a while because in some case oxidation sets in around the teeth, therefore this was the reason for us having to make sure that the area was completely free of paint/primer etc...

Anyway just a thought but I'd imagine that during the build of the car, the aerial hole is drilled during the body being assembled, then the car/body is primed/sprayed with 4 or so coats of paint & left to dry in some oven? The point is I would think that the area around the aerial hole is just left 'as is' & then the guys at the factory simply mount the aerial base relying on the teeth of the base to make contact. During the QC checks I would guess that this would pass with no problems because the ground at that point is sufficient, however the car is then likely to spend at least a few months in some yard somewhere before it gets PDI'd - by this time oxidation has set in giving the problems that most of us have.

Any Thoughts?

Wilko

Why the hell do Skoda bury there heads in the sand when people have problems, do they think we are stupid enough to think that they are not looking on these sites, looking for common problems. Its not like years ago before the internet when they could give you a bullsh1t excuse and you'd fall for it because you had no other information.

Theres load of instances of problems with the mk2 but Skoda never heard any.....thats a serios load of BULL as far as I'm concerned. And whats worse is they continue.

Take the Window delamination, the Mk1 used to do it, so that means they have done nothing in all those years. They have also have had numerous queries about Rear seat clips and Front suspension.

Skoda : All you are doing is pi55ing people off and they will walk next time the car needs replacing. At least make an effort and try rectify the problems.

A good reputation takes years to create and bad one can be lost very very quickly.

Agree with you Gaff

Wilko, from my experience you take any modern car sheet metal back to the bare metal and leave it then it will corrode away rapidly.

Grounding is essential I agree, but it needs to have a good remote grounding source, more so in the case of these electronic aerials, which are trying to get 3 pints out of a one pint glass.

Those areas where I used to have little or no signal, I have gone farther a field, are now being received OK.

There was a man on this mornings news who had been given the run around by BT, nothing new there, so he went onto Face Book and put his case on the Web. Got the result he wanted so perhaps those of you being given the run around by Skoda on this should do the same.

As I said to the idiot in Skoda CS in my last letter to him, never under estimate the power of the Internet. I also advised him not to patronize us or to lie to us, but I guess he will not understand what I mean. After all Skoda UK, he and his useless mates there have never heard of a poor radio reception problem.

The poor reception on the Stream radio is finally fixed as the new aerial was installed today & hey presto! I have ANT on, stereo and a strong signal on FM. On MW I can now listen to the stations. So no hiss & crackle anymore. I am now thinking about buying an MFD2 unit, but how good is the sat nav in these units compared to say the Tom Tom?

I've tried the holding menu, and get Aerial on despite oor reception.

Last test was next to works mondy, and Kiss 100 on both stations. Hiss and poor signal on Octy, to be fair move mondy into same parking space and signal excellent.

Perhaps the aerial isnt the only issue....? Otherwise I'd have aerial off?

Q showed poor, yet everything else seemed normal based on other menu hold readings posted.